|
|
|
Last week we
began with the middle group of Parables sometimes referred to as the
behaviour Parables. Today we continue with our study of these Parables
which put emphasis on our relationship with others.
How should
we see other people? What is each person for us and what is the thing
that regulates our relationship with another person? In our physical
world, governed by the nature of the flesh, we remain unconcerned with
others. We keep to ourselves being indifferent and insensible to whether
the other person exists, if he is hungry, if he is suffering, if he is
in need of our help. What regulates and controls our relationship with
others is not their needs, but our own interest. A person is worth our
attention if it helps our needs, if it serves our interests.
But that is
the world of the flesh, in the place called the kingdom of God, the
community we call the Church, what regulates our relationship with
others is Christ. The Church foresees a community of persons bonded
together in love. The next person is our brother and an image of God.
The Fathers say that "we look upon another person, we look upon the Lord
our God, because we are all created in his image." As God's children we
are all related to the degree of brothers and sisters and our
relationship of love with them must be the same as the relationship God
has with each person. This is the main message of the behaviour Parables
and especially so of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant which we are
about to hear.
The occasion
for the Lord to say this Parable came when Peter asked him:
"Lord, how many times may my brother sin against
me, that I may forgive him? Is seven times enough?" The Scribes
taught that one could forgive only three times. The Apostle Peter wished
to exceed the righteousness of the Old Testament, so raised the number
to seven thinking that it was a great achievement to be able to forgive
someone seven times. Peter's question shows that he was still not
spiritually enlightened and was still governed by the rules of the
flesh. What would he do if his brother sinned against him eight times?
Was he not allowed to forgive him even if he repented and asked for
forgiveness? But, if Peter was reborn in the spirit, then not only would
he have forgiven him uncountable times, but would have offered his very
life for his brother. In answer to Peter's question Christ said to him:
"Not seven times but seventy times seven,"
in other words without any limit at all and to make this clear to Peter,
Christ told the Parable of the unforgiving servant. Let's then hear the
Parable.
"Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a
certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had
begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand
talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to
be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to
be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying,
Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of
that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him
the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his
fellow-servants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on
him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his
fellow-servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have
patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went
and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his
fellow-servants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and
told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had
called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all
that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had
compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee? And his
lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay
all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also
unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their
trespasses." (Matthew 18:23-35)
In the
Parable, Christ presents God the Father as an earthly king who wants to
take account of his servants and administrators of his property and
wealth. As in all the Parables the Lord begins with an earthly image to
lead us to the spiritual meaning and transport us to the Kingdom of
heaven. The king's servants are every person and the debts that we owe
are our many sins which we cannot repay. Our sinfulness makes us
unworthy of God's loving kindness, although the Lord, through the death
of His Son on the Cross, has forgiven us our offences. As the king in
the Parable, God has the right to require an accounting of all our
actions, our words, our thoughts and desires, the secrets of our hearts
and everything that we have done at any time. How we have put to use his
property, in other words, the gifts he has given us whether they be of
the body or the spirit. God of course knows everything. He has no need
to take account and do a stock analysis as would an earthly king.
Everything is clear and naked before his eyes. If the Parable mentions a
reckoning and judgement it does so for our sakes that we may awaken and
repent and not leave our sins to build up in our souls. A great mercy
from God is for Him to let us settle our accounts, to pay our debts
through repentance. It is most fearful to depart from this world with
debts that we cannot pay or repent of in another world.
The Parable
continues with one servant being brought before the king who owed him
10, 000 talents. As we saw in the Parable of the talents, one talent was
equivalent to a person's wage for sixteen years, so 10.000 talents would
be equivalent to something like a billion euros. Symbolically it
represents the person weighed down with a great load of sins and
transgressions, of criminal acts done willingly and unwillingly. It is
the person who lives independently of God, who has cut himself off and
distanced himself from God and from his protection. It is easy to think
that the person represents anyone but ourselves, but in fact he
represents human nature of which we all share without exception. Paul,
speaking of sinners who Christ came to save, considered himself as first
among sinners. (1Timothty 1:15) In the same way, the saints, when
speaking of themselves, also considered themselves the worst of sinners,
but they took courage in repentance.
The great
debt of sin is the result of the life according to the flesh, which
makes man a stranger to God and a slave to the laws of sin. He is naked
of God even though when he was created he received the breath of God
which should have brought him closer to God and like him. His sin is the
abandonment of God, stripped of the grace he was given and clothed with
the garment of shame.
