The unforgiving servant
Today is the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time and once again, today’s gospel reading is the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, which the Lord Jesus Christ used as his unique way of teaching his disciples the ways of heaven. Today’s gospel comes from Matt.18:21-35.
“ 21 Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
24 When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ 27 And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt.
28 But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.
32 Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
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I have no doubt that the parables of our Lord Jesus Christ always reaches into our hearts and gives us a glimpse of the Kingdom of God, that more importantly, the human heart is totally different from the heart of God. Today’s Parable of the Unforgiving Servant is a sharp contrast to the equally famous Parable of the Prodigal Son. In that parable, the prodigal son already got his inheritance even if the father was still alive. But he wasted his inheritance and eventually returned to his father’s house.
Yet even when the Son was approaching his father’s house, the father caught a glimpse of the Son and already forgave him even if the Son who memorized a speech to beg for his father’s forgiveness has not even said his piece to the father. Such is the love of a father to his son, which is similar to the love of God our Father in heaven.
But in today’s parable, the story is about a king and his slave who owed him ten thousand talents. Since the slave could not repay the king, he ordered that he be sold with his wife and children in order to pay his debt. But the servant begged the king to have patience and he would repay everything. Feeling compassionate to the servant, the king forgave all his debts.
Later he met his fellow slave who owed him only a hundred Denarii; the latter too could not pay him. His fellow slave also begged forgiveness and patience so he can repay him. But instead, the slave had his fellow servant imprisoned. This story got into the ears of the king who then summoned the servant and scolded him for not forgiving his fellow servant when the king condoned his own debt. So he was handed over to the torturers. Our lesson today is to forgive so that we too can be forgiven.
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