Contemplating the Scriptures for Lent

Dear Diary,

Just completed watching the movie “300” on DVD which depicts the true story of how 300 Spartan soldiers under the leadership of King Leonidas overcame the odds and held on to the pass of Thermopylae. In that famous of battle, the possibly 250,000 Persian army eventually overwhelmed the Spartan-led Greek forces but with massively disproportional losses. A pretty nice movie but full of gore though. Kinda love the stories of Ancient Greece and the Middle ages.

It was a relaxing day for me today. I spent time burning MP3 songs into a CD so that I could share them with my family. Yup, told them that I will leave the CD in our car since the audio-player can play MP3 files too! ;-) Went for my first evening run in possibly weeks! 3 weeks? Felt so unhealthy before the run… so I ran even in the slight drizzle this evening. Volunteered to cook a simple dinner with Mum and Dad… glad they liked that simple fare.

Since last week’s night duties at the airport, I have totally neglected reading the bible for more than a week! So I sat at my desk in the late afternoon with the bible opened. I was supposed to continue reading at Jeremiah 16, but decided to break the routine and read Matthew 18: 21 – 35. In that passage, it is about the “Parable of the unmerciful servant”. Let me try to expound on this passage of scriptures and hopefully get myself more faithful to analysing the Word of God.

In verse 21 – 22, Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive his brother when he sins against him. Jesus told him seventy times seven. What Jesus really meant was not to count till 490 times but rather it is an infinite number of times. “7” is a “complete” number in Hebrew’s understanding…. Like how God made the world in 7 days and rest on the 7th day in Genesis, or how 7 days after Noah went into the Ark the flood came, or how the walls of Jericho fell after the Israelites circled it 7 times… we could go on… the seven churches, the seven stars, the seven seals in the book of Revelation, the seven beatitudes…. So when Jesus told Peter to forgive seventy times seven, he basically tells us to forgive until we are “complete”. At least, from my understanding…

Okay, let’s see… so in verse 23, Jesus told a parable. Should I just type out the entire passage so that you can refer? Maybe I should… hang on… I will do cut-and-paste. See if I can “google” an online bible or not, hahaha… which version? ;-)

Saint Matthew 18: 23 – 35

23 "Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
26 "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' 27 The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 "But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded.
29 "His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
30 "But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.
32 "Then the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?' 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."

So in verse 23, the king wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As in many of the depictions of the gospels… the king refers to God who is the ruler of the kingdom of heaven. So, contrary to what many think… God do make us account for our works when we eventually stand face-to-face in him for judgment. We are accountable for the possessions and talents which God has bestowed on all of us. Whether we are a billionaire or a pauper, we are just stewards of the possessions on this Earth as all things belong to God… We always pray in our Anglican liturgy, “All things come from you and of your own do we give you…” The offertory prayer. This is specifically dealt with in Matthew 25: 14 – 30… yup, the “Parable of the Talents”. Good to have the internet so that I can search the verses up fast… can’t seem to remember the locations of verses that well these days! Hee hee… In conclusion, we are held accountable with what is given to us in this lifetime. To put them to good use; to help the poor, to do good, to help charity and missionaries… blah blah blah…

So in verse 24 – 25, a servant who owed the king 10,000 talents (equivalent to possibly millions of dollars or 20 years’ of wages?) was brought to the king. He could not settle it, so the king ordered him and his family to be sold into slavery. We have to see in the ancient Jewish context. As in the book of Exodus, chapter 21, we see that a Hebrew servant can be bought but on the 7th year (there you go again… SEVEN, haha), he must be set free even if he can’t pay the debt! A bit like the bankruptcy act? Hahaha…

Okay… so in verse 26, expectedly… the servant begged for mercy and said that he will pay back everything. Is it possible? Let me just zip ahead to verse 27 – 30 first. In verse 27, the king took pity on him and forgave him his debts. He left as a free man. Now what happen after that? He found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii (about a few dollars) and demanded him to pay back. His fellow servant could not pay him and begged him to be patient with him. That’s in verse 29. Well… this servant refused and threw his fellow servant into prison till he could pay the debt. Hmmm… how to pay back when you are stuck in prison ah? Hahaha… okay… that’s besides the point.

As like any good old story… the other servants were indignant over what had happened… maybe I should follow the bible… they were “distressed”. So they reported to the king. In verse 32, the king summoned the servant and reprimanded him for showing no mercy to his fellow servant although the king had showed much greater mercy to him. The parable ended with this wicked servant being turned over the jailors.

Sigh… okay, so we go back to verse 26. If the king is depicted as God… are we ever able to repay God our debts and trespasses by our own effort? I am sorry but the answer is a flat “NO”. Hey… but I only told a harmless lie while my friend betrayed me and made me lose my job! Or maybe you will go… my husband committed adultery! This man murdered my parents… the severity of the crimes gets larger and we tried to justify why we cannot forgive so-and-so. Is there really an unforgivable sin? Is there any chance that we have sin against God less than others sinning against us? So that we can say that we cannot be equated to the first servant in that parable? Think again.

If we punch a guy up in a pub… okay, that’s a brawl. Maybe a fine or a few days’ jail. Maybe even out-of-court settlement, haha… since our arbitration is getting more popular these days. If you punch the President of Singapore or maybe our Minister Mentor… boy… you could be in serious trouble. At least, a few years in jail? That is a federal crime! The severity of the offence is not so much about the offence itself but whom you trespass against. The President by virtue of his office and the dignity of that position… makes that offence inflicted on him a massive one! Many times more serious than if you inflict that offence on a man along the street! Now, if we look at God, the King and Creator of the universe… woah… He is an infinite. Hence a small sin is infinite in payment… can you make up to God? Hahaha… so the 10,000 talents really meant “infinite” in my opinion. However, as we see in verse 27, God showed infinite grace to us in forgiving us our sins. Of course, the sacrifice for our sins in His Son, Jesus Christ, is one of perpetual value. God paid the infinite price for our redemption. We can never, in our own strength, pay back what we owe God.

In verse 35, the last verse, Jesus reminds us that God will not forgive us if we do not forgive others. That is exactly what he meant when he taught us the Lord’s Prayer… “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us…” We need to meditate on the seriousness of the nature of our sins and not be frivolous with them. No… we are not going to be psychologically “guilt-ridden” because of that, haha… Rather knowing that such a great price has been paid for our sins and the great mercy ever flowing, we will find it easier to love our neighbours and forgive their trespasses against us.

Hope this expounding of the scripture helps you as much as it helps me. Have a wonderful Lent! Week 6 of Lent and next week is Holy Week! May God help us to be merciful and forgiving to the people around us. Amen.

God Bless,

Andrew