Forgive Without Limit (Mt. 18: 21-35)

Then Peter approaching asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 23 That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. 25 Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. 26 At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ 27 Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. 28 When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. 31 Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. 32 His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 33 Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ 34 Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. 35 So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

Peter asked Jesus how often one should forgive a member of the community.  The number seven in the Bible represents fullness or completeness so should the sinner be completely forgiven every time he sins?  Jesus told Peter that his forgiveness should be without limit (v. 22).  Our offenses against God are much greater than our neighbor’s offenses against us.  Forgiveness of our neighbor’s sins is a condition of God forgiving our sins (vv. 21-22).

The parable has three parts: Mercy - the king and his servants the royal ministers (vv. 22-27), Cruelty - the royal ministers among themselves (vv. 28-30), and Justice - the king and his ministers (vv. 31-34).  The king decided to settle accounts with his ministers.  One of his ministers owed him a huge amount which he could not repay.  The king ordered the minister and his family to be sold into slavery and his possessions sold to repay some of the debt and out of mercy the king forgave the remainder of the debt.  The debtor whose debt was forgiven found a fellow minister who owed him a fraction of what he had owed the king.  He physically abused his fellow minister and demanded repayment of the debt.  When the minister could not repay him he cruelly had him thrown in prison until he could repay the debt.  The other ministers reported to the king what the wicked minister had done and the king in turn executed justice by handing him over to the torturers until he paid back his debt. 

There are two conditions necessary to receive God’s limitless mercy; one has to ask for forgiveness, and one has to exercise forgiveness oneself as Jesus taught in the Lord’s prayer (Mt. 6:12).  In this parable, Jesus gave us an example of the forgiveness God expects of his adopted sons and daughters.  Through Jesus’ death, our sins were buried with him, and God has forgiven the immeasurable debt each one of us owes Him.  If we do not do likewise and forgive our brothers and sisters without limit from our hearts, including our enemies, we will not be welcomed into God’s kingdom.  We cannot take for granted God’s divine patience, compassion, and mercy. 

Almighty God, help us to realize that the greatest injury or hurt we may suffer from someone does not compare with the sins for which you have already forgiven us.  Grant us the grace to always forgive others from our hearts so that we may be welcomed into your kingdom when our work is done.  This we pray through Christ our Lord.  Amen!

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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.

                Orchard, Bernard, et al. A Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture. Feb. 1953.