We’re way into the Lenten season, so a proposal for Lectio Divina on the theme of forgiveness (Matthew 18,21-35) seems about right [Italian version here]. In some ways, we could say that this parable serves to explain the meaning of the phrase in the Our Father: forgive us our debts, as we forgiven our debtors.
If you’re new to these proposals for prayer, you might want to start here with some suggestions on how to pray.
Lectio
As we start praying, the first step is always a reading of the scriptural passage, slowly and calmly. Here, we read Matthew 18, 21-35 [here to read online NRSV, external link]. Having read through the text a first time, we return to re-read the passage, and looking in more detail.
[21] Then Peter came and said to him. Peter’s question gives Jesus the occasion for this moment of teaching about forgiveness.
[21] if another member of the church. Literally, a brother, understood in the sense of brother (or sister) in the community.
[21] As many as seven times? Peter’s position is, actually, rather generous. If we are considering serious offences (and not mere trivialities), we know well how friendships, relationships, even on a family level, may be wrecked for one offence. Once, perhaps, we might find it in us to forgive; a second time, when trust has already been betrayed, is already next to impossible, let alone seven times. The number seven, in the Scriptures, also symbolises completeness.
[22] seventy-seven times. Or, with other manuscripts, seventy times seven. The questions is not mathematical, but symbolic: if seven is already the number of perfection, completeness, Jesus takes this number to a significantly higher level, always counting on the symbolism of the number seven.
[23] the kingdom of heaven. The evangelist here uses heaven to avoid mentioning God directly, a common practice of Jewish piety (then, as now).
[23] may be compared. Jesus starts the parable by getting us to imagine the scene: the kingdom of God is like a lord settling his accounts with his servants …
[24] owed him ten thousand talents. The exact figure is not exactly important, but its magnitude is. The talent is an ancient weight measure, around 33 kilograms (depending on places, varying between 20 and 40kg). Ten thousand talents, therefore, are some 330 metric tons! To put this in monetary terms: king Ptolemy XII of Egypt, one of the richest kingdoms of the Mediterranean, paid 6000 talents to Rome to be recognised by the Roman Senate as “ally and friend of the Roman people,” at the time of the first Triumvirate; the whole of the ethnarchy of Archeleus, son of Herod the Great, which included Judea, Samaria and Idumea, only paid 600 talents in annual tribute!
[25] his lord ordered him to be sold … In Jesus’ time, enslavement for debt was common practice. Those who didn’t have the resources to pay, had to pay through their (and/or their family’s) work as slaves.
[26] “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything”. The servants request, even if sincere, is ultimately false, or at best totally naive. The sum owed is so exorbitantly high that it is, in fact, impossible to pay back.
[27] out of pity for him. The huge debt is significant in this context, as the lord has pity of one who has a clearly unpayable debt.
[28] a hundred denarii. The denarius was the standard day wage for a labourer, which makes the debt here the equivalent of hundred working days work.
[29] “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” The request here echoes the first one. The contrast, however, between the magnitude of the debts couldn’t be greater, which makes the request quite reasonable. With some sacrifices surely, but this debt is payable.
[30] he refused; then he went and threw him into prison. The contrast between the mercy of the lord, and the ruthlessness of the servant, couldn’t be more marked.
[33] “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” The question of the lord here is strong, but just. The non-forgiveness shown by the servant shows a clear lack of understanding of how much mercy and forgiveness has been shown to him.
[34] in anger his lord handed him over. At this stage of the parable, the lord acts toward the servant in the same way as the servant acted with his fellow. The difference, though, is that considering the huge debt, it will ultimately be unpayable, so presumably resulting in servitude for live for the entire family.
[35] So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you … A very hard word to hear, and if we have an issue with it, it is quite right. I cannot imagine that Jesus wants us to see the Father as a petty god who acts measure for measure with humanity. The teaching the parable wants to transmit though remains very true. Forgiving, and receiving forgiveness, are inseparable. We could even say that those who do not forgive, have not yet really understood the magnitude of forgiveness received. More tragically perhaps, they are still, in reality, closed to receiving forgiveness.
Meditatio
Moving on to the second stage of the Lectio, it is good to re-read the passage, to better reflect on it and on ourselves. I will propose some questions for reflection … but it is important to allow your own reading and prayer to bring up others.
- Where am I a debtor before the Lord? Are my eyes, and my heart, open to understand how much I have received, to how my debt before God is actually unpayable? Do I live with gratitude towards God?
- Have I allowed, from the depths of my being, this request for forgiveness, this plea for patience, to emerge? Have I ever truly asked forgiveness to God for how I waste the gifts received?
- In what way have others offended me? Which hurts, which wounds, don’t heal, or heal very slowly?
- Am I a person of forgiveness? Or not? How many times am I willing to forgive? Or do I rather find in me a spirit of revenge? Where do I enclose others in prisons of unforgiveness?
- Where have I, in sincerely forgiving others (despite the cost), found myself as forgiven and loved by God first?
- Finding myself forgiven, do I look at the world, and my neighbour, with eyes of mercy, forgiveness, love?
It is important to give ourselves time with these questions, to let them sink in deep. Which answers do I find emerging in my heart? What do I feel with my being with these answers? Joy? Sadness? Hope?
Oratio
I allow the reading and reflection to become prayer, conversation with the Lord “as a friend speaks to a friend” (as advised by St Ignatius). In prayer, I express what I find within me: thanking God, asking for a grace or for forgiveness. I also try to listen to what God is trying to tell me. Good to remember that the Lord speaks right there in the depths of our being.
Contemplatio
As I end the conversation, I stay there with the Lord. Contemplation invites to relish the presence of the Lord, as friends who enjoy each others company even in silence.
I conclude praying the Our Father.
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Nova et vetera 