Walking in Unrelenting Love
“Lord, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”
Domenico Fetti's painting "The Unmerciful Servant" offers a visual interpretation of our scriptures this week, and the themes of forgiveness and reconciliation that run through them. Fetti's painting captures the pivotal moment of confrontation between the two servants: unbelievably, one, who has been forgiven an incalculable debt, throttles another, who owes him a couple of bucks.
Fetti's portrayal highlights the urgency of Christ's teaching. We know the end of the story, that the unmerciful servant will — tragically and horrifically — find his mercy revoked. But even before we get to that point, we see the horrible irony of the situation. The unforgiving servant has cornered his colleague in the corner of some musty basement somewhere, in a built environment scaled for people twice his size. His clothing is tattered and torn: he has just come from tussling with his own creditor. And the whole broken world sinks quietly into shadow, falling into the deep, dark sinkhole of unmercy. The king is not mocked: he will come an execute justice with severity. But in the meantime, the whole world is being smothered, with the poor servant choked at the hand of his brother.
If you, Lord, were to mark what is done amiss, O Lord, who could abide it? [But] there is mercy with you; therefore you shall be feared.
— Psalm 130:3-4
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Texts for This Week
Prayer
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
What shall I make of you, Ephraim?
Johann Sebastian Bach's motet "Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim" (What shall I do with you, Ephraim) vividly captures the pleading lament of God over his wayward people. The text, drawn from Hosea 11:8, echoes the Old Testament prophet's anguished cry on behalf of the Lord who cannot give up on rebellious Israel. Bach's setting interprets this divine heartache through poignant harmonies and achingly chromatic melodies that tug at the listener's sympathies. The music conveys a profound sense of divine pathos and endless patience in pursuit of the lost.
This week's readings resonate powerfully with these themes of God's spurned but unrelenting love. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus underscores God's limitless capacity to forgive, even in the face of rejection. The parable depicts a king forgiving extravagant debts, yet meeting indifference and spite. Likewise, the passage from Sirach emphasizes God's slowness to anger and willingness to forgive again and again. Paul's letter calls believers to a similar ethic of patience and mercy within the Body of Christ.
Bach's motet gives piercing expression to the pained mercy voiced in all these texts. Through this music, the grief of the prophets at Israel's faithlessness is made vivid and personal. We hear the heartcry of the Father who cannot abandon his lost children, even in the face of rejection. Was soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim? What can be done but to keep loving, keep calling, keep waiting and hoping for the distant child's return? Bach's masterpiece places us in the presence of this ceaseless, penetrating love that our Scripture readings proclaim.
In its passion and pathos, Bach's motet sings the timeless message of this week's texts - that God's capacity to love and forgive far exceeds our own. It carries the listener into compassionate imagination of a divine love that suffers profoundly yet never forsakes the beloved. Just as this love persevered for Ephraim, so it pursues each of us in all our wandering.
Isaac the Syrian on Mercy
Even if we have thousands of acts of great virtue to our credit, our confidence in being heard must be based on God's mercy and His love for men. Even if we stand at the very summit of virtue, it is by mercy that we shall be saved. St. John Chrysostom
Ever let mercy outweigh all else in you. Let our compassion be a mirror where we may see in ourselves that likeness and that true image which belong to the Divine nature and Divine essence. A heart hard and unmerciful will never be pure.
