I’ve been thinking about the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35. In short, a servant owed a lot to a king but was forgiven. Later, when someone owed him a little, he refused to forgive. “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant,” the king challenges him, “just as I had on you?”
Here's what I notice as I try to read it through an ecological lens.
God keeps giving through the earth’s abundance. As Annie Dillard has so memorably put it: “The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand.”1 The earth keeps giving gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries, the song of tūī, the cheerfulness of kōwhai flowers.
What is our response?
This is called reciprocity. As Robin Wall Kimmerer has noted:
Reciprocity – returning the gift – is not just good manners; it is how the biophysical world works… Reciprocity among parts of the living Earth produces equilibrium, in which life as we know it can flourish. When the gift is in motion, it can last forever.
What gifts do we have to give back to the earth that has given us so much? We offer a gift when we pay deep attention to the living world and thank God for what we see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Artists offer a gift by helping us to see the beauty of the world anew. Gardeners offer a gift when they replenish the soil by adding compost. Scientists offer a gift when they help us to understand the way the natural world works. We all offer a gift when we take only what we need, with glad and thankful hearts.
In the parable of the unmerciful servant, the servant fails to practice reciprocity. He could have acknowledged the gift he was given by passing the gift forward to his fellow servant who owed him a pittance. Instead, he takes that servant by the throat and demands payment. When are we like that unmerciful servant in regards to the rest of creation? Not only do we fail to acknowledge the gifts we’re showered with, and daily, but we take creation by the neck and demand more. We demand that more fossil fuels be extracted, that more wetlands be drained, that more forests be cut down, all so that our own needs – or wants – can be met. As Kimmerer has also noted:
In the parable, the king throws the unmerciful servant in jail. If we fail to enter into reciprocity with the earth, I wonder what our fate will be? Will we, too, be separated from that which gives life as an exhausted Earth can give no more? We were made in the image of God to reflect God’s own love and care back to his creation. It’s not too late to offer your gift. What will you bring?
1Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974.
2Robin Wall Kimmerer, Returning the Gift, Grateful, grateful.org/resource/returning-the-gift.
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We have invited these writers to share their experiences, ideas and opinions in the hope that these will provoke thought, challenge you to go deeper and inspire you to put your faith into action. These articles should not be taken as the official view of the Nelson Diocese on any particular matter.
I’ve been thinking about the parable of the unmerciful servant in Matthew 18:21-35. In short, a servant owed a lot to a king but was forgiven. Later, when someone owed him a little, he refused to forgive. “Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant,” the king challenges him, “just as I had on you?”
Here's what I notice as I try to read it through an ecological lens.
God keeps giving through the earth’s abundance. As Annie Dillard has so memorably put it: “The world is fairly studded and strewn with pennies cast broadside from a generous hand.”1 The earth keeps giving gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries, the song of tūī, the cheerfulness of kōwhai flowers.
What is our response?
This is called reciprocity. As Robin Wall Kimmerer has noted:
Reciprocity – returning the gift – is not just good manners; it is how the biophysical world works… Reciprocity among parts of the living Earth produces equilibrium, in which life as we know it can flourish. When the gift is in motion, it can last forever.
What gifts do we have to give back to the earth that has given us so much? We offer a gift when we pay deep attention to the living world and thank God for what we see, hear, taste, smell and touch. Artists offer a gift by helping us to see the beauty of the world anew. Gardeners offer a gift when they replenish the soil by adding compost. Scientists offer a gift when they help us to understand the way the natural world works. We all offer a gift when we take only what we need, with glad and thankful hearts.
In the parable of the unmerciful servant, the servant fails to practice reciprocity. He could have acknowledged the gift he was given by passing the gift forward to his fellow servant who owed him a pittance. Instead, he takes that servant by the throat and demands payment. When are we like that unmerciful servant in regards to the rest of creation? Not only do we fail to acknowledge the gifts we’re showered with, and daily, but we take creation by the neck and demand more. We demand that more fossil fuels be extracted, that more wetlands be drained, that more forests be cut down, all so that our own needs – or wants – can be met. As Kimmerer has also noted:
In the parable, the king throws the unmerciful servant in jail. If we fail to enter into reciprocity with the earth, I wonder what our fate will be? Will we, too, be separated from that which gives life as an exhausted Earth can give no more? We were made in the image of God to reflect God’s own love and care back to his creation. It’s not too late to offer your gift. What will you bring?
Check out other articles in the
series below.
More articles in the
series are to come.
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