Matthew 18:21–35

²¹ Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
²³ “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. ²⁵ And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. ²⁶ So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹ When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. ³² Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. ³⁵ So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”[1]

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It might come across here that Peter is really trying to be magnanimous, but it falls short in contrast to God’s forgiveness of us. This should be something we can all relate to. That when we consciously try to give of ourselves that it often falls short of fully given of ourselves. This is even more true when we see such a dissimilarity between our giving of ourselves and what God has done for us. This might seem to be even more true when we accept it was grace given and then accepted that moved us to action first. Yet, this should move us towards thanksgiving and gratitude and not annoyance at our seeming feeble attempts to love our neighbor.

Jesus does not rebuff Peter for not thinking big enough, but through a parable, helps him to broaden his view and to get an inkling of how God forgives. Another aspect is that Peter’s statement is informed by scripture and he is trying to draw parallels from it.

For example, Brant Pitre notes:

And you can almost hear here an allusion to the Old Testament, which talks about the sevenfold vengeance of Cain in Genesis 4. So if you remember in Genesis 4, it tells the story of Cain slaying his brother and what God says is that “if anyone tries to take vengeance on Cain, vengeance shall be taken upon him sevenfold ❲or seven times as much❳.” So what Peter is presenting here is like an antithesis, an opposite. Instead of sevenfold vengeance of Cain in the Old Testament, it’s sevenfold forgiveness.[2]

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on Matthew, draws another parallel and quotes other Church Fathers:

It is as though He were to say: Till seven times belongs to weakness, but more belongs to malice. For that reason, he asks if he should forgive till seven times. Likewise, he knew that which is said in IV Kings 5, namely, that Eliseus commanded Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan; for that reason, he thought that he should forgive seven times. Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. This seven times that He says can be taken in one way as by addition, so that the sense is not seven times, but seven times and seventy times. Or it can be taken as by multiplication, so that the sense is seven times seventy: and Jerome explains this passage in that way.

According to the first exposition, which is Augustine’s, it is given to be understood that we ought to pardon all, because Christ pardoned all sins.14 “Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another. Even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also” (Col. 3, 13). Or it can be said that the finite number stands for an infinite number, as in the Psalms, “The word which he commanded to a thousand generations” (104, 8).

According to Jerome, the explanation is the same; nevertheless, the meaning of the number is added. For, by seven,15 perfection is signified, and by a hundred, which is ten multiplied by ten, the Decalogue is signified. The first number that passes ten is eleven. And because by seven a totality is signified, for that reason, the totality of sins is signified; it is at though He were to say: Whatsoever sins your brother shall committed against you, forgive him. Hence, according to Jerome, it seems that He wishes to say, that a man can forgive more than he can offend.[3]

There is also the numerical significance of Jesus’ initial reply, as explained by John Bergsma:

I depart here from the translation used in the Mass. To me, “seventy times seven” seems to be the more accurate translation of the Greek. Furthermore, it is likely that the number is a symbolic allusion to a famous prophetic passage, Daniel 9:25, which decreed “seventy sevens” (my translation) of years from the time of Daniel to the coming of the Messiah.

Seventy times seven is four hundred and ninety. The number four hundred and ninety is ten times forty-nine, and forty-nine is the number of the Israelite Jubilee cycle (See Lev 25:8–9). In ancient Israel, on the fiftieth year after a cycle of forty-nine years, the nation observed a year of rest in which all debts were forgiven and all indentured servants set free (Lev 25:10).[4]

The parable Jesus gives is so rich and multi-layered. It would have been edifying as an example of God’s comprehensive and overwhelming forgiveness of us with just verses 18:23–28. This parable includes a shocking twist that after the unpayable debt of the servant is forgiven, the servant was not willing to do the same. For, a relatively small debt, he will resort to violence to retrieve the debt.

From the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture on Matthew:

The king’s mercy stands in stark contrast to the servant’s harshness in the second scene. The forgiven servant demands that one of his fellow servants pay back a debt the NAB describes as a much smaller amount. Literally, this smaller debt is only one hundred denarii—about a hundred days’ wages, which is 600,000 times smaller than the first servant’s debt. Shockingly, the first servant uses violence to pressure his fellow servant, seizing him and starting to choke him.[5]

It outraged the master when told about the servant’s behavior .

And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.[6]:

John Bergsma reflects on this:

I have usually understood the delivery over to the jailers/torturers “until he should pay back the whole debt” as a reference to hell, on the assumption that it is impossible to pay your debt when you are in jail, and thus you will never leave, just as hell is eternal.

Michael Barber, however, has made the intriguing observation that perhaps the phrase “until he should pay back the whole debt” is meant in earnest: eventually, the man will pay off his debt and be released. Michael points out several Rabbinic texts that indicate a Jewish belief in a place of temporary punishment. In light of such texts, another interpretive option becomes possible: the delivery of the man over to the jailers refers to purgatory.[7]

God’s forgiveness of us and our redemption is a central component of the Good News. Love seeks to forgive, to restore communion among persons, and anything that separates us. No surprise that this message in Jesus’ statement at the end of this Gospel paragraph reflects what is in the Our Father. Forgiveness is to be passed on and not stopping with us; where we treat it as something deserved and not shared.

Peter Kreeft, in his commentary on this passage, has many wise things to say on this, but I especially appreciated this:

The only path that leads somewhere, like a birth canal into new life, is forgiveness.[8]

Sources

Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A – John Bergsma
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture)
Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A
English Standard Version Catholic Edition
– Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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1. English Standard Version Catholic Edition (2019). Augustine Institute.  ↩
2. Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
3. Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Dolorosa Press  ↩
4. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
5. The Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Edward Sri and Curtis Mitch  ↩
6. English Standard Version Catholic Edition (2019). Augustine Institute.  ↩
7. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
8. Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A  ↩