St. Matthew gives us a picture of what mercy is and what it is not. (Mt 18: 21-19-1) The king in the parable forgives the entire debt of his servant, but not taking a hint from this act of kindness, the servant refuses the same argument he used with his master and throws a man who owes him money and can't pay it all right away into prison. Shame on him, we say, but looking at ourselves we see that same attitude and behavior...merciless! The lesson for today is that just as we have experienced God's saving mercy, so should we extend it to others. Simple to say, but hard to do. Meditating on God's mercy towards us and asking him for the grace to be truly merciful can help us reach this level or mercy. Where would we be without God's mercy? And that's why we are called to extend that level of mercy to others. Pure and simple, "tit for tat,"
Bro. Rene
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.[a]
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 bags of gold[b] 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 “At this 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 silver coins.[c] 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 it 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 outraged 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 handed 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 or sister from your heart.”
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