Jesus gives us another lesson on what it means to be church.  Last week we looked at Jesus’ approach for addressing serious wrongs that can lead to a shattering of a faith community if they are not addressed.  You may recall that it can extend to exclusion from the community if someone will not abandon destructive behavior.  Jesus recognized that there are times when “tough love” is necessary.  This week’s gospel lesson presents another part of the picture.  What is our obligation when our brother or sister in Christ genuinely asks forgiveness when confronted, as Jesus recommends.  The standard Jesus gives in this parable is no less than the measure of God’s own grace.

A few things are helpful in looking at this passage.  The number 7 is often used in the Bible as a symbol of completeness.  Jesus’ use of 77 here (sometimes translated as “seventy times seven”) is not intended as a literal number (if we are busy with literal counting of the number of times we've forgiven someone, we have seriously missed the boat!), but to emphasize complete forgiveness of the one who asks it.  To get an idea of the value of the sums used to illustrate the parable, 10,000 talents was an enormous sum, equal to a laborer’s wages for 150,000 years!  The first servant’s situation was hopeless!  100 denarii was equal to 100 days wages.  While not insignificant, the debt of the second servant to the debt of the first was a relative trifle.

Matthew makes the point of the story clear:  what we are asked to forgive is usually trivial when compared to what God has forgiven each of us.  If we have been forgiven so much, how can we fail to forgive in turn?  As difficult as that may be, notice that Jesus asks for not just forgiveness, but forgiveness from the heart!  Jesus is concerned not just with lip-service forgiveness, but genuine forgiveness.  How can we do it?  Only, I would suggest, when we are overwhelmed by the magnitude of God’s grace for us and filed with the Holy Spirit.  The answer can only be, “with God’s help, I will.”

Another point is well made by a commentator on today’s gospel lesson.  When in comes to our life together as a community of faith:  “The important thing in the end in not who is right and who is wrong or who was offended and who took offense.  The important thing in the end is that by the grace of God we have one another as we journey toward the fullness of God’s reign.”  Amen!

revclay