We’re not sure what prompted Peter to ask Jesus about how often to forgive; probably he himself was in a situation where harm had been done. Whether Peter was asking someone else to forgive him, or someone else is asking Peter’s forgiveness, we know that things were tense between them.
Paul speaks to a way of living and etiquette that is unfamiliar. We are told to mind our own business. That servants are accountable only to their masters, and we cannot judge in a situation that isn’t our own. That’s also the trouble with parables. They were told to a certain people in a certain period of time in a certain part of the world. We are in none of these realities.
We look at them to be simple comparisons, replacing different characters for righteous people, or evil ones, or God almighty. The point of the story is about forgiveness.
And what a relief being forgiven can bring. In 10 days, the last payment on our car comes out of our account. After 5 years, 60 payments, the car we’ve been driving all this time will finally be ours. Another debt paid off. But you know, even with that payment no longer being made, that “extra” money will disappear quick enough.
It’s not enough to pull even again, we have to get ahead. The slave’s status was back to a zero balance, nothing owing. But he wasn’t content with that, the first chance he had, he pushed to gain at someone else’s expense.
The parable is a story that doesn’t quite make the translation to our times because we don’t know life then. The amounts are unimaginable, absurd really, but the lesson is more than about numbers. Just like church is more about numbers.
Gathered together again, we share our stories, get involved in others’ lives, supporting and helping the best we can. We will judge others, ourselves, harshly and unnecessarily, that is human nature. We can forgive and be forgiven. That is in God’s nature. For 7, or 77 times, or 7 x 70 times, divine and eternal love and care await.
Our debts are continually forgiven; let us respond in kind with charity and generosity, with love.
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