21Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. 23“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.24When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; 25and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. 26So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.28But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. 31When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. 32Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’34And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. 35So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Translation: Then came Peter (and) said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin into me and I will forgive him? Until seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not, I say to you, seven times, but until seventy times seven. For this reason, the kingdom of heaven was like a human king who wished to reckon together a word with his slaves. But when he had begun to reckon, one was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents. But, not having (the means) to pay him, the lord commanded him, and his wife, and the children, and all he has to be delivered over. Falling, therefore, the slave was worshipping him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will deliver over all to you.' And the lord of that slave, moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt. But, going out, the same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii and he held (and) was choking him, saying, 'Deliver over what you owe.' Then, falling down, his fellow slave was beseeching him, saying, 'Have patience upon me, and I will deliver over to you.' But he was not willing, but went to throw him into prison until he might pay back the debt. Then, when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and went and told their lord all that had happened. Then his lord called him (and) said to him, 'Wicked slave. I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave just as I had mercy on you?' And his lord, moved with anger, delivered him over to the tormenters until he might deliver over all the debt. And this my Father in heaven will do to each of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."
Background and situation: The passage appears only in Matthew. The immediate context, beginning in 18:1, concerns conflict in the church. First, the focus is on children and "little ones." Then, the focus shifts to a member of the church who sins against another.
Last week's lection, 18:15-20, spelled out the procedure for handling a case of (presumably) one sin against another person: first, go to the person and discuss the matter between the two of you; if that doesn't work, take witnesses; if that doesn't work and the old coot refuses to listen to the church, he may then be regarded "as a gentile and a tax collector."
Our lection this week, 18:21-35, moves the discussion from the recalcitrant sinner--the one who won't admit he was wrong--to the sinner who keeps repeating sins. Peter, the leader of the disciples, steps forward to ask the question: "OK, that's how we handle cranky old Uncle Edgar. What about the one who keeps on sinning?"
The Old Testament figure of Lamech (Gen 4:23-24) called for vengeance "seventy times seven." Jesus reverses this verdict by calling for "seventy times seven" forgiveness. This is, as is well known, unlimited forgiveness. (The number of completion, 7, multiplied by itself, and that further intensified by taking times ten. Think "beyond infinity".)
The parable of the unforgiving slave: Why unlimited forgiveness? For "this reason," Jesus says (dia touto): It's like a human king who wished "to reckon together"--sunarai--with his slaves. Sunarai means to "take up together, bring together, settle accounts."
The king is a bookkeeper. He wants to "settle accounts" with his slaves. Robert Capon, who sees the bookkeeping heresy in just about every parable (and quite properly so), says the king is one who will have high regard for the upright and the solvent, "but for anyone in real trouble, he will have no care at all except to get his money back as best he can."
The bookkeeping heresy, more broadly applied, is an attempt at self-justification, as if to say: Here's all the reasons I'm a swell person: member of the church council, sing in the choir, pay my bills, and hold out a stray dollar bill every now and then when passing a beggar on the street. It assumes justice, i.e. that we get what we deserve.
The point of nearly all the parables is that this is not God's way of doing things. God throws all those account books right out the window on the basis of the death and resurrection of his son. God deals with the world through grace and mercy and not through justice--not through what we deserve, in other words--(which, though aggravating at times as it applies to other people, is really in our own interests since we're no better).
One of the lord's slaves owes him an unimaginable sum, ten thousand talents. A talent was the largest single unit of that time, and 10,000 the largest number used to count. It is meant to be an incredible number. (Literally speaking, ten thousand talents would be 150,000 years worth of wages in the first century world, and about two-and-a-quarter trillion dollars in today's money.)
The slave can't pay--even Bill Gates couldn't foot this bill--and he, his wife, his kids, and all he has are to be sold so that the king can get less than a penny back on the dollar. (Probably an irrelevant question: How did he run up such a bill in the first place?)
Ten thousand talents was also the tax demanded by Rome when Rome conquered the region in 63 BC. It was an amount so onerous that Julius Caesar eventually reduced it. (I consider it not a coincidence that Jesus mentions an amount that would have been well-known to many: the amount Rome said we had to pay.)
The slaves falls to his knees, begs for patience, and promises he'll pay. (The slave, keep in mind, is a full supporter of the system which put him in this precarious position. He apparently played fast and loose with a lot of money, and now, that having failed, tries the only manuever left to him: begging combined with an imploring little speech. He's still trying to work an angle.)
Nevertheless, the king abruptly "repents." The meaning of metanoia, a word we usually translate as "repent," means "turning and moving in a new direction." Metanoia does not appear in this text, but that's what the king does. He shifts, turns, repents. He tosses one worldview out the window and takes up another one--not accounts and justice this time, but grace and compassion instead. He "forgave the debt (apheken)."
The king dropped dead to his old way of doing things. The slave, however, didn't get the message. He thought it was his dramatic little speech that turned the stupid king around. He congratulated himself, no doubt, on his smooth-talking con.
It's no wonder, then, that when he saw a fellow slave who owed him 100 denarii, he demanded payment. (100 denarii would be about 4 months wages, a not inconsiderable amount, but way less than the budget shortfall of the State of California.)
Not surprisingly, the old way of doing things can erupt into violence. The slave seizes his fellow slave, starts choking him, and demands payment. (The word "fellow slave" (sundoulone) appears four times in five verses, almost as though mocking the unforgiving slave who can't see that he's in the same boat as his fellows.)
His "fellow slaves", observing all this, were "greatly distressed" and went to the king, who, not surprisingly, was himself outraged. "Wicked slave," he says, called "wicked" not because he lost money but because he wouldn't forgive. "I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave just as I had mercy on you?"
Not "moved with compassion" this time, but rather "moved with anger," the king tossed the unforgiving servant to "the tormentors." (Basanizo: "one who elicits the truth by the use of the rack, an inquisitor, torturer.") The unforgiving slave sees the violence he had inflicted on others now directed back at himself.
"And this my Father in heaven will do to each of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart," says the Lord Jesus. Of course. If we are unforgiving, we buy into the same worldview as the bookkeeping heresy: What matters are the accounts. We may need violence to protect them. If that's the way we continue to go, which we no doubt will, we will continue to be "tormented."
There is, however, a better way, which is forgiveness, grace, mercy, compassion, and peace. It's how God works and what Jesus teaches, which he does forthrightly, directly, and, on every occasion, unequivocally. When it comes to forgiveness, there is never a loophole and never an option. It is always: you must forgive.
This is not a matter of going through the motions. The unforgiving servant was trying to play on his king's sentimental weakness with a manipulative little speech, all the while believing in the principles of the bookkeeping system. He had no intention of changing his worldview, only of working an angle on it to get himself off the hook.
No, forgiveness must be "from your heart." Which means it can only be done in light of the kingdom, in light of the new reality inaugurated by the death and resurrection of Jesus. Outside of that, it's not possible. Even inside, it's a tall order. But order it is.
With that, this section of Matthew dealing with church conflict is brought to a close. This is the final word on church conflict, the bottom line of which is forgiveness.
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