The Parable
doesn't mention if the debtor had anything good to his name. His
departure from God and his slavery to the passions of sin lead to the
debt of 10,000 talents – to uncountable sins. But he didn't have
anything to repay the debt or to give something as a first instalment.
He didn't have a single good deed that would have been seen as an effort
on his part to try and reduce the great debt that he owed.
What then
should God do? Should he punish him? But God is not a tyrant and
punisher. God intends that all men should be brought closer to him. Yet
the Parable says that the king commanded that the debtor be sold and all
members of his family and everything else that he had so that payment
could be made. At first this might seem like an extreme and cruel act
for God and it would have been if that was what God intended, for to be
sold means the total alienation from God, the complete withdrawal of
divine grace which is none other than extreme misery and hell.
But God
doesn't want the death of a sinner neither does he delight in seeing him
in pain. He didn't create us so that he could punish us, but so that we
might become partakers of his goodness. He allows us to experience
various trials for the salvation of our souls, so that these trials will
lead us onto the narrow road that leads to life eternal. What God wants
is the return of the creature to the creator so that he may partake and
enjoy life. This is the intention of the threat of punishment. It is not
an act of cruelty or inhumanity, but an act of love and mercy in order
to stimulate and awaken the servant to repentance and humility. He had
no intention of selling him, for, if he had had this in mind, then he
would not have heeded his request and would not have shown him his
loving-kindness. He only wanted to make the servant understand how many
debts he was forgiving him, and through this means to compel him to be
more lenient toward his fellow-debtor.
This seems
to have worked because as soon as he realized the dire straits he and
his family were in; he immediately fell to his knees and pleaded for an
extension. He who was indifferent for God now begs and seeks for mercy
and compassion. He beseeches the king not to act as a king with rightful
justice, but as a father who loves and is longsuffering. The debtor
appears, at least externally, that he wants to repent and return to God.
When God
judges, he doesn't use his righteousness, but his loving-kindness or
rather his righteousness is loving-kindness. He shows mercy to the man
worthy of condemnation. God shows compassion and forgives because he
loves and because he is love, God did something much more that what the
sinner-debtor asked for. He asked for an extension and promises to repay
the whole debt, but God completely loosed him from the debt, in other
words he forgave him all his sins and acquitted him from eternal hell.
God offers
love, compassion and mercy to the sinful man with the precondition that
the man will do the same by living a life pleasing to God: loving and
forgiving his fellowmen. The Servant in the Parable who received God's
unbounded love with the forgiveness of his great debt of sins left the
presence of the king and went and found one of his fellow-servants who
owed him a small and insignificant amount – a hundred pence. The hundred
pence represents the daily small and meaningless squabbles and
misunderstandings that occur in all human relationships and are not
worth mentioning when compared to the sins we have done against God.
Wherever love exists in these relationships there is also a mutual
forgiveness. The forgiven servant did nothing of what the king did for
him. He received so great a pardon, but refused to give even the
slightest consideration to his fellow-servant. The same words that he
used to plead his case before the king and received forgiveness are now
echoed by his fellow-servant, but he shows no compassion. He refused to
resemble the king in the slightest and be merciful. On the contrary, he
grabbed his fellow-servant by the throat and had him cast into prison.
He learnt nothing through his own predicament, he promised to repent,
but as soon as he went out from the presence of the king, he showed that
he wasn't willing to change his own selfish ways. What he didn't realise
was that the Lord's forgiveness doesn't take effect if the person
doesn't participate by showing signs of true repentance.
He claims
his own judgment by one standard, but he uses another standard to judge
his debtors. He enjoyed the King's love and mercy, but he himself shows
no mercy toward others. The ungrateful servant demanded payment. This is
something we often demand of others who have done us wrong. If someone
has caused us material injury we demand that he reimburse us
immediately, if he has offended us then we demand an apology. We want
justice and take delight if something bad befalls him. How many times
have we said of someone: "serves him right". We forget the Saviour's
words: "With what measure ye mete, it shall be
measured to you again" (Matthew 7:2). The Saviour said more than
once, "Forgive, and ye shall be forgiven"
(Luke 6:37; Mark 11:25-26), setting our forgiveness of our neighbours as
the condition for our forgiveness by the Lord.
God does not
accept prayer by a man unready to forgive his neighbour. The Lord said:
"Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that
thy brother hath aught against thee; leave there thy gift before the
altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come
and offer thy gift." (Matthew 5:23-24).
The cruelty
of the ungrateful servant does not go unnoticed; his fellow-servants saw
what was done and were appalled by the inhumane behaviour: they were
very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. The
fathers of the Church say that here the fellow-servants are the angels
who witness and keep an account of all our actions.
