MATTHEW 18:21-35
MERCY DOES NOT KEEP AN ACCOUNT.
In the name + of Jesus.
In his parable, Jesus tells about a man who had loaned to his fellow servant 100 denarii. This was no small debt. This was 100 days' wages. In other words, if your annual income was $60,000, your fellow servant was indebted to you by almost $20,000. At first glance, you might have thought of the angry servant, “Get over it. You should just let this debt go.” But once you see the debt in current monetary terms, you might understand how this servant would “seize him, choke him, and say, ‘Pay what you owe!’” (Matthew 18:28, paraphrase)
The debt was real, and it was not trivial. 100 denarii is a substantial sum. If there had been no effort to repay, the first servant was wronged and justifiably angry. He was in the right to demand justice of his fellow servant. That is what the Law is for. We appeal to it when we are wronged. It is a legal form of vengeance. And yet, for some reason, the other servants were appalled. We don't hear anyone saying, “You know, I don't blame him. I would be livid if someone owed me that much and did not repay.” Instead, “when his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.” (Matthew 18:31)
Our Lord, in his wisdom, used money to get us to appreciate his mercy. We understand money. We carefully guard it and track it. If someone owes us, we will not forget it. We will demand repayment; if not repayment, then revenge. And everyone will tell us that we are justified to appeal to the legal system. But the parable is not about money. It is about mercy. It is about someone who sins against you. Jesus tells the parable in answer to Peter's question: “'Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.'” (Matthew 18:21-22) Jesus explains that mercy does not keep an account.
Jesus' reply to Peter's question is outrageous. Can you image forgiving the same person seventy-seven times? Would you really allow yourself to get to a point where the same person sins against you seventy-seven times? It makes Peter's suggestion of seven times generous.
St. Paul wrote to the Romans, “Owe no one anything, except to love each other.” (Romans 13:8) Christians are called to love one another. But if I sin against you, I have failed to render it. More than that, I am indebted to you. I need to replace what I have stolen, restore what I have broken, or rectify wherever I have wronged you. Sometimes, that is impossible. How could I make it right if things cannot be replaced or restored? I remain in your debt. According to the Law, you have the right to demand justice. This all makes sense to the world which teaches you, “Don't get mad; get even.” The Law measures and tracks and keeps score, but mercy does not keep an account.
If you have been sinned against by a fellow Christian, the debt is real. The sin is painful. The breach among brothers and sisters is not trivial. It cannot be brushed aside by, “Get over it!” any more than a $20,000 debt can be dismissed. But if you are motivated by vengeance or stubbornly demand justice on the one who has sinned against you—as if making someone grovel improves anything other than your ego—then you have failed to remember what it is to be indebted yourself. A debt of 100 denarii is significant. And sins are not trivial, ever. But Jesus does not tell Peter about forgiving someone seventy-seven times so that he can keep score. Quite the opposite: Mercy does not keep an account.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.” (Matthew 18:23-25) The king had extended a loan to a servant for ten thousand talents. If we say the smaller loan was worth $20,000, then this loan is worth billions. You might wonder about the sanity of a king who would give that much to his servants.
But what has the Lord given you? Has he not given you the world? You get sunrises and seasons. For you, the birds sing and the flowers grow. For you, artists make music, movies, and comic books. You get daily food—and if you are like me, too much of it. You get sturdy shelter and a multi-colored, multi-textured wardrobe. You get to walk and drive. You get to see and hear and dream. You get to reason, to imagine, to employ your skills and interests, and to communicate with loved ones. Oh, and you get money. God has granted innumerable blessings to you. You have been entrusted with gifts galore with which you get to honor God and love your neighbor. You and I are indebted to God to serve him in grateful and willing obedience. But oh, how we have complained and squandered and hoarded and hated. We have convinced ourselves that we are the reason we have so much and that God should really treat us better.
Do not be deceived. “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.” (Matthew 18:23) The Lord does, indeed, hold us accountable for what we have done. We owe him obedience, and we have given him bitterness. We owe our fellowman love, and we only consider how our fellowman has not respected us enough. According to God's Law, we ought to be cast into the prison until we can pay back to God what we owe him.
In the parable, “the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’” (Matthew 18:26) This is laughable. No one can restore, replace, or rectify this debt. No one could deliver the first penny, let alone return the billions. But “out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.” (Matthew 18:27) Mercy does not keep an account.
And so, the Lord does not treat us as our sin deserves. He does not carry out revenge on us, which justice would demand. But that does not mean he just lets everything go. If the king has entrusted so much and it cannot be repaid, someone has to absorb the cost. It is like the political campaign to just cancel all college loans. Now, if you want to debate that college costs are too high, that is another topic. But loans were given, and return payments are expected. Those who took the loans agreed to that when they took them. If our government should decree that all loans are forgiven, that does not mean the money magically went away. Someone is taking a loss. Someone else is covering the cost.
The king who canceled the ten thousand talents never got his loan back. He absorbed the cost for his servant and let him go free. This is precisely what our Lord has done regarding your debt to him. Jesus did not magically waive your sins away. Justice demands that a payment must be made for sins. That is the Law, and God never ignores his Law. The debt is truly and really owed. Therefore, Jesus paid the price and absorbed the debt for you. He rendered the perfect life demanded. He gave to his Father all the love and obedience which was owed, but then he accepted the charges for all debts we incurred. Jesus, the perfect Son of God, took on our guilt. The immortal Son of God suffered our death. The sinless Son of God accepted our hell. He has bestowed the benefits to you when you were baptized. There, he wiped the ledger clean.
And he did more than wipe the ledger clean. The blood of Jesus continues to keep the ledger clean. For, mercy does not keep an account. You and I, even though we have been forgiven of all our sins, continue to commit them. But our Lord does not put checks in his ledger for our offenses. He summons the penitent to the altar where the blood of Jesus, his Son, continues to cleanse us of every sin. Jesus keeps you reconciled to the Father; for Jesus has covered your debts. You do not stand condemned, but beloved and redeemed, innocent and blameless. For mercy does not keep an account.
If you know and appreciate what it means to be shown such mercy, how can you refuse mercy to your fellow servants? If you insist that they must endure the justice of the Law for you, then understand that this same Law will be used against you. The Law always concerns itself with what is deserved. The Law measures and tracks and keeps score, but mercy does not keep an account. The Lord is merciful, not treating you as your sins deserve. His mercy endures forever and continually exonerates you of your guilt. Therefore, you who bask in mercy get to show the same mercy to others. If you must forgive your fellow servant seven times or seventy-seven times, mercy endures forever. Mercy does not keep an account.
Faith does not focus on the faults of man, but on the goodness and promises of God. Since our gracious King gives us so much and so freely, we also get to give freely and gladly. For our debts have been covered. The blood of Jesus is real, and his mercies are not trivial. Therefore, we look upon our fellow servants not according to the faults they display, but according to the mercies they need. We get to be lavish with mercy. We find joy in extending forgiveness and being reconciled to our fellow servants.
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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