Matthew 18:31 – August 12, 2021

Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. Matthew 18:31 NABRE            

Jesus shares a parable about forgiveness. Jesus tells those listening that they must forgive infinitely, there is never a reason not to forgive. As an illustration He tells a story of a servant who owes his king a huge amount. Seeing he could pay the king intends to have the servant and his family sold into slavery for the debt. But the servant begs for compassion and the king forgives his debt and let’s him go. That same servant saw one of his servants who owes him a smaller amount and when that servant begs for compassion he does not receive compassion from the servant who was treated mercifully, rather he is sent to prison. Some who saw reported to the king the unforgiving behavior of the forgiven servant and the king had him summoned and ultimately handed him over to torturers until the entire debt was repaid. Interestingly, Jesus narrates it is bystanders who get involved and report the unforgiveness to the king. The king becoming aware of the servants bad behavior could have occurred in many ways, without involving bystanders. 

Where I grew up we didn’t take kindly to people who told, or “snitched” on some behavior. I am not sure I completely understand why Jesus would use the crowd in this manner. Is it an indication of when we see bad behavior we should intervene? Of course this is not the point of the story, but it struck me as significant. My childhood code of not telling on others perhaps is just peer pressure from one child to another but in a world where we are trying to build the kingdom of heaven we should be sure to say something if we see bad behavior, with love. 

What do you think of the crowd’s role in this story? What would you have done seeing the unforgiving servant?

In a world where we are trying to build the kingdom of heaven we should be sure to say something if we see bad behavior, with love. Click To Tweet

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