Hatred

Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor (Matthew 18:23-35)

 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. ²⁴ In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.^{[c] 25} He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
²⁶ “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ ²⁷ Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
²⁸ “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.^[d] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
²⁹ “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. ³⁰ But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
³¹ “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. ³² Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
³⁵ “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters^[e] from your heart.”

 
Today was a beautiful day outside in Austin, Texas. Imagine the perfect day: clear blue sky, bright sun, light breeze in the air, etc. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day that I was blessed to be alive in.

With this beautiful day, I spent some time with my sophomore class and freshman class. We headed over to get some frozen yogurt together. As we were walking on the sidewalk, a car passed by us. An African American male began to make racial slurs and gestures toward us.

For a good minute, I was very confused. 

Why did he make such hatred gestures and slurs? What was his reason? Why do I feel like he ruined my entire day? What's wrong with him? I didn't understand.

It reminded me of the moments in elementary school when we did dumb things for no reason. For example...

Teacher: Now Johnny, why did you hit Jim?

Johnny: I don't know. I just did.

As I thought about this, I began to think about how that person will never get a job. I began to hope that his immaturity will cause him to completely fail at life. I hoped he would suffer the consequences and live a life of constant suffering/pain/stress/etc.

Then it hit me. Why am I thinking these things? What am I doing? Why is my natural response hatred? I prayed. I prayed for forgiveness of my thoughts of hatred. I prayed for that individual as well.... I prayed for a heart of compassion.

I was reminded of the parable of the unforgiving debt collector. Funny thing is that my friend mentioned this parable to me a few hours after this incident.

Look, it doesn't mater what he did to me. What I did to Christ is far worse than what anyone will do to me. Just as Christ forgave me. I must forgive anyone and everyone. It doesn't matter what they do. If they don't know any better, then we should pray for that person. We should pray that God will soon work in his/her life.

Pray that others, who don't know better, will come to understand the love of Christ. Pray that the Story of Love and truth will be revealed to them.