This week, we commemorated the attacks on September 11th
by remembering the fear, anger, and profound sadness that overwhelmed us some
twenty-two years ago. For some, losing family or friends in one of the attacks becomes the occasion for feeling some of the pain again. Anger is
also revisited for many.
I remember the powerful feeling of being vulnerable and then
quickly transitioning to a blind anger that suggested we make a glass coffee
table of the Middle Eastern countries hostile to the United States. Of course,
I quickly realized how such an action would kill millions of innocent people.
This anger surprised and frightened me. I soon witnessed this anger in my fellow citizens play out in attacks on anyone who appeared to be Middle Eastern, and I experienced how difficult it is to forgive.
Today’s gospel is very clear: If you seek forgiveness and
mercy from God, you must also be merciful and forgive those who have sinned
against you. The indebted servant is shown mercy in the parable, and the debt
of ten thousand talents (3.48 billion dollars in today’s money!) is forgiven.
Clearly, such a debt could not be paid in hundreds of lifetimes. What follows is equally astounding. The
servant who was shown mercy shows no mercy towards another servant who owes
him about one hundred days’ worth of wages (100 denarii). Of course, word
reached the lord, who had shown this servant mercy, and the lord reversed his
decision, replying, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you
pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I mercy
on you?”
The parable ends with Jesus remarking, “So my heavenly Father
will also do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother or sister
from your heart.”
Notice that Jesus is not simply saying the act of
forgiveness is sufficient, but that the forgiveness needs to be from the heart. In other words, it is
not enough to fulfill the letter of the law; your actions must come from a
deeper part of you: your heart.
If we go back and follow the parable’s narrative again, we
notice a couple of elements. First, the original debt is impossibly large and
physically impossible to repay. Secondly, the debt of the second slave to the
first is manageable, although sizable enough to matter. What is important here
is that Jesus is suggesting that before you forgive, you must reconcile; hearts
must be changed. Anyone can shake hands and say “I’m sorry,” and still allow
hatred and fantasies of revenge to fester until some new offense emerges.
So, are we to forgo gestures of forgiveness until we really
mean it “from our hearts”? No! But we
should realize that the gesture must be a promise for earnestly pleading with
God through the Holy Spirit to change our hearts. Last week’s Psalm 94 records
God’s remarking his people had a “hardness of heart” despite having witnessed “all
of my [God’s] works.” When we pray as we try and find forgiveness in our hearts, we pray that our hearts may be softened towards the one who offended us. We
pray that God takes our “heart of stone” and replaces it with a “heart of flesh”
(Ezekiel 36:26). Forgiving isn’t meant
to satisfy our need to look righteous, to “come out on top,” but to foster a
deep humility that even to forgive properly must be a grace bestowed upon us by
God. As William Sloane Coffin said: “God’s forgiveness is more than a blessing;
it’s a challenge.”
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