The Lord
forgave him his great debt with the precondition that he would change
and live his life with love and compassion for others as he had
promised, but his promises were just lies and a means to escape
punishment. In such a case the Lord recalls his love and the great
pardon of the enormous debt of sins. He commands that the wicked servant
to be brought before him once again and said: You beseeched me for mercy
and I forgave you and loosed you from your enormous debt, shouldn't you
also have shown a little compassion on your fellow-servant when he
pleaded with you just as I had pity and compassion on you? And he gave
the command for the wicked servant to be delivered to the tormentors.
Delivered to
the tormentors is usually understood as meaning that God consigns the
debtor to eternal torment by the demons, but as we have seen in other
parables, God loves all people, even the sinner. But he respects our own
choices and as the ungrateful servant chose to live without love he
chose to live without God and his punishment is self afflicted. He is
delivered to live as he has chosen without God and without love,
tormented by his inhumanity, his cruelty, his selfishness and all the
sinful passions. These become his prison; he cannot live in the kingdom
of God which is a community of love. One must be in the image of Christ
to share in his kingdom and only if we love and have compassion for
those that do us wrong can be attain this image. Love is communion in
the life of Christ which is Paradise. The person who has need of our
forgiveness is in fact our benefactor and ambassador before God. This is
how we should see those who offend us or do us harm, because the small
forgiveness which we shall give becomes the reason which will safeguard
our great forgiveness from God. God is not angered by our many sins, but
by our refusal to show love and forgiveness to our fellowmen.
The next
Parable we will hear today is the Parable of the Shrewd Steward. Let's
hear the Parable.
"And he said also unto his disciples, There was a
certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him
that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How
is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for
thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself,
What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I
cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I
am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So
he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the
first, How much owest thou unto my lord? And he said, An hundred
measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down
quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much owest
thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him,
Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the lord commended the unjust
steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are
in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto
you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that,
when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that
is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that
is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not
been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust
the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is
another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can
serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other;
or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve
God and mammon." (Luke 16:1-13)
This Parable
is probably one of the most confusing and difficult to understand. Is
Christ praising the unjust steward for swindling his master and gaining
friends for himself at his expense? Is the Lord proposing that we his
followers are to do the same and live dishonestly? Are those who follow
the way of the Gospel stupid because he says the children of this world
are wiser than the children of light? Are we to make friends with the
mammon of unrighteousness, in other words money, when in other places he
tells us to despise earthly wealth? Is this all possible? The answer of
course is no. We should not read the parable this way because it does
not agree with the overall teachings of Christ that we find in the
Gospels.
To understand what
Christ is saying we have to begin with understanding who his audience
were. The chapter begins "And he said also unto his disciples". The
chapter continues from the previous chapter where he was talking to the
Scribes and Pharisees. They were the main audience and now with the new
Parable that he is to say he also includes as part of the target
audience the disciples: Not the twelve, but the disciples at large. The
Parable has to do with money and the Pharisees not only had plenty of
it, they loved money and wealth. The Parable is therefore not aimed at
the disciples who left everything to follow Christ and had nothing, but
at the Pharisees to tell them how they should use their money. This will
become clearer as we analyse the Parable. Another thing we need to
understand is who the Rich man is. In the majority of the Parables that
involve a king, a lord or a master, the figure is representative of God,
but in this Parable the Rich man is just a business man who's only
interest in life is getting richer. He must not be associated as
representing God even though there are some elements of the story that
could be interpreted in this way. For example God can be the rich man
and we his stewards who are entrusted with his wealth he has given us.
Everything we have belongs to God and we are only administrators of his
wealth which one day we will have to give an account of what we have
done with it.
The Parable
begins fairly straight forward with a rich man who has a steward or
manager to take care of his business affairs. The manager is simply an
employee who acts as the administrator of his master's wealth. Someone,
probably out of spite, went to the master and accused the manager of
wasting his goods in other words of stealing. The rich man calls his
manager and tells him of the accusation and that he should get his books
in order for inspection and that he has lost his comfortable position.
The accusation must have been true because the steward did not deny it
or try to justify himself.
The
realization of losing his job jolts the steward to think of his future.
