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 an 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.