The 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time, September 17, 2023

Matthew 18, 21–35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

“Peter approached Jesus.”  This may have taken place on the way between towns when Jesus and his Apostles were resting in the grass, shaded by the tall leafy trees of Galilee.  As the Lord sat, Peter struggled with a question.  It may have had personal implications or was a theological conundrum.  But it bothered him and so he had to ask the One who could give the definitive answer: “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?”  The number “seven” here is used as a sign of totality: As many times as he offends me?  Peter, doubtless, has experienced how difficult it is to forgive someone who has caused harm: it entails a denial of self in the form of a renunciation of the revenge the harmed person may feel instinctively that he has the right to exact on the offender.  And yet the Lord has emphasized the requirement of forgiveness of one’s brother in order to receive forgiveness from God.  Peter, then, is not looking for a way out of forgiving, but how to do this time and again.  “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”  The Lord does not give a hard and fast number here, but confirms that Peter — and all the faithful — are to forgive each time we are sinned against.

“That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.”  The Lord explains how and why to forgive each time we are offended not with a lecture but with a memorable Parable which does a better job in fewer words than any other kind of explanation.  “When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.”  If Jesus means a talent of gold, the amount of the debt exceeds eleven billion dollars.  Even if he meant talents of silver the debt would come to over one hundred and sixty million dollars.  The excessive — impossible — numbers here must have made Peter wonder what the Lord could be getting at.  The numbers also call out the king’s fabulous wealth and his sanity in loaning  these talents to a mere servant.  “Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt.”  Now the amount the king could have received from this sale would be trifling in comparison with what he was owed.  It would only have served as an example to others.

“Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.”  This is a cry of desperation, for he could not ever pay this vast amount of money back.  “Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.”  Again, the king’s sanity comes into question, for this kind of compassion ran the risk of encouraging others to act as this servant had.  Still, compassion rules the king.

“When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him.”  We should notice that this forgiven servant sought out his fellow servant in order to collect his debt: he “found” him; he did not come upon him casually.  The amount owed, again, according to the Greek came to a hundred denarii — less than eight thousand dollars in today’s money.  This is a very large amount for a slave — the meaning of the Greek doulos used here — to owe another, but it is far easier to imagine than what the first slave had owed his master.  It was actually within the realm f possibility that this amount could be paid back, although it would take years to do so.  Instead of reasonably agreeing to wait, though, “he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt.”  This action, of course, guaranteed that he would not be able to pay his debt, and so the first slave acts against his own self-interest.

“You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?”  Now, it might be said that the king here did not have a stake in the affairs of his slaves with each other.  But both me belonged to him, and the first slave imprisoning the second slave acted against the interests of the king.  If the second slave had acted in defiance of the first, the first should have gone to his master and explained the situation to him and then let the master handle it.  But the first slave acts vindictively here, as though the debt only presented an occasion for inflicting abuse.  The king’s reproachful words indicate that he meant for his compassion to be imitated — it was the sole reason the first slave’s debt had been cancelled.

“Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.”  The imprisonment is intended as punishment since the first servant could never have paid back his debt even were he free.  “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”  Jesus daws the moral from his parable for Peter: In acting wickedly and not mercifully towards our brothers and sisters we reject the mercy God has shown us, and so we bereft of mercy we enter eternal punishment for our many sins against him.

Jesus points out that we have urgent business to forgive those who have sinned against us simply out of gratitude to God for his forgiving us the worse sins we have committed against him.