Of course he should have thought about this beforehand, but as the
saying goes – better late than never. He begins to think shrewdly
because as he says: "I cannot dig; to beg I am
ashamed." He couldn't dig because he had always had it easy. He
never had to do manual work for a living. The fact is he wasn't an
invalid, and so could hold a shovel, but when he says I cannot dig what
he is really saying is: there's no way I'm going to do hard manual
labour for a living. After holding such a prized position to end up
begging for a piece of bread would have been too shameful, his pride
would not allow it. But his shame was not only that he would be begging
for a living, but also because how could he show his face after it
became known that he was guilty of embezzlement. What we can assume from
his thoughts is that he hadn't accumulated a fortune from his dishonesty
with which he could live comfortably. He was just a bad bookkeeper who
cost his master a small fortune through negligence, overspending and
taking advantage of his position by living luxuriously at the expense of
his employer. Something that many people do working for large companies-
business trips flying first class, top hotels, gifts and business
lunches all charged to the company.
His dilemma
prompted him to think and act quickly. He decided what to do so that he
could make friends who would take him in when he finally had to leave
his position. He called everyone who owed his master money and asked
them how much they owed. These were not people who borrowed money. They
were business people who bought large amounts of goods on credit. As
such, credit notes were issued signed by both parties. The steward still
had complete charge of his master's business dealings until the time he
was to present his books for inspection. He had already been given
notice of his dismissal for dishonesty so a little more dishonesty would
make no difference. He was not concerned with how to repay his master,
but on how he could guarantee a future for himself. He therefore forged
new credit notes where he considerably reduced the amounts owed by each
creditor. The question arises if the creditors were aware of the scam.
Were they also guilty of the fraud or were they under the impression
that it was the rich man himself who was being generous with them by
lowering the amount they owed him? Whichever the case, they must have
been delighted and this was what the shrewd steward was hoping for: that
being the bearer of the good news they would see him favourably and
would welcome him into their homes and give him hospitality when he lost
his job and was in need.
In the
meantime the Rich man had heard of the new embezzlement possibly by one
of the creditors who didn't want to be involved in the fraud or again by
one of the creditors who hearing that some had received a bigger
deduction than himself went directly to the rich man to complain and
bargain for the same reduction.
The parable
doesn't mention at what time the rich man received the news of what had
happened or if he was moved with anger. Possibly it came after the
dismissal of the steward and the rich man simply accepted what had
happened and wrote it off as a bad business deal. On reflection, the
lord, that is the rich man, commended the unjust steward because he had
done wisely. The rich man is not praising the unjust steward for
swindling him, but for his shrewdness and quick thinking. He is not
commending his methods, but rather his motives. Even as a wicked
manager, he has the foresight and 'wisdom' to plan ahead and look out
for his own future. He knows that his job is ending, so he prepares a
path forward so he will be provided for and looked after by others. The
rich man had to admire the dishonest rascal for being so shrewd. He did
what he did to survive and secure for himself a future. The rich man
would probably have done the same if he was in his shoes.
What comes
next in the Parable is not from the rich man but from Christ. Commenting
on the unjust steward that he had done wisely he adds:
"for the children of this world are in their
generation wiser than the children of light." Is he saying that
we should be like the unjust steward? No, the steward is unjust and what
he did cannot be accounted as righteousness, but his shrewdness,
cunningness and genius planning for his future is something to be
admired and imitated by those planning an eternal future in heaven.
Children of this world, in other words people who only live for the
wealth and pleasures of this world are wiser in their actions to obtain
their wealth that are the children of light, that is those who seek the
eternal bright and good things from God, because they will do anything
to fulfil their purpose in life. We on the other hand, who consider
ourselves Children of light, unsure if our future in the kingdom of
heaven is secure, pay no heed to all the warnings Christ has given us
and live as if no misfortune whatsoever awaits us. Shrewdness is
something that usually characterises people who only live for this
world. They have their 5-year business plans, their schemes to reduce
costs and their strategies to maximize output. They study, work, save,
calculate, assess, and predict, in order to achieve their aims. They
seize every opportunity that is available, and when none is available
they create opportunities. They will often sacrifice not only their time
and energy, but even their health and relationships, in order to achieve
their ambitions. They are often very shrewd. And what about us, we who
are called 'the people of the light': what enlightened plans, what
carefully thought-out strategies, what concerted efforts, what noble
sacrifices are we engaged in to secure our future in paradise?
If a crook
can figure out that his own life is better when he gives away money to
benefit others, then why can't the people of the light manage to get it
right? Even dishonest managers know that you need to have some
philanthropy in your financial dealings. Money is only a tool which
should be used correctly to benefit our future. People of this world
have got it wrong in putting their trust in money, but their zeal,
persistence, wisdom, courage and untiring energy and activity which they
show to obtain their purpose is something to be imitated.
Christ
continues with another strange and bewildering saying:
"Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations." What is the mammon of unrighteousness?
