him ten thousand gold ingots. As the man could not repay the debt, the king commanded that
he be sold as a slave. (...) The official threw himself at the feet of the king and said, ‘Give me time, and I will pay
you back everything.’ The king took pity on him and not only set him free but even canceled
his debt. This official then left the king’s presence and he met one of his companions who owed him a hundred
pieces of silver. He grabbed him by the neck and almost strangled him, shouting, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ His
companion threw himself at his feet and asked him, ‘Give me time, and I will pay everything. But the other
did not agree, (...) Then the lord summoned his official and said, ‘Wicked servant, I forgave you all that you
owed when you begged me to do so. Weren’t you bound to have pity on your companion as I had pity on you?’
The lord was now angry, so he handed his servant over to be punished, until he had paid his whole debt.”
Jesus added, “So will my heavenly Father do with you unless each of you sincerely forgive your brother or sister.” (...)
Reflection:
We can avail of God’s mercy depending on our capacity to forgive. For we
are the measure of ourselves. God’s commandments are reference points of our action.
But it is us who set the standard on how we are to be evaluated vis a vis God’s law. And so, we
cannot say that God is strict and unforgiving. We cannot say that God is unfair. How
we act is how we will be judged accordingly. Hence, salvation is a personal decision. It is
freely given by God, but we have to be ready to receive it. Take for example the gospel
today. The official whose debt is forgiven by the king was not merciful to his fellow who
owes him a much smaller debt than that foregone by his king. Yet he demanded and had the
poor fellow imprisoned until he could pay. Thus he forfeited his forgiveness from his king.
He could not receive it because there is no forgiveness in his heart. So the next time we
complain to God about His sense of justice, remember we measure ourselves accordingly
in front of God.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2021
