That got me thinking. What would I have said if my husband, the dearest person in my life, had been taken from me on that day? If I had a chance to talk to Zacarias Moussaoui, what would I say?
I know what I'd hope I'd be able to say.
"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?'" --Matthew 18:23-33
This parable that Jesus told has some incredible things in it. We have a king - obviously that's God. And we have the servants - that's each of us. So the protagonist of this parable owes the king a great sum of money - 10,000 talents. For perspective, 1 talent is equal to what an average laborer would earn in 20 years. So to amass 10,000 talents this servant would have had to live and work for 200,000 years! Jesus use of this hyperbole isn't pointless - he wants us to see just how astronomical this servant's debt against the king is. It's so great that this guy would never be able to repay it through his works or actions. So the king calls him to task, and the servant begs for mercy - and the king grants it. He doesn't only give the servant more time to gather the funds to pay the debt, he forgives the debt in full! That's pretty amazing since this king had 200,000 years worth of earnings coming his way. So out the servant goes, and in the hallway he bumps into another servant, this one owing him money - 100 denari. A single denarius was 1 day's wages. So he collars him and demands payment. The debting servant uses the exact same words to plea for mercy as the previous servant used with the king: 'be patient with me and I will pay you'. And he probably could have. This money could have been amassed in just over 3 months! But the servant refuses to forgive the other's debt and has him thrown into prison.
Well the king catches wind of this and calls the first servant into the office again, this time chiding him, calling him wicked. The king forgave a debt so high that there was no hope of repaying it. The servant wouldn't even forgive a debt that could have been paid off in half a year tops. You can see who's getting thrown into prison now.
So what's God driving at in this passage? The trigger of this parable is a simple question and answer between the apostle Peter and Jesus. Peter asks what the cap is on the number of times he's obligated to forgive someone for sinning against him. Jesus tells him "seventy times seven" times. So basically he's saying there is no cap - forgive indefinitely. That may seem unreasonable. But that's why the following parable is so helpful. It gives us a proper perspective.
Scripture is clear that all people are sinners - we owe God a debt that we will never be able to pay. But God, in his mercy, through Jesus's death, made it possible for us to recieve his forgiveness (if that doesn't quite make sense, go read the post for Dec 22 - it explains this in more detail). In light of that, God is basically saying to us through this passage "view others' sin against you in light of your sin against me." No amount of sin against us will ever exceed our own amount of sin agasint God. Jesus demonstrated this effectively in the parable using the amounts of money. Since we were forgiven much, we can forgive a little - and any sin against us is 'little' when compared to our sin against God.
It may not feel 'little' though. I'm sure the people who lost loved ones on 9/11 don't feel like they were sinned against 'a little'. It probably feels more like 10,000 talents are owed them instead of just the 100 denari. I won't presume to know their pain. It is certainly worse than I've ever expereinced, and they are a strong, courageous lot for persevering through this awful, awful trial. However, no amount of suffering negates the teaching of scripture. And scripture is clear on this issue: no matter what we feel like, our sin against God will always be greater than others' sin against us.
So what would I say to Moussaoui? I hope, in light of this teaching from scripture, that I'd be able to say from my heart, before anything else, "I forgive you." I'd probably want to share this passage of scripture with him (abridged, of course), and tell him I'm no better than he is. We're both sinners before a holy God - we've both got an astronomical debt to pay. But I'd make big of this: the king is willing to show mercy! This is what grips me hardest in this passage. God will grant mercy to anyone who asks. And he doesn't just give us more time to pay off our debt - knowing we could never do it by our works, he erases our debt. That's amazing, simply amazing. What he asks in return is that we follow his example and forgive others as we were forgiven.
I'd also hope to tell him that the King had already extended him mercy through the jury's verdict yesterday - life in prison instead of the death penalty. He's got a little more time to recieve the king's absolute forgiveness. What a treasure. I sure hope he doesn't waste it.
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