Debts and Debtors 1

Jesus taught us to pray, forgive us our trespasses as we forgive

those who trespass against us. Most of the earlier translations used debts
and debtors, but we tend to think of debts only in terms of money. Think
about that tiny word, as. There are a couple of ways to look at it, but neither
is very comforting. Whether we are supposed to be forgiven in the same
way that we forgive or at the same pace as we forgive, we are limiting our
request of forgiveness from God to our own practice of forgiveness. Come
to think of it, what does forgiveness even mean? Does it mean grudgingly
overlooking an offense so that a relationship can move forward? What is
the dynamic of forgiveness? Can someone without authority forgive
someone with authority, or does forgiveness only run downhill? Does
forgiveness take away our right to feel hurt and put-upon? What is the
correct response to forgiveness? Can we, like the king in the story, take it
back if the forgiven doesnt appreciate it enough? Maybe we should start by
walking through the story itself.
Good old impulsive Peter is ready to show Jesus how tolerant of a
man he is by suggesting that the proper number of times to forgive is 7.
Essentially, Jesus tells him that if you are keeping track you arent really
forgiving. Jesus follows this up with an over-the-top story where a servant
owes a king the gdp of several nations. We dont know how he managed to
get so far into debt, but the king is fed up, threatening to have the man and
his family sold to satisfy the debt. For some reason, the king feels pity on
the man when he begs for more time to pay the debt. He might be forgiving
in order to show what a wonderful guy he is (as far as kings go), he might
really feel bad for the guy, or he might plan to hold this forgiveness over the
mans head forever. (The fact that we dont know this helps us to fight the
temptation to make this into a simple, moralistic tale where the king stands
 Debts and Debtors 2

for God.) Anyway, the forgiven man no more than gets out the door when
he runs into a guy who owes him a smallish amount of money, grabs him
by the throat, and starts yelling at him to pay up. Even when the forgiven
man heard his debtor use the exact plea for mercy that he had used, the
light bulb didnt come on. He had the man thrown in debtor's prison.
Picture the forgiven man when he finds out that his actions have been
reported and that he has been summoned to appear once again before the
king. I remember clearly the last time that I was told to appear in front of the
high school principal and the superintendent. The message came on a
Friday that I was to report to the office at 4:30 on Monday afternoon. My
mind raced back and forth over the offense for which I was being
summoned. I justified my actions. I raged against the unfairness of it all. I
wondered whether I should stand up for myself or beg for mercy and if it
would even matter. I went through my personnel file in case I was to be
accused of a pattern of misbehavior. My union representative and I spent
30 minutes together on Monday afternoon, and we entered the meeting. In
Jesus story, the king orders that the man be tortured for his wickedness. In
my story, the superintendent decided that I had reached my 491st offense,
and that it was time for me to try something new, and here I am.
It seems that we are going to have to go beyond the story itself to
truly understand what Jesus is trying to teach us about forgiveness. One
helpful reminder is that Jesus forgives our sins by taking them upon
himself. We are completely absolved of our sins -- it is like they never
happened. Dag Hammarskjold said that, Forgiveness breaks the chain of
causality because he who forgives youout of lovetakes upon himself
the consequences of what you have done. Forgiveness, therefore, always
entails a sacrifice. Think about that! Forgiveness means accepting the
 Debts and Debtors 3

consequences of the sins of another. This might be as simple as having our

pride wounded by being taken advantage of. It can be easy to forgive small
oversights or errors; Forgiveness becomes problematic only when the
trespasses are more serious, when they are intentional, and especially
when they are repeated.
I am still struggling with the idea of unlimited forgiveness because it is
counterintuitive. I am used to pointing out the sins of others and even those
that I might happen to commit and weighing and measuring them. I
sometimes enjoy dwelling on how the sinfulness of others has made my life
difficult. One piece of advice that I found helpful is :Just as you want to be
forgiven, so someone is in need of your forgiveness. Consider when a
beggar asks you for something that you are a beggar too in relation to God.
It is simply not about me -- not one single, solitary bit of it. AMEN