Lectionary Reflections September 11, 2011

Lectionary Reflections    September 11, 2011

Exodus 14:19-31,  Psalm 114,  Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18: 21-35

The lectionary readings, which are of course predetermined for the year’s cycle, are uncannily appropriate for this day.   It is all about law and punishment contrasted with the radical way of grace and forgiveness.  Each of the readings provide a lot to reflect on.  I’m going to focus on the Gospel reading, on what is called the “parable of the unforgiving servant”.  After spending some time with it, I’m calling it the “parable of the crazy king”!

The parable is Jesus’ expanded answer to the question “how many times must I forgive, even seven?” In the first answer, Jesus’ famous 77 or seventy times seven is a figure of speech meaning too numerous to count, infinite.  Forgiveness is to be an ongoing practice fostered by an altered state of being, enveloped in grace, rather than a balanced accounting, in accordance with the rules of law and order.  We get glimpses of grace now and then, such as the response of the Amish community to the school shooting in Nickel Mines, PA in 2006 (See the book and the film by the title Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy”. )     That kind of grace is deeply disruptive, radical to the bone.

The parable features a king and an indebted servant who begs  forgiveness and is forgiven by the king.  (by the way, it is for an incredible huge amount (1 talent was more than a year’s wages, so 10,000 talents is an unpayable debt, really).  But the servant does not respond in kind to his own sub-servant who owes him much (well, a hundred days wages, but we are talking days versus years, so, you get the point).  Now when the king learns of this, he reneges on the forgiveness of the debt and punishes the servant by torturing and jailing him.  What!? Really?!  I thought this was to be a picture of the kingdom of God?  Hey Jesus, what happened to the forgiveness of 70 x 7?  What happened to grace?  The parable finishes with the command to forgive our brothers and sisters as we have been forgiven, or else! Or else God will punish us! 

Don’t you want to say:  Are you kidding?  Wait a minute, Jesus, what about the 70 x 7  from God?  Does God go by a different rule?  This parable makes me crazy. The Gospel is supposed to be not about getting what we deserve, but  getting what we don’t deserve!  It is especially disturbing because this not an isolated case, there are other parables like it (I’m told Matthew has 8 such stories that end in the nasty demise of someone).  But no, we are left thinking maybe we need a stern warning and threat of punishment, to prevent us from depending on God’s “easy grace” to allow us to go on not forgiving our brothers and sisters. 

I feel like saying, “could you please reframe that in a positive way?”  Such as: “and the servant was so transformed by the experience of forgiveness that he forgave his debtors and even through them a party”.  That sounds more like the realm of God as a banquet that Jesus is all about.   Or, if you want a crazy, memorable parable, how about taking a line from Monty Python and abolishing the whole hierarchy thing …“I didn't know we had a king. I thought we were an autonomous collective! …. we're an anarcho-syndicalist commune.  We take it in turns to be a sort of executive officer for the week... “  But no, instead we get what seems like a pretty twisted image of a God which has led to all kinds of terrible ramifications if read literally, which it has through history.   So, is Jesus in Matthew making a big joke? Or maybe getting to us to us upset and bothered?  That is the way I choose to read it, “against the grain” of the typical historical majority reading.  After all, in the final analysis, Jesus’ actions in life speak more powerfully to grace, for when faced with the sword he had his followers lay down the sword, and forgave us all.

John+