I admit it – I like stories with happy endings.
We want the “good guy” to be successful and happy.
We want the “bad guy” to get his “just desserts!”
We want there to be “fairness and equity” in this world.
So, as I approach this gospel story told by Jesus…I have to admit that I like it…kind of…
If there was ever somebody who got exactly what he deserved, it was this guy!
The story is totally made up…it is almost laughable…you cannot take it seriously…because it would have never have happened or occurred in real life. It is ridiculous! Filled with oriental exaggeration…but that’s the way Jesus sets this thing up…it is downright humorous!
It is over the top…over the edge…
What slave owes a debt of 10,000 talents?
Just so you know “a talent” was the equivalent of one year’s wage.
By any standard, it is “an outrageous sum” of money, especially for a slave.
So, if we take the median yearly income in America today, it was just recently reported as being a little bit more than $54,000 a year.
To put it into today’s perspective – that slave would have owed over 500 million dollars…or half a billion… Keep in mind that he is a slave.
And then, imagine this King forgiving a debt of that size. Oh no problem…
Just “how wealthy” is this king? Who forgives a debt like that?
Go ahead wipe the slate clean, you owe me nothing…zero…have a good day…be on your way…
Oh the elation! The glee, the happiness, the exhilaration, the bliss, the delight, the jubilation and the utter rapture!
What a relief! He must have been SO overjoyed…so much so, that I am sure, he would want to pass along his good fortune to others…
But not this guy! No, not him…
He is just mean spirited…
According to the story, as told by Jesus – he goes out from that place, and just happens to “run into” another slave – who just so happens to owe him money.
Talk about your coincidences… your chance encounters…
So what does he do?
This other slave apparently owed him something like about $18,000…using our same kind of comparison…
More than 500 million or a half a billion dollars versus 18,000… it was chump change…but hey money is money and when it is owed to you…it is ALWAYS a lot.
So what does “our man of the hour” do?
He reaches out and grabs the other guy by the throat with his “explosive anger”…he demands what he is owed…he wants it all now…on the spot…paid in full…money in his pockets…
The other guy, drops to his knees, (as he himself did – just moments before) he begs, he sobs, he pleads, he implores, and he humbly appeals to the man…he promises to repay the guy…ASAP.
But “our guy” refuses to be generous…he refuses to show any kind of mercy whatsoever…instead he has the guy locked up…
So, if I get this story right, he who was shown “great mercy”…could not, and would not show any mercy at all…to someone else.
He really played hardball.
He refused to give an inch.
He wanted his money and he wanted it – NOW! This guy is really a schmuck! He is a real piece.
Thank God that the “tattle-tails” go and tell on him…Oh boy, this is gonna be good…finally he is going get what is coming to him…
And then I read that haunting line …“should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you!”
OMG, I am the schmuck! I get it! Jesus was talking about “me!” I am the one who is supposed to show mercy to all. I am the one who has been forgiven so much over and over again…continuously…and I am the one who is supposed to forgive all my brothers and all my sisters from the heart…
From the heart! Not just from the lips…but from the heart. I am supposed to actually mean it!
I have been shown “so much mercy” –now it is my turn! The schmuck is me!