Ezekiel 12:1-12 / Matthew 18:21 - 19:1
It is very humiliating when others treat you as some kind of commodity. It is not just humiliation but also a total disregard for the human dignity and for the human person.
When we are treated as a commodity, it means that we can be bought and sold for a price and the owner can do whatever he wants with us.
In other words, it means that we are not human beings; we are just things that are to be used and when we are of no use, we can be thrown away.
When Jesus told the parable of the servant who owned a enormous amount of money, the king had intended for him and his family to be sold in order to pay the debt.
That servant was treated as a thing but when he pleaded for mercy, the king cancelled his debt and treated him as a human being.
Well, that servant ought to have treated his fellow servant who owed him a much lesser amount, with the same dignity that the king treated him.
It has been often said that to forgive is divine; yet to forgive is also human.
Yet when we don't forgive, we become less human, if not inhumane.
And when we take forgiveness for granted, then we will become like the people in the 1st reading.
They took God's mercy and forgiveness for granted and hence they were exiled and were treated like things and not like human beings.
As we are forgiven, so too must we forgive, if we want to live and be treated as human beings.