Reversing Course
May we ever confess to the glory of God the Father, Jesus Christ is Lord.
Saints Sergius and Bacchus Chapel
Palm Springs, California
May we ever confess to the glory of God the Father, Jesus Christ is Lord.
God doesn’t operate within a merit economy where everyone gets exactly what’s due them. God operates within a grace economy, where everyone receives not only what’s due, but more. The question was never whether the landowner was fair. The question is: is your eye evil because he is good?
The debt forgiven was billions; the debt refused was thousands. Jesus’s parable isn’t only about an ungrateful servant — it’s about compassion received and compassion withheld. Failures in compassion are, in the end, failures in gratitude. And the torturers we’re handed over to wear our own face.
Punishment purchases compliance at the cost of resentment. It cannot bring about metanoia. Before we confront someone’s wrong, we have to ask: does it need to be said? Does it need to be said by me? Does it need to be said now? Correction, rightly practiced, seeks conversion, not vengeance.