In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
Were the events of today’s parable in a different order, my dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the actions of the Servant would make sense. If first,
[He] came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt.
then it would make sense, because this is how our world works. We make a deal, an agreement, a transaction, and we expect the other side to come through. And when this does not happen, we expect compensation, vengeance and retribution. “Pay what you owe,” is our own rallying cry, our own justification, our own way of ascribing guilt. The “wrong,” the “sinners,” must pay for their crimes, pay for their guilt, pay for their iniquity, while the “good” may bask in their own self-righteousness.
Yet I am the Servant. I am the one who has come into contact with the King and been forgiven a great fortune, I have received forgiveness so that neither I nor those I love—since our sins affect not only ourselves but our families, our friends, our neighbours and even the entire world—are sent into the slavery of prison: I have been liberated and set free. And yet I still act according to the standards of this world: “Pay what you owe.” Because, dear brothers and sisters, I have accepted the Lord’s forgiveness without a change of character, I have accepted the Gospel but only on my own terms: “Lord, I believe,” I state, yet if I am being honest I must add, “as much as suits me, as much as helps me, as much as I do not have to serve others, as much as I do not have to feel indebted, as much as I do not have to forgive.”
We speak easily of forgiveness when we are the beneficiaries but forgiveness is hard: it requires effort and energy—but, most of all, it requires the help of God. Without God it would be impossible to forgive and so I must pray that God gives me the strength to forgive. To forgive those who cheat me, to forgive those who sin against me, to forgive those who show no remorse. So, I must pray to God for the power to forgive which may take me a lifetime; yet, today I can make a start: “Lord, I do not have the power to forgive this person: help me and have mercy on me.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we pray so often in the Lord’s Prayer, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,” but the Greek is more accurately translated, “forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) Let us pray that we learn to forgive our debtors, those who owe us, that the Lord on the Last Day will forgive us. But, there is more, let us not only forgive those who owe us, let us go further and pay the debts of our families, our friends, our neighbours, our society, that all the more of our race be not held in the prison of their sins but be released to freedom. Where there is a debt of kindness let us pay with kindness, where there is a debt of money let us pay with money, where there is a debt of prayer let us pay with prayer, where there is a debt of love let us pay with love: wherever there is debt let us do whatever is owed and release others from bondage to freedom. And then, dear brothers and sisters, we will have brought the reality of the Kingdom of God to our world.
To our risen God and Saviour Jesus Christ, who “release[d] those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage,” (Hebrews 2:15) be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-creating Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife, as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? Or is it only Barnabas and I who have no right to refrain from working for a living? Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard without eating any of its fruit? Who tends a flock without getting some of the milk? Do I say this on human authority? Does not the law say the same? For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? It was written for our sake, because the plowman should plow in hope and the thresher thresh in hope of a share in the crop. If we have sown spiritual good among you, is it too much if we reap your material benefits? If others share this rightful claim upon you, do not we still more? Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
— First Corinthians 9:2–12
The Lord said this parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But that same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord delivered him to the torturers, till he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
— Matthew 18:23–35