A CRAZY BUSINESS MAN
This business man is not going far. He calls in his
debts and when someone pleads for more time he cancels the debt altogether.
Surely this is no way to run a business. He will be bankrupt in no time. So why
does Jesus hold up such an impractical ideal for us to follow? The answer has
to have something to do with the new values, the new way of thinking, he was
announcing under the general heading of “the kingdom of God.”
Cancelling debts and forgiveness do happen in
international politics and economics. Sometimes there is no other choice. But
among individuals and smaller entities it is rarer. It is even seen as somehow
wrong to let people “get away with it.” The correct way is pursue the debt
until it is paid.
Jesus is bringing in another dimension: if the
person concerned – the debtor - is sincerely sorry and asks for forgiveness
there is a new situation. The disciple of Jesus is then bound to take this into
account and forgive the debt. Economic textbooks might say, “Wait a minute, you
might be able to do that once, but you cannot run a business that way.” Jesus
says, “Well, actually, you can!” But he does not explain. He leaves it up to
the hearer – who is one of his disciples, one who believes – to accept that,
despite the craziness of the economics, a way will be found.
Perhaps a key element will be the sincerity of the
one who asks to be forgiven. That will not always be present. There might be
many chancers whom the businessman will find others ways of sorting out. He
doesn’t have to ruin his business on account of chancers.
Everything to do with the kingdom demands a step
into the unknown. That is why the parables pass us by. We have tamed them and
made them safe and manageable. But Jesus intended them to shock and shake!
Cancelling money debts is tough at times. It may well eat into my own plans and
hopes. But cancelling hurts, insults, grudges, may be equally hard. Just
imagine if we could do it – all the time! It would make a difference to our
world.
The parables remind us that Jesus is announcing a
way of life at variance with what many of us consider safe, sane and sensible.
While we revere him we secretly feel he lived in a primitive age and his
message does not quite fit our time. Most of us have no experience of sowing
and fishing – to say nothing of patching and wineskins. But these are merely
the externals that carry the message. The message itself can easily be read in
our time and in our place.
17 September 2017 Sunday
24 A
Sirach 27:30-28:7 Romans
14:7-9 Matthew 18:21-35
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