Seventy Times Seven

Posted on September 15, 2023 by Herb Montgomery

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Season 1, Episode 30: Matthew 18.21-35

Each week, we’ll be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

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Seventy Times Seven

Herb Montgomery, September 15, 2023

To listen to this week’s eSight as a podcast episode click here.

“This parable originated not as allegory but as an example of real life indebtedness Jesus’ audience would have been familiar with. This was not a call for the indebted to forgive their abusive creditors, but for creditors to forgive the debts of those who owed them.”

Our reading this week is from the gospel of Matthew:

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?”

Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 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.

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21-35)

Even the most progressive Jesus scholars see this parable as part of the earliest oral traditions, tracing back to the historical Jesus himself. A rich man forgives ten thousand bags of gold owed by one of his slaves. Think of how much each bag would have been worth, and then multiply that by ten thousand. In compassion, the creditor simply forgives the entire debt.

Harmful interpretations of this parable teach the abused and oppressed to passively forgive their oppressor or abuser over and over again, but require no change from the one responsible for harming them.

Before we spiritualize this parable to all relationships and offenses, though, we need to step back and look at the original economic context. In the original context, oppressors, specifically creditors, are to forgive the debts of those they were oppressing based on how much the oppressors themselves had been forgiven by Jesus’ “heavenly Father.” This was not a call for the indebted to forgive their abusive creditors, but for creditors to forgive the debts of those who owed them.

Then the forgiven one runs into someone who owes him only 100 silver coins, a far lower amount. Rather than his own experience of forgiveness awakening more in him toward the person who owed him money, he seeks to exact every last coin from his own debtor.

Again, this parable originated not as allegory but as an example of real life indebtedness Jesus’ audience would have been familiar with. From the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Jesus shares a call to wealthy creditors to perform the ritual of “the year of the lord’s favor” or the year of Jubilee, where all debts would be forgiven. This was part of Jesus’ gospel: the call for economic liberation of those in debt. Debts were to be cancelled. This is how Luke’s gospel sums it up:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

Matthew’s version of the lords prayer also uses economic language:

“And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12)

Later in the Jesus community, this idea of forgiving debts expanded to include all offenses and trespasses, not just economic indebtedness. This is why in Luke’s later version of the same prayer no longer names the economic element but reads:

“Forgive us our sins,

for we also forgive everyone who sins against us.” (Luke 11:4)

What once called creditors (oppressors) to forgive the debts of their debtors (the oppressed) became a universal call for everyone to forgive anyone of anything based on how much they themselves had personally been forgiven by God. What once involved the wealthy cancelling the debts of their poorer fellow Jesus followers became universalized. Social location was no longer the focus. Money owed became allegorical for general offenses. And forgiveness stopped meaning the cancelling of real, concrete debts; it became letting off the hook anyone who had done anything up to 490 times if they simply came back repeatedly and said they were sorry.

I’m not a fan of this evolution in the Jesus stories we have access to today. What it too often becomes is manipulative pressure for those who have suffered injustice or abuse to repeatedly forgive their abuses if the abuser expresses sorrow, whether they actually change or not. Some interpretations definethe one seeking forgiveness as truly changing, but if there were true, the number of times needing for forgiveness would never reach “seventy times seven.”

But if this was actually a call for creditors to practice Jubilee, repeatedly, seventy times seven, no matter how many times people became indebted, then this story takes on an economic dimension that requires social change. If the creditors who follow Jesus must forgive the concrete debts of their debtors, then before too long those creditors would be looking at the systemic causes of why folks were repeatedly being thrown into debt. As the saying goes, when you’re continually pulling people out of the water it doesn’t take long before one walks upstream to ask why those people are being thrown in the water to begin with.

What does this mean for us today?

First let’s say what it doesn’t mean. This parable doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t hold abusers accountable for the harm they inflict on others. Part of restorative justice is holding abusers accountable. Accountability is intrinsic to their own restoration and healing, too: it awakens and restores a sense of connection to their actions toward others. If there is an element of forgiveness involved, it refuses to sever the abuser from humanity, and the desire to hold them accountable comes not out of vengeance but out of a desire to see them reformed. Forgiveness should never be defined or interpreted as simply letting someone off the hook and pretending they did nothing wrong. Restoration and reparations must always be a part of the process of repairing harms committed for the life-giving well-being of all parties involved.

Yet this story still carries an economic element. How should Jesus followers relate to economic debt forgiveness? I heard many Christians voices over the last two years against student loan forgiveness. How would the Jesus of this week’s readings respond to the idea of students being forgiven the astronomical costs of becoming educated? How would he describe the predatory practices of the loan industry that takes advantage of those students. Consider the social location of those who have to seek student loans to gain an education. Considering these factors, certain Christians are grossly ignorant of how disconnected their religious worship of Jesus is from the values their Jesus taught and the themes of his gospel.

And this is just one example. In our modern, global capitalist system, indebtedness is how countries continue to colonize and enslave other countries, even “independent” countries. Sometimes this debt is connected to the drive to “develop” those countries so that they their resources can be more easily exploited by global corporations.

If we followed the economic truths of our story this week it would turn our present economic world upside down.

Maybe we could start with Christians simply forgiving the debts of their fellow Christians. There are also Christian ministries that raise funds and donations purely for the purpose of being able to pay off people’s medical debts. What a blessing to be able to say to someone they are set free from what they owed for something as vital as their own health care.

And what about debt at faith-based hospitals? Or education debt owed to Christian colleges and universities? What about the indebtedness that comes when folks fall on hard times? How could it change the world if Christians and Christians institutions simply chose to cancel the debts of other Jesus followers? I’m not suggesting this be where the practice should end, but it would be a great place for a global “year of the Lord’s” favor to begin.

HeartGroup Application

1. Share something that spoke to you from this week’s eSight/Podcast episode with your HeartGroup.

2. How do you imagine Jesus’ Jubilee Debt Forgiveness could be applied in our world today? Share and discuss with your group.

3. What can you do this week, big or small, to continue setting in motion the work of shaping our world into a safe, compassionate, just home for everyone?

Thanks for checking in with us, today.

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Also I want to share that we are partnering in a new weekly YouTube show called “Just Talking.” Each week, Todd Leonard and I will be talking about the gospel lectionary reading for the upcoming weekend. We’ll be talking about each reading in the context of love, inclusion, and societal justice. Our hope is that our talking will be just talking (as in justice) and that during our brief conversations each week you’ll be inspired to also do more than just talking.

If you teach from the lectionary each week, or if you’re just looking for some thoughts on the Jesus story from a more progressive perspective within the context of social justice, check it out, you might like it. You can find JustTalking each week on YouTube at youtube.com/@herbandtoddjusttalking. Please Like, Subscribe, hit the Notification button, and leave us a comment.

And if you’d like to reach us here at Renewed Heart Ministries through email, you can reach us at info@renewedheartministries.com.

My new book, Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels is now also available at renewedheartministries.com

Right where you are, keep living in love, choosing compassion, taking action, and working toward justice.

I love each of you dearly,

I’ll see you next week.

Now Available at Renewed Heart Ministries!

Herb’s new book Finding Jesus: A story of a fundamentalist preacher who unexpectedly discovered the social, political, and economic teachings of the Gospels, is available at renewedheartministries.com.

Get your copy today at renewedheartministries.com