24th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
Romans 14: 7-9
Matthew 18: 21-35
each of you
forgives his brother from his heart.”
Today’s
parable of the Unforgiving Servant is very interesting. It begins and
ends with the lesson of forgiveness, but the whole story develops in such a way
that it also teaches us the lesson of justice. Undoubtedly, these virtues –
mercy and forgiveness – are important in human relations. Thus, Christ uses the
affairs of human experience to relate them to how the Father in heaven would
deal with us most fairly. Let us then meditate on these two important virtues.
1.
“’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.’” The parable begins with this dialogue. And as we
see, while Peter tries to propose a definite number of times, Jesus challenges
every Christian heart to forgive countlessly. The parable shows at least two
reasons why man must tirelessly forgive one another.
a.
First, because of the reality of sin. The parable tries to portray this
fact by telling us that the two servants are debtor (or sinners). Of course,
one was indebted with a very large amount (thus sinning so gravely), while the
other was indebted little (thus, sinning less gravely). But the fact remains
that both of them were indebted (sinners). Thus, it is because of their debts
or sins that they learned to beg for mercy and forgiveness.
Human
beings are truly like the two servants in the parable. We are all sinners in
many ways. Yet, we know from the deep recesses of our hearts that there still
remains a certain amount of goodness in us. True, human nature is sinful. But
it is also true that man by nature is good. That is why even though we might
have already been plunged into sin, in one silent moment of our lives there is
always something that reminds us about good and bad. The reality of sin is our
great eye-opener. It is the first awakening to recovery. It is the beginning of
man’s road to conversion. He who sees the reality of sin is already half
battled won. The one who realizes how sinful he is now learns how to bend his
knees and beg for mercy and forgiveness.
This
is what Christ is trying to tell us in the parable. Man has to learn how to
forgive endlessly because as long as humanity exists, sin is always there. And
since every one is a member of this sinful humanity, everyone too has to bend
his knees for mercy. So, if no one knows how to forgive, what will happen then
to humanity? Human relations, therefore, demand the exigency of forgiveness.
b. Second,
because Someone greater than us forgives us first. If ever the
sinful servant must forgive his fellow sinful servant, it is because the king
himself had forgiven him first. This seems to be the centerpiece of the
parable’s lesson. The servant who owed the king with an amount he could
impossibly pay had no choice but to beg. And the king who had all the right to
demand for payment would simply cancel it because and only because of mercy.
This
is what Christ wants us to take by heart. Mercy can never be demanded. It can
only be begged. Mercy is actually a gift. It is something gratuitous. It is not
merited. It comes from a loving heart given freely to one who earnestly asks
for it. The king in the parable resembles the heavenly Father. And indeed, the
parable perfectly portrays the overflowing mercy of the Father. He overlooks
our sins and intends to overlook them so that he can show his initiative to
forgive. In his dealings with us mortals, mercy precedes justice, forgiveness
precedes fairness. He even forgets all other circumstances, aggravating or
mitigating just to show that he forgives first before anything else. Indeed, he
is like the Good Shepherd too who leaves the ninety-nine in the wasteland just
to search for the lost one. In the same way, therefore, we must forgive one
another because Someone greater than us has forgiven us first. In this way, the
act of forgiving becomes the real fruit of the Spirit moving our hearts.
2. But the lesson of forgiveness is only one
side of the parable. The other side is the lesson of justice. In fact, it is on
this context of justice and fairness that the theme on mercy and forgiveness is
developed. Thus, a deeper thought of it makes us realize that human relations –
and our relation with God for that matter – can never prosper by mercy alone.
It has to be accompanied with justice. If mercy makes us more divine, it is
justice that makes us truly human. The parable gives us at least two reasons:
a.
First, because justice in mercy and fairness in forgiveness make up the true
sense of relationship. “When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they
were deeply distressed, and went to the master and reported the whole affair.” The
parable narrates two facts: one, the largely indebted servant was forgiven;
two, this forgiven servant was unable to forgive a fellow indebted servant.
Taken separately and independently, these two are plain issues on forgiveness.
It is only when taken together that they also become issues on justice. What
deeply distressed the fellow servants are not the independent issues on
forgiveness, i.e., neither the fact that the largely indebted servant was
forgiven, nor the fact that the other fellow servant was not forgiven. Rather,
the other servants were annoyed on the issue of justice: i.e., the forgiven
servant was unable to forgive! Had the servant not been forgiven, it would not
perhaps matter for them whether or not he forgave his fellow servant. But since
he himself was forgiven and yet insisted to be himself unforgiving, those
servants who witnessed everything would surely outburst with one cry: “Unfair!”
This clearly shows that justice without mercy is just futile as mercy without
justice.
b.
Second, because one’s inability to forgive destroys the very nature of
forgiveness he ought to have gained. “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?” We must carefully note that what
triggers the king’s anger is not the debt of the servant. It had been already
cancelled and forgiven. Rather, the king rose into fury because of the
servant’s inability to forgive in return. Thus, it belongs to the very concept
of justice that once forgiveness is taken forgiveness must also be given. This
goes to say that forgiveness itself is a matter of dispensing divine justice.
If ever the Father forgives us, it is because we too had forgiven one another.
Thus, the Lord concludes his parable: “So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”