The Debts We Carry

Exodus 15 Matthew:18:21-35 Recently, someone told me the story of two Monks who were on a pilgrimage, when they happened upon a prostitute unable to get across a river. The one moved by compassion offered for the woman to sit upon his shoulders as he carried her across, and did so. But for the next six days, the other derided him for having sinned, for having touched a woman, especially a prostitute, for having her sit atop him, having her thighs on either side of his ears. Finally, the first monk stopped and said, “I confess, I helped a woman, I carried her across the river, but you have been carrying my debt and burdening me with it for six days!” Do we allow our past to define us, does our past weigh us down? Does forgiveness only cancel the debt, or does forgiveness change us and free us for the future, to no longer live as slaves, as debtors, but instead to live life as forgiven by God? Coming to know each of these texts, I have heard one scholar after another question that if God is unconditional forgiveness, why was Pharaoh's heart hardened ten times? Why when the first slave does not forgive another, is the King so cruel as to throw him and his family into a place of weeping and the gnashing of teeth? If this were truly about MERCY, why does the King act so harshly? Would we not prefer a “churchy” version of this parable, where the King forgives the servant an enormous debt, and as the servant leaves he sees someone who owes him a debt, and in turn following the Golden Rule, he forgives as he was forgiven? But the Bible, like our own lives, is not happy, or easy to understand. More often than not, the Gospel of Matthew is played in a Minor Key, where those who beat the prophets are not forgiven, but are themselves killed. This parable only occurs in Matthew. In a section on Forgiveness, immediately after Jesus instructs the disciples that in Heaven, what someone else has, what they got away with matters Not, but instead the angels focus on God, and whenever there is any who are lost, God seeks them like Lost sheep. When the question is first asked, the offense Peter names is my brother has Sinned against me, SINS are not only about the debt, but the broken nature of our relationship, and also of that person with God. In the Gospel of Matthew, there is always a begging of the question, and usually the first to ask any question is Simon Peter. “SO, we are supposed to forgive one another, and you have shown us how to forgive, but how much, how many times?” After awhile, forgiveness no longer feels like forgiveness, it feels like you are being taken advantage of, like you are enabling the other to continue to make mistakes. That is the real nature of these offenses. In Greek the word used here is HARMONEN, meaning “MISSES.” Not Murder, not atrocities, not lies, but mistakes. And implicit in what Peter is saying, is that the offending party is not just a stranger, but my brother. Among the disciples there were pairs of brothers, James and John, Simon Peter and Andrew, who had been a follower of John the Baptist, one of the two sent to follow Jesus, who long before Peter declared Jesus the Messiah Andrew went to find Simon saying “We have found The Lord.” Andrew, who is standing right there among the disciples, Peter asks, “Lord, how many times do I have to forgive him?” Several years ago, I came into Confirmation Class, and one of the students was hitting another. When separated, the one who was hitting, described “But he hit me first.” As if he were owed the right to hit back until life was fair or equal. The orthodox answer to Peter's question was 3 times. If offended against three times, you could end the relationship. So risking an outlandish number Simon Peter more than doubles the orthodox answer, “Is Seven times, enough?” But Jesus replies, “Not seven, but seventy times seven.” Forgiveness is not about a ledger book. I have forgiven my brother 488 mistakes, so when he makes two more, I get to pounce on him. NO. If we are keeping track, if we are counting mistakes, then we are not actually forgiving at all. The only point of the numbers in Jesus' Parable is to identify the magnitude of the debts forgiven. In the first servant, he owes the King 10,000 Talents, and One Talent was the equivalent of 15 years wages. This is not a debt he can ever repay. The servant has made himself and his family indentured servants for generations to come, a debt of over $3,681,600,000. And when he asks for a lifetime to work at restitution, the King grants complete forgiveness. Yet, the second servant, owes the first something like $10,000. Still a significant amount, but a debt which could actually be repaid in a lifetime. Yet, the unforgiving servant is unwilling to forgive. The point is not simply to forgive as forgiven, to follow the Golden Rule, but rather that being forgiven by God is intended to change us. Not simply restoring the debtor to start over, equal, bankruptcy canceling out all creditors, but rather making us into new creations, as those with a spiritual debt for forgiveness. IF we cannot live life differently, then we have canceled our own forgiveness, and thrown ourselves and all future generations into that place of nursing hostility. In recent years Medical study after another has been published by Psychiatrist, Richard Fitzgibbons, by Psychologist Paul Coleman, by Professor of Educational Psychology Robert Enright, that nursing anger and resentment and revenge is detrimental to our health, causes sleeplessness, eats at our stomach linings, can be correlated to heart attacks and shortening our life-expectancy. While forgiving gives a sense of euphoria and lightness, lowers blood pressure, lowers cholesterol and anxiety. The statistic that amazed me was that 1 in 5 victims of a fatal Car Accident had been in a quarrel within 6 hours before the accident. The fatality from Texting while Driving is 1 in 10, so we are twice as likely to be killed when driving angry, than we are when distracted from driving by Texting. The description I like the best, comes from Rabbi Harold Kushner, counseling with a parishioner described: “I am not saying that you should forgive your husband because what your husband did was not terrible, it was horrible. But, am suggesting you forgive, because he does not deserve to have the power to turn you into a bitter resentful person!” When your hate of someone causes power over your sleep, power over your nerves, power over your peace of mind, you give that enemy greater power, the only way to undermine this, is to forgive, which is your taking charge of what effects you. The Story of Exodus, the Crossing of the Red Sea, is not about mistakes. This is foundational. This is the defining event for who the people of God were to be. Set aside all the stories of Genesis, for 400 years, the Hebrews had become deeper and deeper in debt to the Egyptians. The question of Exodus is not only who is God, but what will it take for the people to change from being Slaves of Pharaoh to being Free, and does Freedom simply mean you are no longer in debt, no longer property or that you live as those who appreciate life as a gift? To do so, requires a change for Pharaoh as well. This was no little thing, what is being described is the change of economy, political structure, social standing, that instead of having a population who were owners and those who were slaves, all the Slaves would be free. Time after time, through the 10 plagues, Pharaoh feels tricked, dominated, but unwilling to let go. Finally, with the Passover the people have sacrificed to God, and God has taken the first born of every Egyptian family, until the whole population of Egypt want the Hebrews to go. As the people flee, realize this is no small number. 10 abreast for 150 miles, this is a parade from here to Niagara Falls! 100 Hebrews abreast, for 15 miles from Skaneateles to LaFayette. Before them, is the Pillar of Fire, behind a Cloud. For thousands of years, people have questioned how this was possible, how the Red Sea opened up. I have to believe this is a retelling of Genesis Creation; just as in Genesis 1 the Spirit of God is brooding over and blowing upon the water of chaos. And God caused the waters to recede and Dry Land to appear. But the real question, is not did this happen, or how did this happen, but could the people change from being Slaves to being Free?