Studies In the Parables 12 - The Parable of the Ungrateful Servant (Mat. 18:21-35)

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The Parable of the Ungrateful Servant (Mat. 18:21-35)

21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began the reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents; 25 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. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, `Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 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.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and besought him, `Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt. 31 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. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, `You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; 33 and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers, till he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

Jesus has been teaching the disciples that he is the Messiah of a quickly approaching kingdom, but that his Messiahship and Kingdom are radically different than what the disciples expect. The disciples’ expectations are rooted in a political interpretation of the Messiah and, growing naturally and inevitably out of that, a violent overthrow of the present world order. This divergence of expectation is seen most clearly in events preceding the Transfiguration. Who is Jesus? Peter answers correctly that he is both the Messiah and the Son of God (Mat. 16:16). Jesus draws from this the obvious (to him) implication that he must therefore die (v. 21). Peter, working from the political perspective, draws precisely the opposite conclusion and rebukes Jesus. Jesus in turn says to Peter, “Get behind me Satan” (vv. 22-23).

“What is the nature of Jesus’ Messiahship?” “What is the nature of divine power as expressed in the Church?” We discern from the story leading up to Mat. 18 that the two questions are inextricably linked. The divine way is one of weakness not might. The divine way is the path of acceptance when one is wronged (one might say being wronged rather than being right). The human perspective is the path of both might and right.

It is in this larger context that we find this parable of forgiveness. If we only consider Jesus’ teaching on forgiveness, we will miss the larger Gospel point. It is apparent in the chapter as a whole that this parable transcends the specific topic of forgiveness; rather forgiveness is the launch pad for a teaching about the fundamental kingdom sensibility of our relationship to other people in the kingdom. It is certainly about forgiveness, but it is also about not creating a reason for someone else to take offense (that is, creating a stumbling block) as well as our relationship in general to our fellow kingdom travelers, whom Jesus identifies as “children” and “little ones” (in contrast to the greatness and power that the disciples seem to think they are going to eventually achieve).

The Role of Forgiveness in the Divine Economy

God is certainly eager to forgive. How many times should we forgive? Seven? No. Seventy times seven, a poetic turn of phrase that says our willingness to forgive should be unlimited. While Jesus answers Peters question directly, the parable is (on the surface) only tangentially about the question. Peter’s question is, “How many times do we have to forgive?” The parable says, “You cannot be forgiven unless you are willing to forgive.” Again we are faced with this common theme in the parables. Salvation may be a free gift (as the Apostle Paul describes in Romans and Galatians), but in order for it to take effect, we must incorporate it into our lives. There is nothing we can do to earn our salvation. By the same token, salvation is not something extrinsic to us that God simply sprinkles upon us willy nilly; that salvation must be taken hold of by us, worked into our beings and made effective by our own actions. If we are to be saved forgiveness must be operative at two levels. First, God must forgive us. (That’s a given; God is anxious to forgive.) Second, we must accept divine forgiveness by forgiving others. If we refuse to forgive others, we are, by our actions, rejecting God’s forgiveness, and ultimately, rejecting God’s salvation.

And so it is (when we consider the parable’s implications) that this seemingly tangential parable answers Peter’s question rather directly, but in a far deeper manner than what Peter was asking. The parable implies a second question. Peter asks, “How many times should I forgive?” The parable answers the question, “Why should I forgive in the first place?” God’s forgiveness is not just a legal act, it is a living principle. The divine life infuses everything that God does. It is easy to think of divine attributes—love, peace, joy, forgiveness, patience—in terms of philosophical categories. But when God offers these fruits to us, they are far more than just ethical imperatives, they are living and powerful energies of God flowing from God’s person into our person. If divine forgiveness is truly flowing into me, I cannot help but forgive. If I am unwilling to forgive, then it goes without saying that God’s energies are not flowing into me. “How many times ought I to forgive?” is a misleading question. If I have received God’s forgiveness, I have that living principle within my heart and I become a forgiving creature. If I am wronged, whether it’s the first wrong, the eighth, or the thousandth, forgiveness will flow from me, because the ocean of divine forgiveness is bottomless and expansive as God himself.

