Matthew 18:33
'Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?'
Money and commerce are vital to any society. Jesus knew this and taught using parables with money as a teaching example in many of them. In fact, throughout the Old and New Testaments, currency is brought up many times.
Jesus uses today's reading from Matthew to teach on forgiveness of debt. He begins by using the example of the king asking his chief debtor to pay off his loan. The amount was so large that he could not and asked the king to give him more time to pay it off. The king was so moved that he forgave the total loan. But then the debtor left and went to someone who owed him money, but a smaller amount. The person said he couldn't pay it and the debtor threw him in jail. The king heard of this and exclaimed to the one forgiven of the debt, "Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant as I had pity on you?"
On the surface, Jesus is speaking of money. But there is a deeper level to which he is referring. All of us are quick to condemn and judge others. We hold past quarrels against each other, things said in anger and frustration. Then when tensions get high, all of that anger and grudge boils over and things get ugly. Yet our Father in Heaven says that we should forgive, not only the debt that maybe one cannot repay, but the past transgressions we have held. There is no way we can ever repay the gifts God has given us. What would make God most happy is that we love one another every day and make the best use of our gifts and talents every day to glorify Him. Finally we should live what we pray in the Lord's Prayer, "to forgive our debts or trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass or are in debt to us."
