So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.
The LORD calls us to forgive one another. This forgiveness is the basis for our life together. It is meant to be a distinguishing characteristic of the Christian people. We are able to forgive others precisely because we are first forgiven a much larger debt. We in turn are called to have pity. Having been shown mercy we must be ready to offer it.
Our starting place must always be the forgiveness we receive from Jesus. As we crucified him he prayed that our sin would not be held against us. Yet are we not ready to hold much smaller sins against our brothers and sisters?
'Pay back what you owe.'
Are we not all too ready to insist on our rights and what we perceive to be justice? It isn't justice for which we really look, although we tell ourselves it is. It is self-satisfaction. It is pride. It is one thing to refuse to be a doormat. This is typically healthy and appropriate. It is one thing to uphold the civil order. What we see in this wicked servant is something else. We can tell that it different because of his unwillingness to listen to the pleas for mercy that his fellow servant makes.
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused.
This behavior of the wicked servant masquerades as justice. But we can see that it is merely the guise of a hard heart seeking its own advantage. Jesus is the justice of God but he is always willing to listen to pleas for mercy. Any true justice will follow this pattern.
Even if our justice is perfect the LORD is not impressed. It must be tempered with mercy to move his heart. Let us not close our hearts to him lest we find ourselves forced further from his presence. Exile is an option that the LORD's mercy will allow in order that we might remember and relearn his priorities.
And he surrendered his strength into captivity,
his glory in the hands of the foe.
He abandoned his people to the sword
and was enraged against his inheritance.
Yet even in exile there is hope. The LORD never forgets his mercy.
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