The Unforgiving Servant

Again, the king in the parable is not God. And the story is really not about forgiveness but imperial occupation. We often forget that Palestine was under Roman Occupation during Jesus's time. Before the Romans were the Greeks, the Persians, the Babylonians, the Assyrians... After the Romans came the Byzantines, the Early Muslim Dynasties, the Crusaders, the Later Muslim Dynasties, the Ottomans, the British, and now the Israelis.

For me the key to making sense of the parable is the ten thousand talents. That's about 30 billion pesos! When Rome conquered Palestine in 63 BCE, the taxes the empire required from its colony was ten thousand talents.

By the time of Jesus, Palestine has been under Roman Occupation for almost a hundred years. Exploitation was rampant and tax collectors were among the most hated in the land. And Rome executed up to 500 people daily to remind everyone that defiance was unacceptable behavior.

So the king cancels a huge debt which was not really owed. Then and now the powerful has records, books, and documents that show how much the powerless owe. And payment always requires more than what is owed.

And the servant who's supposed debt was canceled? He does exactly what the exploitative system has shaped him to do, be the face of the colonizer to the colonized. More often than not, the colonized never see the face of the colonizer. Only his agents who come from among the colonized.

Then and now the colonizer remains benevolent. Then and now America remains such to several generations of Filipinos. Then and now millions of Filipinos believe that the American occupation was a gift from God.

Read the parable again. The King comes out smelling like a baby's behind. The colonized are portrayed as seeking the king's favor. Classic divide and conquer technique.