When the master began to settle accounts, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he had no way to repay, the master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all he had, to pay the debt. Then the servant fell on his knees before him, begging, “Have patience with me! I will pay back everything!”
Feeling sorry for the servant, the master released him and forgave the debt. As soon as he left, that servant met one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, “Pay back what you owe!” Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, “Have patience with me! I will pay you back.” But he refused and had him thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.
When the other servants saw what had happened, they were very distressed. They went and told the master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in and said, “You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” In anger, the master handed him over to the jailers until he could pay back all he owed.
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”
(From the Gospel according to Matthew 18:21–35)
Without Limits
Forgiveness is not a Christian invention, and this is confirmed by the question Peter asks the Teacher in this Sunday’s Gospel passage. It is a reaction to Jesus’ teaching we heard last Sunday. The Lord then spoke about the possibility of correcting mistakes made, urging that every person, no matter how much they have sinned, should be given the opportunity to repent at any time. Jesus also mentioned a community ready to do everything to welcome back a member who has sinned, avoiding hasty judgments and condemnation.
But Peter wants to understand how long this “reintegration process” should last. Most rabbinical schools in Jesus’ time encouraged their students to forgive at least three times, following God’s example, who forgives each person three times. Peter knows that the topic of forgiveness and attention to sinners is dear to his Teacher, so he offers a kind of “rate,” suggesting that Jesus’ disciples could forgive twice as much as others, or even a little more—specifically seven times.
This number, spoken by Peter, is both symbolic and very unrealistic… Let’s be honest: who among us could forgive the same person seven times for repeated insults or rudeness? Once, maybe twice at most… the third time already leads to punishment, which, as we think, should be given to him.
What teacher would allow a student to make the same mistake three times while doing an assignment? What employer would remain silent and say nothing if an employee missed work three times without a valid reason? And who among us would forgive a serious offense from a neighbor or family member three times? But seven times is still so far away…
Peter knows very well that he exaggerated consciously and certainly did not expect to hear the answer “seventy-seven times.” One might think that either the Teacher is joking, or this saying is deliberately exaggerated to show that forgiveness is not about calculation. It is an inner attitude, a disposition of the heart arising from the understanding that from God we always receive forgiveness, which is incomparably greater than our constant sins.
It is an inner attitude, a disposition of the heart arising from the understanding that from God we always receive forgiveness.
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This understanding leads to forgetting the offenses suffered, trying to give up revenge and not repay others with the evil they have done to us. If forgiveness is understood as a gift—as a gift God has given us many times—we cannot count anything: we will always remain indebted to God. Therefore, it is pointless and even wrong to demand compensation from others for the harm they have caused.
Where did the servant who owed ten thousand talents in Jesus’ parable find the courage to go and demand that his colleague repay him one hundred denarii, when it took 6,000 denarii to earn one talent? Where did he find the courage to grab his friend by the collar, completely ignoring his request for more time and throwing him into prison for a debt of several thousand euros, when he himself had been forgiven a debt of several billion?
This parable should help us understand what Christian forgiveness is, which is not based on fair compensation or calculations. This is because God is not just in this sense toward us. He never was and never will be just, because by His grace “He does not deal with us according to our sins nor repay us according to our iniquities,” as the responsive psalm reminds us.
The God of Jesus Christ is not just, but He is merciful and gracious, so among believers in Christ there can be neither “an eye for an eye” nor a principle of reward for merits. It may seem to us that such principles are just, but essentially they are laws based on the concept of revenge. Relationships created by Christians must be based exclusively on forgiveness, which is founded on the Covenant and the close relationship between God and man. God loves man so much that He forgives unconditionally and endlessly, and this is the measure by which a person must evaluate their relationships with others.
From a legal point of view, forgiveness is madness, a denial of justice. How can one trust God who speaks of forgiveness rather than carrying out justice? Moreover, what did He do by forgiving those who killed His Son on the cross, and continues to do by crucifying His children on thousands of crosses throughout history?!
However, God Himself has set certain limits. He will always forgive everything, but will not forgive those who also do not forgive their brothers. It is no coincidence that in the Lord’s Prayer we find the words: “forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” We cannot speak of a God suffering from senile dementia who accidentally forgets all the evil done by people. No, God forgets nothing, but, fortunately for us, always and gladly forgives if we only ask.
As we mentioned at the beginning, forgiveness is not a Christian invention, but the crazy persistence in forgiving and the creation of a new society based on a culture of love and renunciation of revenge—that is Christianity.
True, it must be admitted that even after two thousand years we are still only at the very beginning of that path…
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Monsignor Adolfas Grušas
