Settling Accounts

Gospel / Matthew 18:21-35:

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus answered, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants. When he began the accounting, a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. Since he had no way of paying it back, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all his property, in payment of the debt. At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’ Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount. He seized him and started to choke him, demanding, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.”

Blog:

We talk often of being able to retire and live “debt-free”.  The reality of this world is that you can never have complete financial freedom.  There are always additional financial commitments, requirements, and/or needs that pop-up.  Some are expected and some are not.  An old Friend of mine was about to retire early from the Corporate world.  He was in his mid-40’s and had been Blessed with many good investments.  He was about to pull the trigger when something “popped-up”.  His nine (9) year-old Daughter was diagnosed with a brain-tumor.  She would go on to recover fully from the cancer, but I can still remember hearing him describing how close he came to losing all of their savings.  His $1M+ retirement would not have been enough to cover her treatments without his corporate healthcare coverage.  Going home to Heaven is the same thing.  We can never fully-arrive this side of Heaven, but we are still welcomed Home by the King of Kings.  We can never be Spiritually-“debt-free”, but we can be Spiritually-saved no matter what debts we have in this world.  God will wipe our “balance sheets of sin” clean and we will wear a robe of white with the rest of the Heavenly Hosts.  Or, as George Bailey would have said, “Merry Christmas, Mr. Potter!”