Judgment

An excerpt from my ongoing study in "Meaning"

In this next parable, Christ presents 'a creditor with two debtors'. It is found in Luke 7:41-43. In this parable, Christ touches upon our responsibility as children of God. To be like God, which is to be like the son of God, one must employ the same mind set, the same nature, the same predilection of character.

Is this a parable about forgiveness? In a way, yes it is – but that is really too simple for such a parable. Everyone already practiced a form of forgiveness: it was a matter of Jewish law. Even when it was shallow and meaningless, it was still a matter of legal implementation.

Had this parable been about forgiveness, one debtor would have sufficed to tell the story. The forgiveness, as we see plainly in the text, was a given: “frankly forgave them both”. We see in the choice of wording (frankly, which means honestly or candidly) that this particular act was the genuine article rather than mere practice.

Both debtors received an equal forgiveness, even though their debts, 500 as opposed to 50 pence, was anything but equal. In consideration of the amounts, we note two facts: pence was not that big of a deal to the creditor, that was the basic unit, and the word from which we get our modern 'penny'. At the same time, if one could not pay 50 cents and the other could not pay 5 dollars, admittedly, they were poorer than dirt.

Simon was asked to determine one and only one salient point: of the two forgiven debtors, “which will love him (the forgiving creditor) most”? This is the same point that all of us must also determine. It is a simple test, and one with an obvious answer. Simon got the point. Will you?

An earlier iteration was that Christ touches upon our responsibility as children of God, for to be like God, or to be like Christ, we must employ the same mind set, the same nature, the same predilection of character. We are called upon to employ judgment, a thing we do daily in a multitude of cases. We judge: that is how we know, how we navigate. Sadly, many of our judgments are baseless opinions –and that touches upon the meaning of this parable.

We are called upon to achieve a measure of spiritual correctness, or righteousness. If we can manage that, then we may be sure we are on the same page with Simon when Christ affirms “Thou hast rightly judged”.