Behaving Forgiven!

Tuesday, March 10, 2026

Dan 3:25, 34-43; Mt 18: 21-35

Today’s Gospel invites us to practice forgiveness and behave as people forgiven by God.

To teach his disciples forgiveness, Jesus gives The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant. While the parable highlights the idea of ‘paying back to God in full,’ it also demonstrates that the debt we owe to God is paid back in full when we make others the beneficiaries of the same that we receive from God. 

In the parable, the King who forgives and the wicked servant who is unmerciful towards his fellow servant are put in the limelight. However, I find the role of ‘fellow servants’ very significant because they reveal what forgiveness must look like and how we should behave forgiven. Jesus wants his listeners to learn the virtue of forgiveness from the action of the fellow servants.

The nameless fellow servants are conscientious. In their judgement of what the wicked servant did, they reveal moral clarity. They perceived injustice when the forgiven servant withheld the same from the other. Hence, far from the motivation of revenge, the servants were inspired by a just conscience that wished the release of the oppressed from unjust punishment while seeking accountability for the one who refused mercy. They deeply felt that justice must begin where mercy was abused and injustice was meted out. Thus, we find that the virtue of justice keeps the hearts of the nameless servants alive and active. 

There is another side to their just anger. These must have been the same servants who witnessed the dramatic moment when the wicked servant ‘fell down on his knees, did the King homage, and begged, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.’’ Nevertheless, they were shocked to see that the forgiven wicked servant was not interested in behaving forgiven. The immense mercy he received from the King did not transform his heart. Thus, when they saw that the wicked servant failed to extend the same generosity towards his fellow servant though the latter owed only a much smaller amount, they neither ignored the injustice nor chose to remain silent. 

By teaching this parable, Jesus wants his disciples to understand that the fusion of mercy and justice is possible without one contradicting the other. Jesus lets the nameless servants teach us that mercy or forgiveness is not a license to wrongdoing. True forgiveness would also mean bringing injustice to light.

For Jesus, tragic failure or true shame is not when we beg for forgiveness but when we refuse to behave forgiven by generously forgiving others because we enjoyed it ourselves. 

Let us pray that we may forgive others generously just as God has forgiven us immensely. 

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar