El
santo evangelio según san Mateo (18:21-35)
21Then
Peter came and said to Jesus,
“Lord, if another
member of the church sins against me,
how
often should I forgive?
As
many as seven times?”
22Jesus
said to him,
“Not seven times,
but,
I tell you, seventy-seven times.
23“For
this reason the dominion of heaven may be compared to a ruler
who
wished to settle accounts with their servants.
24When
the ruler began the reckoning,
one
who owed ten thousand talents was brought in;
25and,
as the one could not pay,
their
ruler ordered them to be sold,
together
with their spouse and children
and
all their possessions,
and
payment to be made.
26So
the servant fell on their knees before the ruler,
saying,
‘Have patience with me,
and
I will pay you everything.’
27And
out of pity for the servant,
the
ruler of that servant released them and forgave them the debt.
28But
that same servant, as they went out,
came
upon one of their fellow servants
who
owed them a hundred denarii;
and
seizing them by the throat,
they
said, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29Then
the fellow servant fell down and pleaded with them,
‘Have
patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30But
the servant refused;
then
they went and threw them into prison
until
they would pay the debt.
31When
their fellow servants saw what had happened,
they
were greatly distressed,
and
they went
and
reported to their ruler all that had taken place.
32Then
the ruler summoned the servant and said to them,
‘You
wicked servant!
I
forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33Should
you not have had mercy on your fellow servant,
as
I had mercy on you?’
34And
in anger the ruler handed the servant over to be tortured
until
they would pay the entire debt.
35So
my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you,
if
you do not forgive your sibling from your heart.”
El
evangelio del Señor.
-----
At
face value, Peter’s question is pretty benevolent. As we heard last week, Jesus just laid out the steps for
conflict mediation within the community of faith (talk to the person directly, if
they don’t listen, then bring in a 3rd party witness, then involve
the whole community of faith, and so on) and so Peter wants to know the bounds
of this reconciliation business.
Having
learned a thing or two in his time with Jesus and being pretty generous, Peter
asks, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should
I forgive? As many as seven times?” 7 being the number for wholeness and
completeness, 7 times
is a lot of forgiving.
As
usual, Jesus hears what we would consider pretty impressive in the realm of
forgiveness and takes it to a whole new level. “Not seven times, but, I tell
you, seventy-seven times.” 77 or, depending on the translation, 7
times 70 times!! That’s a
ridiculous amount of forgiveness!!
And
then Jesus dives into a parable, or riddle, of even more extravagant
proportions. This riddle dives
deep into the economic workings of society that Jesus’ rural, peasant followers
could only ever dream of experiencing, it’s like the millionaires’ club.
So
what is the reality that this riddle exposes?
The
economic system of Jesus’ time was an entrenched bureaucracy. New Testament theologian William R.
Herzog II describes it in detail.
The ruler of the parable would be the highest regional authority. Answerable only to Rome. When Jesus was born, the ruler would
have been the same King Herod that killed all the infants and toddlers in
Bethlehem.
The
responsibility for making sure (1)Rome received the tribute it wanted, (2)all
rebellions were immediately quelled—if not prevented, and (3)the
bureaucracy—made up of various levels of elite “servants” constantly jockeying
for position, power, and wealth—remained intact, competitive, and functioning,
all rested with this one ruler. If
there was a breakdown in this system, all hell could break loose and the ruler
would be to blame.
As
the system was set up, beneath the ruler were various levels of bureaucratic
servants who were responsible for collecting tributes from people and
communities. These bureaucrats
would collect money and resources from peasants and local and regional
rulers—often taking some extra for themselves—and then pass it up through
various levels of servants with increasing access, wealth, and power—each
skimming a bit off the top. Given
the right circumstances, a servant could be toppled and a lower one take their
place, so positions were both hard-fought-for and precariously kept.
The
servants had a fair amount of freedom to do their work collecting money and
tributes, but also had to be ready to give an account when asked about their
money and resources. Add into this
that the ruler’s word was law and subject to changing at the ruler’s whim, and
the more money a servant dealt with, the more delicate or threatened their
position.
So
when the ruler brings the servants in to give account, the highest up servant
goes first, owing ten thousand talents.
Now at that time, the highest denomination of money was a talent, a good
year’s worth of wages, and the highest number that they had language for was
10,000, so this servant in this riddle is literally dealing with the most
wealth imaginable! It would be
like 100 trillion dollars today—more than any government could ever owe or pay,
like 70 times 7 times as much perhaps ;)
So
this servant is brought before the ruler with a ridiculously high financial
capital and as the ruler is getting ready to throw their whole family into
debtors’ prison, the servant begs for mercy.
Perhaps
the ruler realizes how much hardship the economic system causes, or maybe they
are just fond of this particular bureaucrat. For whatever reason, the ruler forgives the debt, an act of
mercy that could start a change in the system, could add more generosity and
understanding, could make forgiveness of debt to those who are worse off a
thing of honor rather than weakness.
Could shift the honor balance in this honor-shame culture.
Unfortunately,
the ruler doesn’t explain all of this to the servant, so the servant, who feels
like they’ve been shamed—which carries a ton
of weight in the culture—feels compelled to double down in the game of
cutthroat bureaucracy.
Enter
servant two. On a much smaller
scale, though still extravagant to Jesus’ rural peasant listeners, this second
servant owes the recently forgiven one 100 denarii, three months’ salary. This one who was recently forgiven
still has their position, but their power is under threat after the encounter
with the ruler. They know they look
weak and have to find a way to fix it, so they take action in the only way they
know how: exerting their power on the one with less. This will show everyone that they are still capable, strong,
and in charge…or so they think.
Other
servants who notice are angry at the double standard and report to the ruler,
perhaps recognizing this as their chance to move up in the bureaucracy. And so the reality of the parable—and
life—settles in. Even if the
peasants hope in a messianic-style benevolent ruler to be kind and generous—a king, like David was, perhaps—the
reality is that without immense change, the ruler is as stuck in the system as
the bureaucratic servants who peasants know
exploit them.
So when the ruler
tries a new tact, tries to cultivate generosity, it backfires and the result is
worse than the original consequences of the servant’s actions. Instead of the whole family and all
their possessions being sold into debtors’ prison, the servant faces torture.
Forgiveness
and generosity are not built into the system under which Jesus and his
followers live. And this system of
tit-for-tat, continued on, will never end well. Keeping track of debts and sins will only get us to an idea
of a God, found in the final verse, who is willing to hand us over to torture
if we don’t pay every debt and forgive every sin.
When
we hear this parable—this riddle—we puzzle about what the truth is that it is
pointing us to and within the context, where is or isn’t God?
The
riddle points us to the flaw of a system that keeps track of every wrong, every
overcharge or bounced check, every debt, every sin. That is not the way God works because God’s love and
forgiveness are bigger than that. But
if that is how we operate, then we are bound to believe in the God of the final
verse who exacts revenge and torture in the ultimate tit-for-tat of life. If 10,000 talents was as big as people
could think in Jesus’ time, it is like Peter’s 7. It’s a lot, but it is nothing compared to God, who is 70
times 7 times as forgiving and whose forgiveness doesn’t fit into our systems.
This forgiveness focuses on those with more power forgiving those with less. It is not an exhortation for the powerless to continue to put up with abuse or forgive their abuser or those with power. It’s about what we do with the power we have and how we live into God’s forgiveness and generosity in our own lives.
How
is forgiveness and generosity at work within us? How does God’s forgiveness flow over all that we could
possibly have done wrong? How does
it flow over all those with whom we are still angry? How does God’s forgiveness and generosity change our
understandings of justice, love and worthiness?
If God's love flows over you 70 times 7 times more than you can imagine, how is God's love flowing over others as well? If we flood the system with God's love and forgiveness, will it finally change? Is God's love big enough?
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