Worrying About the Little Ones

As I said at the beginning, this parable has a larger context than just forgiveness. Another story (a parable in the sense that it tells us of God’s character, but not a parable describing the Kingdom of Heaven) was the cause of Peter’s question in the first place. In order to understand the Kingdom implications of this parable on forgiveness we must put it into the context of the parable of the one lost sheep.

Matthew 18:12-20

12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 14 So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. 15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.”

There are two ways of looking at this story. The legal scholar will recognize in this passage a process for resolving disputes in the church. The ecclesiastical scholar will see a model of church leadership. And indeed the church followed this basic conciliar model of leadership for the first millennium of her existence. When the Roman Bishop rejected this model offered by Christ in favor of usurping authority into a single episcopal seat (rather than the historic model of shared leadership where “two or three gathered in Christ’s name” are given authority), the Great Schism dividing the Eastern and Western Churches ensued, because the other Bishops rejected the new Roman model.

While we find in this story a model of church governance, this was not Jesus’ primary point in telling the story. Instead, Jesus is telling us about the incredible lengths to which a person (and group) will go when they embody divine forgiveness. What we have is a “little one,” a “sheep,” a member of the community who has gone astray. “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or tow others along” etc. (vv. 15ff). Here we see an example of forgiveness in action. A wrong between two people has occurred. One person, following the principle of divine forgiveness, goes to the other and seeks forgiveness. But the other is unwilling to make things right. The first person has followed the principle of forgiveness; they have done what is “required,” but their responsibility does not end there. Forgiveness isn’t about doing what’s required, it’s about restoring right relationship and right relationship has not yet been restored, so further action is called for. Other people are brought in and the group seeks to restore the relationship. Still, the other person refuses to forgive. But two attempts at restoring this person is still not enough. The matter is brought before the whole community in hopes that harmony and right relationship can be restored. If the person still refuses to forgive there is little else that humans can do. As the parable which follows teaches us, we must incorporate divine forgiveness, not merely by giving mental assent to it, but by being willing to go to great lengths forgive others by restoring relationship. The other person in the Mat. 18 story is clearly unwilling or unable to do such a thing. The only possible conclusion is that divine forgiveness is not operative in their lives. The only loving thing to do at this point is to treat them like an unbeliever because their actions are clearly saying, “I am an unbeliever,” no matter what is coming out of their mouth.

It is both a harsh story and an illustration of how far the principle of forgiveness will take the forgiving person. It is not enough to merely forgive the wrong, the principle of divine forgiveness requires that I do all in my power to restore the relationship. Divine forgiveness is not merely passive (saying, “I forgive you.”), it is active, going to a great deal of work to bring about an attitude of forgiveness in other party as well.

This set of actions goes far beyond right and wrong, who is correct, and whether I am wronged or not. It even goes far beyond Peter’s follow-up question. Forgiveness is not only about how many times in a row I forgive a person. (That was Peter’s question.) Forgiveness is also about the great lengths to which I will go in order to right a single wrong.

Summary

This simple and straightforward parable about forgiveness is part of a complex narrative of intertwining ideas. Who is great in the Kingdom of Heaven? What is the nature of forgiveness? How should I deal with a brother (a member of the community) who carries a grudge? All of these questions have at their root the question of Jesus’ Messiahship. The fact that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God inevitably means that he must suffer and die. If we are God’s people, the same goes for us. Might is not a Kingdom virtue; neither is being right. Rather, we must allow ourselves to be wronged for the sake of Christ. We must be willing to suffer the consequences of others’ pride and wrongdoing for the sake of the Kingdom. And more specifically (because “the Kingdom” should never be spiritualized away as something far off and other-worldly), we must go to great lengths to maintain right relationship with the community. Right relationship (in contrast to being right) is the Kingdom virtue. Acceding to others’ wills (in contrast to might) is the Kingdom virtue. But those virtues can only be practiced to the extent that we embody divine forgiveness by forgiving others as Christ forgave us.