The lectionary passages today are troublesome.
I wonder how my times over the years I have started a blog
with that thought. It seems to me that often the readings challenge and
disturb. However, I don’t think that is a bad thing. Sometimes it is good to be
challenged and disturbed. It causes us to think, to reassess our lives and
values.
Today’s passages are all about forgiveness and not judging
others. In the Old Testament the text is about Joseph forgiving the brothers
who have caused him harm.
In the epistle the readers are urged to accept each other’s
differences without judgment. It is a timely word for the days in which we
live. It is perhaps a theme to meditate on this week.
However, I want to focus on the passage in Matthew. The
gospel story reverts to the theme of forgiveness. In the story Peter asks Jesus
should he forgive someone seven times. Jesus replies not seven but seventy
times seven. Then Jesus tells a parable to illustrate forgiveness.
The parable is intriguing and raises more questions than it
gives answers. The parable is about a king.
At this point I want to remind people that I do not think
that characters in parables should be representative of anyone, human or
divine. They are simply stories to illustrate a point and should be read as
such. I do not think the king in this parable is meant to be God although I
have heard that expressed. If one tries to equate the king to God, it would
leave us with a god who is angry and sent someone to be tortured. Much better
to just read the parable as a simple story which is used to illustrate a point.
Anyway, back to this story . . .
The king wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. One
slave owed him 10,000 talents.
Another aside . . . why would a slave owe his/her owner
money? I have tried to do a brief research on this but have found nothing.
Perhaps someone else has the answer. It was a practice for a free person who
had huge debts to go into slavery with their owner undertaking to pay their
debts. But this does not seem to be the
case in this story. However, this is just a point of interest, it does not
affect the parable as we just accept this slave owed a huge amount.
The king’s first reaction was that the slave’s wife,
children and other possessions must be sold to pay the debt. The slave begged
the king for time saying he would repay. The king had pity on him and forgave
the debt.
So far, it is a nice simple story of forgiveness and
kindness. As is often the case with
parables there is a twist.
A fellow-slave owed the forgiven-slave a much smaller
amount. The story tells us the forgiven-slave went to him, caught him by the
neck, demanded payment and ultimately had him gaoled. The word got back to the
king who was angry at his lack of mercy, handed him over to be tortured and
withdrew his forgiveness of the debt.
So what initially seemed a nice parable has become a “text
of terror” to quote Trible. This is the point where it raises many questions
about forgiveness.
Perhaps the biggest ones for me are;
Can forgiveness be taken back?
(The king withdrew his forgiveness of the slave’s debt)
Are there conditions (or expectations) to forgiveness?
(The king was angry because the slave in turn did not
forgive)
Trible also talks about not letting a text go without it
yielding a blessing.
So what is the blessing in this text. Maybe, it is that it
causes us to think about forgiveness and to search ourselves about what it
means to each of us. Forgiveness isn’t cheap or easy. It should not be
undertaken lightly. Maybe, this week take some time to ponder over my questions
(and any of your own).
Perhaps, ask ourselves if we forgive someone, is it
conditional?
Are they required to behave the same way?
Do we get upset if they seemingly don’t show the same
forgiveness to others?
Can this text yield a blessing?
