Awakenings

by Father Thomas Keating

From the Teachings of Jesus

Chapter 18

Forgiveness

Then Peter approaching asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, 'Be patient with me and I will pay you back in full.' Moved with compassion, the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, 'Pay back what you owe.' Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he had him put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fe1low servant, as I had pity on you?' Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt.

So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives his brothers and sisters from the heart."
(Matt. 18:21-35)

    All of the Lord's parables tend to upset the approved or accepted value systems of his time. The Old Testament urged people to forgive their fellow citizens. But it was a bit much to expect people to forgive foreigners. The idea of forgiveness was pushed far beyond any limitation by the example and teaching of Jesus. He makes it clear that whatever may have been the acceptable teaching up to that time, he was now proposing a new teaching, namely, that one is to forgive again and again without any limitation.

    This teaching came as a surprise to Peter and the other disciples trained in the religious milieu of their time. Peter thought that he was being very generous in proposing to forgive offenses up to seven times. He was expecting a pat on the back when he came up with this formula. As often happened, Peter miscalculated and was reproved. Jesus said, "You must forgive not just seven times but seventy times seven." Since seven is a perfect number, the clear implication is that complete forgiveness is the meaning of the Law.

    The parable describes what happened to someone in heavy debt who was about to be put in jail. He prostrates in front of the king to whom he owes a huge sum and pleads for mercy The king forgave the whole debt. This was a marvelous act of generosity for those days.

    The debtor, now freed from the debt he could not pay, barely got out the door when he met one of his own debtors who owed him a small sum. He grabs the man by the throat and says, "Give me my money or else!" The debtor falls on his face pleading, "Give me time and I will pay you all."

    But the first debtor would not listen and had him put in jail along with his wife and children.

    The servants were upset and reported the whole thing to the king. He was furious. Isn't that the way you would feel? Yet the forgiveness of debts was not part of the mentality of the time. The debtor who was forgiven was so attached to the expectation of getting his money that he could not change his way of acting. The king in anger handed him over to the torturers. The punch line is: "My heavenly father will treat you in the same way if you do not forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart."

    The teaching being presented has a certain vigor. Jesus tells Peter, "Not only should you forgive your brother seven times, but any number of times." This is a new way of thinking about forgiveness. Human beings have felt from time immemorial that if they are offended, they are entitled to revenge. Revenge resists the open-heartedness to which the gospel calls us. Jesus, in these harsh terms, manifests the maternal character of God. We live in a patriarchal culture. This is not the same as a paternal culture; a patriarchal culture is one in which domination is emphasized rather than the nurturing and concern that goes with a true father.

    Forgiveness represents the tender side of God. Tenderness is normally associated with feminine sensitivity God claims the feminine character for Himself in a number of places in Scripture as for instance in Isaiah, "Even if a mother forgets the child of her womb, I will not forget you."

    The universe is the womb of God out of which every creature emerges. What is the essential aspect of a womb? It is the life giving milieu in which the bond between the child and its mother develops. This bond must be continued outside the womb if the child is to grow into a normal human being. In this parable, the importance of forgiveness as the essential healing of a bond that has been injured emerges in full force. The health and integrity of every community, its creativity and growth, depends on the sense of belonging. Forgiveness is a necessity from this perspective; it is the very fabric of the universe.

    The outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are the symbol of the forgiveness of everything and everyone. This love triumphs over the forces of entropy in creation. In a sense, unwillingness to forgive is an attack upon God. God is so identified with creation that any unwillingness to forgive is a resistance to grace; any movement to injure another is to tear God to pieces.

    The bond of love needs to be constantly renewed. Forgiveness maintains and strengthens the bond of unity that enables all life to grow If we have much to forgive, we also have much to be forgiven. The proportion between the two, the parable suggests, is very small.

This chapter is taken from the book Awakenings by Fr. Thomas Keating. You can obtain a copy from the Bookstore.  See Awakenings