Matthew 18:21-35 (The Unforgiving Servant)
Made for something wonderful: to be sons and daughters of God.
- To minister to one another, selflessly and continually seeking their improvement
- To be part of a family that is united in a perfection of caring, joy, and humble sacrifice for one another
- To be stewards of a world that was created “good”, improving it through our service. To let it be a home for this family, so that all are nurtured and drawn continually “onwards” and “upwards.”
We were made for this, but we have settled for something much, much, less.
- We minister not to others, but to ourselves – caring for others only when it is seems good, useful, and natural to us and our egotism.
- The communities we create are always breaking down and fracturing because we seek our own will and those of our allies rather than the unity of all
- We have not created a universal community – a home – where all are welcomed, nurtured, and drawn toward perfection. There is no peace, no joy, no safe place where we can relax and grow.
We have become less than human.
There is no greater sign of this than our lack of gratitude for God’s forgiveness and our own unwillingness to forgive.
Today’s parable. Entrance into our inheritance is like settling accounts.
The first man had a huge debt – just like we do. But his attitude towards the forgiveness of that debt (and thus the restoration of his ability to enter into the Kingdom of God) was one of entitlement. WE ARE THE SAME.
- We do not sense or accept ownership of the damage we have done.
- We approach prayers of repentance and confession, mechanically, believing that reconciliation with God (the forgiveness of our debt) is our entitlement as Orthodox Christians. It is NOT an entitlement, it is a blessing brought about by the grace of God and His sacrifice on the Cross.
- How can we accept such a gift without being grateful? It is the sense of gratitude and joy as much as the actual forgiveness of sins that transforms us into true sons and daughters of God.
After he was forgiven, the man refused to forgive someone who owed him so much less. He had not been transformed. He had squandered the gift and lost the inheritance due to the children of God.
- How can a selfish and unforgiving man minister to his friends and enemies, selflessly and continually seeking their improvement?
- How can a selfish and unforgiving man be part of a family that is united in a perfection of caring, joy, and humble sacrifice?
- How can a selfish and unforgiving man be a steward of a perfect garden; how can he be part of a universal home where all are nurtured and drawn continually “onwards” and “upwards?”
He cannot.
And we cannot. Unless we are transformed by God’s forgiveness into beings of love that are willing to forgive even their enemies, not just seven times, but seventy-time-seven times.
We have work to do. It requires repentance, it requires forgiveness, and most of all, it requires love.
