|
30. Of the Ruthless.
A king was keeping an
account with his servants. Among them there was one who owed him ten
thousand pounds. This is a very large sum of money according to the old
way of reckoning, and a servant can hardly repay his master if he has
embezzled it. As the servant did not have the money to pay, the master
ordered him to sell himself, his belongings and everything he had. In
those days, people were still sold into forced servitude. So the servant
fell down and prayed, saying, ‘Lord, be patient with me! I will pay you
for everything.’ The master had mercy on him and set him free and gave
him the whole debt.
As he went out, he met one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred
pence; he attacked him and choked him, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe me!’
Then his debtor also fell down before him and begged him: ‘Have patience
with me! I will pay you everything.’ But he refused to show mercy and
had him imprisoned until he paid everything. When the king's other
servants saw this, they were greatly distressed and told him everything
that had happened. Then his master called him before him and said, ‘You
wicked man, I have cancelled all your debts because you begged me.
Should you not have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I have had
mercy on you?’ He then handed him over to prison until he had paid for
everything.
‘In the same way,’ said Jesus, ’my heavenly Father will do to you if you
do not forgive your brother his trespasses from your heart.’ Peter asked
Jesus: ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother? Is seven times enough?’
Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven
times. That is, as many times as you can believe that he is sorry for
his mistake. Even the corrected man is still lacking so often, and God
forgives him daily. Why should the weak man forgive only seven times?’
|