Unforgiving Debtors

I keep getting ideas from long ago stuck in my head. That’s not all that abnormal. But, finding way to tie them into teachings, and current events is getting weird. For instance, I woke up this morning with the 1812 Overture in my head. Now it is testing day, so maybe some subliminal motivation was at play but, other instances get even weirder. I haven’t attended a Sunday School or church service in several years but, as I stated in posts before, my upbringing involved a lot of church and Sunday School. I recall a number of stories and sayings from my time in those classes and buildings. The ones I enjoyed were always the parables. My current financial state has me thinking about poverty a lot, so  perhaps the parable of the Unforgiving Debtor coming to mind earlier this week isn't all that strange. And I haven’t been able to shake it. I love stories. And I love applying them to situations and lessons. I feel like I should take a swing at this so, here goes… 

First, the text of the story. For those that do not know, its from the book of Matthew chapter 18 (this is the living translation)

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Parable of the Unforgiving Debtor

Matthew 18:

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone[a] who sins against me? Seven times?”

22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven![b]

23 “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.”

I think we can learn from this a bit… or at the very least, point out some problems with what is going on right now in Oklahoma. We find ourselves in the midst of a crisis. The Oklahoma legislature gets to pretend they are doing something about it for another month or so. The problem is money, or lack thereof in the state coffers, and solutions are needed. 

I would say don’t worry, they are working on it, but that is mostly the problem. That “they” are working on it is a large part of the problem. Their reputation for dispensing water bottles to drowning people is evident in their legacy of legislative labors.And they come thru in shining fashion here. The Governor has found some places where money can be collected. Much like the gentleman in the story above, our state leaders are looking to the vulnerable and defenseless to make up the shortfall they helped create. Former State Representative and Gubernatorial candidate Joe Dorman laid out a brief history and analysis of how taxation kind of works in Oklahoma. You can find it here. OK Policy discussed the history and situation regarding tax cuts in the Oklahoma legislature here. It is a situation entirely man-made. Some samples of the suffering and desolation can be found here, here, and here. These actions have hurt millions of Oklahomans, in more than one way, and if they didn’t know it would hurt then, we do know it hurts now, and we have to stop… 

The majority leadership in our legislature is loaded with timidity and fecklessness when it comes to taxation. There is a severe mental block in their ideology that says any kind of tax increase is bad, and the voters don’t want it. That is remarkably untrue here in Oklahoma, as shown here. In fact, a deeper study of that chart (which is from OK Policy Institute so its awesome!) shows the leadership advocating the LEAST POPULAR CHOICES as their alternatives!!! Perhaps we should become a bit more vocal in making sure our wants and wishes are being listened to and acted upon. 

They don’t have a lot of time left and are definitely counting on us to give up (as many of them seem to have done). Giving up and giving in can only make things worse. We cannot keep living with the mantra “it can’t get much worse” because we sure keep blasting below that threshold. Keep contacting legislators, and telling your stories. Get to know the litany of candidates that are running for office this fall. Let's keep moving and shaking this state!