September 14, 2008
Overturning Kingdoms of Debt
Matthew 18; 21-35
We live in a kingdom of debt. Debt to banks. Debt to each other. Debt to stores. Debt to credit card companies. And I’m quite sure almost every single person in this room above the age of 22 has at least some experience of owing something to someone else. Debt is, unfortunately, one of the oldest aspects of civilization, going back to the very foundations of organized human activities. There is something, seemingly innate about the way we have been raised or even in our natural instincts that pushes us to get back for ourselves what we have given to others. To reclaim what we have loaned. To obtain what was once ours.
I was listening to NPR this week trying to understand the complexities of the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. And in the radio segment there seemed to be complete consensus among the experts interviewed that the government takeover was a necessary action. The main reason being because of the vastness of the loans which Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have lent.
Together, these two companies hold more than $5 trillion dollars in loans. If they had gone out of business or filed for bankruptcy, it would have been comparable to the complete collapse of the economic system of England or Japan—a collapse that would have sent ripples through the world economic markets and sending the United States—some analysts said—into the worst economic times since the Great Depression.
As some commentators put it, if Freddie and Fannie had gone under, world “credit markets would have seized up” and “the banks would stop giving out loans of any kind. Consumers wouldn't be able to borrow money to buy homes, cars or basic goods. Entrepreneurs wouldn't be able to get financing for their ideas” and the economy would have stopped. And all of this potential turmoil is based simply on the fact that is vital to the world’s economies.
Indeed, debt seems to be as common to people and nations as the air we breathe. There are many poor countries in this world whose interest payments on debt owed to rich nations and world banks is greater than the entire economic value of the poor countries. These countries—many in sub-Saharan Africa, or the Caribbean or Latin America—are plagued with so much debt that they have to choose whether to pay the interest on their loans on one hand, or provide basic services such as food, health care and infrastructure to their citizens on the other. There was even a religious movement in the year 2000, that some of you may remember, called the Jubilee Year which sought to finally abolish these incredible debts of the poorest nations permanently. It was, unfortunately, only partially successful.
And debt plays a crucial role in the lives of people in our own backyards as well. Driving in the poorer sections of Richmond, one can’t help but be struck by the infinite number of check cashing, car title, and pay day loan businesses that benefit off of poverty. These places can charge as much as 300 percent interest if someone turns in their car title, with the result being that more and more people fall into deeper and deeper poverty. And poverty and practices that produce poverty are simply not a part of Kingdom of God that Jesus taught about.
And perhaps this seemingly eternal power of debt is what makes our parable of Jesus in the book of Matthew so potent even today. The sufferings of our debt-ridden societies and the problems that exist between the loaners and the indebted were not all that different from the Roman world in Matthew’s day.
And it is important as we talk about this well-known and well-loved passage in Matthew that we understand that the parable is meant to be heard on multiple levels. This parable is, on its basic and most overt level, about simple forgiveness and grace. Matthew was emphasizing the need for people within the church to forgive one another, rather than holding harmful grudges that undermine the community of God. This is the central meaning of the text: forgiveness is vitally important to a life of Christian faith.
But it must be noted that Jesus could have chosen a different parable to tell. The parable about forgiveness could have told of an adulterer begging for forgiveness from a spouse. The parable could have told of a thief begging for forgiveness from his actions. It could have been about a murder begging for forgiveness from a victim’s family. But the parable was about monetary debt. And because of this there is a meaning beyond the surface level of simple forgiveness.
The Roman Empire during the time of Matthew was based on a system of honor and patronage where debt to those above you was central to the economic system. It was a hierarchical model, and it is helpful to envision a triangle. In this triangle the masses of the people are at the bottom. They send taxes and tributes to the people above them, who are far fewer in number. In turn the local city and state official send money to the national government, who then funnel it up to Caesar.
It was a system of favors and patronage, not where money was shared for the common wealth of all, but where money and resources were funneled upward and away from the majority of people to a distant emperor who and a few cohorts who spent most of it on the military and very little helping the common people of the empire.
And in this economy there was no obligation to help people who were poor, or outcast, or lonely in the Roman Empire. Money and power and the accumulation of both were the main goals of life in Rome. The famous philosopher Plato said, rather shockingly, "a poor man who was no longer able to work because of sickness should be left to die." Charity and debt relief, for many of the classical Greeks, which carried over into the Roman world, was only to be practiced in order to receive favors from other. You helped other people, in order that one day they may help you.
And can you imagine the impact the teachings of Jesus would have in this type of society? Teachings that focused on generosity, servanthood and forgiveness, instead of accumulation and greed? In fact, Jesus is even more direct in his attacks on Roman power and wealth that was based upon debt, just 2 chapters later in Matthew when he says: "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.” Indeed in the Roman society where debt was prolific and unjust, people were to combat those practices with generosity and selflessness.
And in our story today that is exactly what Jesus is suggesting his listeners do. Practice unselfishness and forgiveness in a society of greed where money is power. And the main focus in the passage for today is on the second situation where the man who has been forgiven of his 10,000 talents of debt, throws another debtor in prison who only owes 100 denarii—about 100 days worth of common work—which was not a large sum of money.
It was a debt that was realistic, that many of Matthew’s listeners could have related to. It was like having a car loan, or a personal loan, or several thousand dollars in credit card debt. It was a loan that could be repaid if given time. The servant even said, “Have patience with me and I will pay you.” But he was refused and thrown into prison.
And the underlying message of this parable that criticized a Roman economy that preyed on the weak and the poor was not lost on early Christians. Indeed Christian charity, mercy, and forgiveness were the hallmarks of early Christianity. The Gospel writers had a significant impact on the activities of later Christians, as stories like this one inspired Christians to give selflessly and generously to those who were in need. The Roman writer Lucian writing just over a hundred years after the death and resurrection Jesus said this of Christians:
“The earnestness with which the people of this religion help one another in their needs is incredible. They spare themselves nothing for this end. Their first lawgiver put it into their heads that they were all brethren.”
And in being all brethren, the suffering and debts of one person, regardless of religious affiliation, became the suffering and debts of all people. Christians didn’t just help other Christians who were in debt, but helped any who needed it. As the Roman Emperor Julian, the leader of the largest empire in the Western world at the time said:
"The impious Galileans relieve both their own poor and ours . . . . It is shameful that ours should be so destitute of our assistance."
This is remarkable, because it is the Emperor of Rome who made the comment. This statement means that in only a couple hundred years after the life of Jesus, a small group of a new religion—Christians—had shaken the very core of the vast and might Roman empire. All this by simply helping those who were in need. For showing mercy, and gentleness, and patience, and giving relief not only for other Christians, but for any and all people who needed it. This was the kingdom of God for Jesus and for Matthew. A kingdom where debt to sin—the ultimate debt of all—having already been overturned, allowed Christians to work together to relieve the debts of others who were enslaved in an unjust economy and burdened by the selfishness of the powerful.
But what about us today? I’m sure most of us here are more of the indebted than the lender! Well I think there are two simple things we can do, both of which come from these words of Jesus: “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave.”
We are firstly, to recognize tyrannical practices that are unjust in our societies. Whether it be lending practices that seek to penalize people too heavily for taking out a loan, or whether it be global debt that keeps the poorest nations tied to desperate poverty. We are to find these places and these practices, we are to recognize them for what they are, and we are to find ways of changing them.
Secondly, we are to be servants. Servants who seek to be greatest by being the least. Who do not strive for our own gains at the expense of others. Who seek to give more than to receive and who work diligently for a more just world for all people. And in these two actions perhaps we find that by overturning the Kingdoms of Debt, we can find the Kingdom of God.
