Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
I sometimes wish that I had a more dramatic conversion narrative. Having grown up in a Christian home and accepting Christianity from an earlier age, I have sometimes envied those who have more of a personal story to tell about their faith. It has often seemed that it would mean more to me or be more ‘real’ if I did have such a story to tell. I sometimes find it hard to relate to the man in the story, who is described as a great debtor, because I often don’t think of myself in those terms. And yet I know the story is meant for me just as much as for anyone else. I think Jesus is cautioning Peter (and us) here about not taking our salvation for granted. No matter what we think we have been saved from, we still need to work on forgiving others.
In the parable, Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a king who forgives the debts of those who owe him money because they beg for mercy. One man whose huge debt is forgiven fails to show the same mercy toward others, demanding that someone who owes him a much smaller amount repay him in full. One point of the parable is that, if God has forgiven us our sins, then we are expected to forgive other people the offenses they commit against us. We repay God’s kindness very poorly if we do not forgive other people when God has already forgiven us and shown us great mercy.
As someone who has not suffered great injustice in my life, I find it hard to admonish other people to forgive. How can people who have suffered or experienced persecution or mistreatment be expected to forgive those who have mistreated them? Yet I am reminded here of what Jesus himself suffered and forgave, and then it does make sense that such forgiveness can be demanded of his disciples.
Does forgiveness mean that we ignore problems and injustice, or that we let other people walk all over us? It seems to me that the answer to both of these questions is ‘no.’ We cannot forgive unless we have first acknowledge that some harm has taken place, and we are called on to actively resist injustice and evil in the world. So to forgive is neither to ignore wrong or harms, on the one hand, nor not to try to prevent people from suffering them, on the other. But it does mean that we need to seek to avoid carrying hatred in our hearts for those who practice acts of evil and injustice. As Jesus tells us elsewhere, ‘love your enemies, . . . pray for those who mistreat you’ (Luke 6: 27-8). This is much easier said than done. However, if Jesus commands it of his disciples then he must be willing to help us to do it.
Jesus reminds us today of the need for to practice forgiveness—both for the good of our own souls and so that we can bear witness to God’s love in the world. In response to the reading, I pray that God would root out from me any failure on my part to forgive those who have mistreated me or harmed the people whom I love.
- Joel Schickel