Mammon is the name of an ancient Deity worshiped by the Sumerians. He is
the god of wealth and his name translates as "property". In the New
Testament it is used as a word meaning money and wealth especially when
passion for money is involved which is like worshipping money as a god.
Christ calls it unrighteous because it works unrighteously on those who
work for it. Everyone who puts their trust for happiness on money will
in the end be deceived, because earthly wealth and property decays and
is lost and in the end disappoints those who put all their expectations
and hopes on it. It is like a false god that deceives its followers with
lies for a happy future, but that promised future comes to an end with
death.
But here
what does Christ mean by telling us to make friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness? He means turn wealth, which people of this world
worship like an idol, into a good acquisition by doing good to the poor,
and obtain in them spiritual friends and intercessors for you. At first,
the steward of the parable just squandered the money, but then after he
was caught, he wised up and used it to make others happy. Granted he did
it for his own benefit, but even in his twisted mind he could see that
things would go better for him if he made it better for others.
The same
applies for all of us. Earthly money remains on earth and cannot be
taken with us to eternity so while we have it we should put it to good
use by doing charitable works. Those who we help will consider us as
friends and pray for us while in heaven the saints who have gone there
before us will be ready to receive us into their eternal habitations.
Our works will play a major role in our salvation. All our wealth is
only worth something in this life, but when we reach the grave it
becomes worthless. The transition from earth to heaven is like a journey
from one country to another so as travellers change their money into the
currency of the country to which they are travelling, by doing good
deeds and helping the poor with our money, it is like changing our money
into the currency of heaven. By parting with what we cannot keep, we
obtain what we cannot lose: we gain friends who will accept us into
their eternal dwellings.
Christ
continues: "And I say unto you, He that is
faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is
unjust in the least is unjust also in much."
Faithful in that which is least refers to the riches of this world and
faithful in much refers to the eternal riches of heaven. God tests his
children while they are still in this world with the small things of
this world, in other words, by entrusting them with earthly riches and
calls us to show him if we are worthy to be entrusted with the great
riches of eternity. This present life is a place of learning, a school
of training. The small and unimportant things which the Lord gives us to
use now are tools which if we use wisely can prepare us for the great
and eternal good things of heaven.
The next
verse continues on the same lines: "If therefore
ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to
your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that
which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?"
If we have not used earthly money wisely who will entrust us with
the true and spiritual gifts of eternity. Neither I nor my Father with
entrust these to you. The true wealth is given to us through God's mercy
as a reward for our faithfulness as good stewards. If our actions are
like the unjust steward of the Parable then we can only expect to be
dismissed from our position as the unjust Steward was from his master's
home. We are not owners of our earthly wealth and belongings, everything
belongs to God and we are simply employed as his stewards to use his
wealth wisely. We come into the world naked and depart from it naked.
How can we call something ours when sooner or later it will not be in
our possession? If everything belongs to God then what does Christ mean
when he says: "who shall give you that which is your own?" What belongs
to us is Paradise. It is our inheritance prepared for us from the
foundation of the world. (Matt. 25:34) If we make Christ our own and his
commandments our own, then we will have in our hands that which we can
truly characterise as our own. God is like a wealthy Father who before
giving over to his son the precious inheritance, which he will give him,
first gives him a small fraction of the inheritance to test his
competence. If he uses this small fortune wisely and pleases his father,
if he passes the test, then his father will entrust him with the true
amount of the inheritance.
"No servant can serve two masters: for either he
will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one,
and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."
The
two masters are God and money. If you are not faithful to God through
the use of your worldly wealth this is because at the same time you are
enslaved to the passion for wealth. Thus if you are enslaved by this
passion you are not serving God as the same time. No one can serve two
masters simultaneously. Money is a demanding master, because it is never
satisfied. Ask any person - rich or poor - how much money they would
need in order to make them happy, and the answer will always be the
same: "just a little more".
In the
parable, the unjust steward had two masters whom he served, the one his
employer and the other money which he worshipped. His love for money
inspired hate for his employer. Thus the meaning of these words is love
is where the heart is. If we love God then our wealth should be seen
only as a means to help others and secure a place for us in heaven. If
on the other hand we love money with a passion, then we devote ourselves
to it as to a god who takes the place of the True God. If our main aim
in life is to secure for ourselves and our family financial stability,
that is not totally wrong, but when our aim for more stability restricts
us from helping others, when it restricts us from doing God's work, then
our heart is not with God and we delude ourselves if we believe that we
truly love him.
|
|
|
