Wow.
Let’s just name it from the beginning shall we… This is a tough parable.
It’s one of those when the Deacon – after reading the gospel text – raises the gospel book, says, “The Gospel of the Lord!” and there’s a part of me that wants to respond,
“Ummmm Praise to you Lord Christ? I guess…??”
It’s that last verse, isn’t it…?? Jesus saying something along the lines of, “Just as the king turned over the servant to be tortured, so my Heavenly Father will do to you (if you don’t forgive)….”
Geeze. Harsh, right?? Tortured? Well, how about we look at that – and move backwards in the reading. If we do, I think two things might happen. One, we’ll see that word – and this image Jesus is creating – in its proper context. And two, far from softening the word – it will place us in a position of responsibility – we might feel the gravity of its importance.
Sometimes a little Greek, goes a long way. That word…is from a phrase meaning to “to torment.” That same term is used to describe a person suffering terrible anguish in Matthew chapter 8, it is used to describe a man in agony in Luke chapter 16, and in Peter’s Second Letter it used to describe Lot, from the Old Testament, who’s “righteous soul was tormented day after day…” Pain, agony, torment….
What Jesus is saying here is the one who harbors grudges, bitterness, unforgiveness – will be turned over to their own torturous thoughts, their own feelings of agony, and restlessness. This is not a picture of eternal punishment being dished out by an angry God. This is Jesus teaching a hard lesson about forgiveness to his disciples.
If we’re going to be part of God’s reign in this world, if we want to have a Christ-centered, abundant life, we’re going to have to forgive. Because if we don’t, it’ll lead to misery, and we’ll miss the life intended for us if we choose our own misery over forgiveness.
You sense the gravity? We actually have to change the way we live sometimes. We actually have to follow Jesus. Which can be tough and scary, especially if we’ve been hurt or angry for years…It’s a hard calling sometimes. But, I think, one of the reasons we’re seeing so many people leave the Church and a younger generation not see a purpose for it in their lives – why it doesn’t make sense to them. Is because they see it for what it’s become. How it’s a culture where we get to call ourselves Christian and never be a disciple of Jesus. So, I can go to church, sing my songs, raise my hands, recite my prayers, take communion, walk out the doors but where I bow down the other six days of the week is at the altar of my own prejudice, or anger, or bitterness, or unforgiveness.
But…I’m not despondent, I am not without hope, and I don’t we should be either…because I see that generational exodus from “church life” as a kind of gift - as an eye-opening invitation and a challenge - to re-center, to re-connect, to re-tell stories Jesus told….like this one.
…It’s not about a poor farmer (which is often assumed) and it’s not about a menial servant (which is also sometimes assumed). The man at the center of this story – he’s a middle manager – he’s a man who plays his often cut-throat role in perpetuating the system of financial patronage, loans, debts, and collections for his ruler, to who he is in some way indebted. It’s a well-oiled, competitive machine AND if he doesn’t act shrewdly, or even selfishly, he could lose his place. That’s how it was – from the ruler all the way down. That was just business as usual. Everyone committed to their role – no matter the cost. This is not the world of the poor Galilean that Jesus grew up around, but it was a world they were familiar with – a world that crept into their own all too often.
Which is one of the fascinating things about Jesus’ stories…the challenge, the change, the transformation doesn’t come inside the temple or the synagogue, it rarely occurs within a “religious” setting…it happens at work…in the home…in the neighborhood – in the daily grind of people’s lives and in their messy relationships.
Our ambitious – once employee of the month – office manager owed his boss quite a sum of cash. So much so he’s on the verge of being dealt quite a sentence – which by the standards of the time, this wealthy ruler would have the right to dish out. But something happens, in the wake of this debtor’s groveling. The man is moved with “pity” is the word. In the original language, he felt moved in his innards – which to the Hebrew mind was where compassion lived – in our guts. I’d like to think it still is. The gutsiest people I know tend to be the most compassionate people I know. Moved by compassion, he not only cancels his debt, but he also interrupts the whole crooked system. The old patriarch, in a phrase, dies to himself and his way of being – no more punishment, no more tying heavy burdens to people and tossing them into the sea of obligation. There’s a real chance of something new here…there’s a chance of new life.
Well…you heard the story. This was the moment, this man – his debt non-existent, set free to run wild in the light of freedom and forgiveness; to live basking in the mercy of jubilee – he could do the same for others…for all those who owe him, he could actually be part of something wonderful, cast the grinding wheel of servitude into the darkness where it belongs. But he doesn’t – instead he returns to business as usual. Pounding on doors, dragging people left and right into his study, making them sit at his desk stacked high with old account notes, demanding repayment – and when they don’t – off to the prison house.
You see…he won’t let go of his way of being – he was opened a door into the house of forgiveness, but he chooses to return to the wilderness of his counting house. He refused the new life he was being given. He won’t die to himself, so he can’t be raised from the dead.
And so why….why? Why did the old man, after catching wind of this…why couldn’t he forgive him again? He already did it once, can’t he just explain a little more – why turn him over to punishment?
This is the genius of Jesus’ story. When we don’t forgive…not only does it harm us, but it perpetuates the very ways of the world that harm others. It robs others of being able to forgive, it robs others of true change, and it can put them back in the very fearful places they were trying to escape from in the first place. Jesus announced the kingdom of God , he’s putting into motion a movement that is going to change people’s lives and one of the things this story is doing is showing his followers that transformation – God’s hope and dream for the world – is not going to happen by carrying on business as usual. Because when we do, we and others are given over to the agonizing feelings that come with being unforgiving, bitter people. It’s not God’s punishment – it’s self-punishment. We miss out on the life we were created to live. The person we are called to be. And we play our part in others missing the same.
Taking one more step backwards in our gospel passage this morning – we end where the reading began.
Peter asks Jesus, “How many times should I forgive? How many times?”
It’s a question still framed in the language of business as usual. How many times?
“Sit down Peter.” And Jesus says, “Once upon a time…”
Then comes a story about where business as usual gets us…or maybe where it doesn’t get us.
And all these centuries later, there’s all these people leaving church…
You know what…I think they’re just tired of business as usual.
But they might listen to a story.
What story are we going to tell them?
Amen.