Tuesday in the Third Week of Lent, March 9, 2022

Matthew 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? 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 him 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 poses his question here very formally, in the style of a disciple seeking wisdom from his teacher.  The number seven signifies a complete whole, not a set number of times, as it is the number of days in the week, including the Sabbath, and the number of worlds circling the earth, including the sun and moon.  Peter asks if this is enough times to forgive, that is , a complete number, but also one that is definite.  When the Lord replies “seventy-seven”, he shows that no restriction applies to forgiveness: not in terms of the number of sins to be forgiven, nor in the magnitude of the sins to be forgiven.  

Now, Peter asks his question this way: “If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?”  He is asking about forgiveness between two equals, two humans.  The parable the Lord tells to explain the reason for his  answer is about, first, the forgiveness of a man by God, and then, by way of comparison, the forgiveness of a man by a man.  Attention to the the numbers in the parable, provided in the Greek text, helps us immensely in appreciating the truth.  Now, the first servant, signifying a human being, incurs a large debt with his master, who signifies God.  The debt is beyond fathoming, amounting to nearly a half of a billion dollars in today’s money.  The amount speaks to the master’s — to God’s — outrageous generosity, and to the servant’s — our — negligence or even malice.  It is a sum that no one, how much less a servant, could pay back.  The sale of the man and his family would bring in a couple of thousand dollars, perhaps — an infinitesimal fraction of what was owed.  The servant’s tears result in the master to write off the loss.  The fact that he can do so speaks to the boundless wealth he must possess.  And, in fact, this represents God’s limitless mercy.

The first servant then runs into a servant who owes him the equivalent of a few thousand dollars.  A servant would have a hard time repaying this amount, but it is far more conceivable than that the first servant could have paid back his debt.  The first servant, lacking gratitude for what the master had done for him, now has the second servant put into prison until his debt is paid back.  The master, hearing of this, cancels his mercy and has the first servant put into prison.  That is, if we realized and appreciated the debt we incur with God when we sin, we should be horrified, even without the threat of eternal hell.  God’s forgiveness, explicable only in light of his infinite love for us, wipes out our debt, and out of sheer relief and gratitude we should not even notice the sins others commit against us.  Our reluctance to forgive is a sign that we do not appreciate what God has done for us, and this lack of appreciation is itself a sign of our lack of capacity to receive God’s forgiveness.  If we do not change our ways after God has forgiven us, we show that we have not let his forgiveness affect us: we have blocked it.  We “unblock” it by converting, and by lifting the restrictions we adopt in order to avoid forgiving our brother or sister.