Not so long ago, and not to far away, in a time of global recession the banks where all of the people's money was invested hit a crisis. Loosing confidence in the global situation they stopped lending to one another.
The government of the country watched the situation with growing concern, they decided that they must act and so they called in the heads of the various banks for a talk. The talks were held and both the government ministers and the heads of the various banks emerged serious, but smiling. The government had decided to help out the banks to the tune of several billion pounds. The banks were now solvent again, and many investors breathed a cautious sigh of relief.
That relief proved to be short lived however for many small business bosses, for the bank leaders returned to their offices and began to look at their record books. The small business owners found that they were receiving letters demanding higher repayments, and in some cases lines of credit such as overdrafts were withdrawn. The small business owners cried out in anguish and asked for mercy….
Will the banks relent?
The government ministers certainly hope so, and they have encouraged the bank leaders to apply for more aid so that they can help out the small business owners…
Will this story end in smiles or tears? We will wait and see; in the meantime the bank leaders might like to consider the following parable:
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. In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars. 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.
"But the man fell down before his master and begged him, 'Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.' Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
"But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars. He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
"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. But his creditor wouldn't wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
"When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 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. Shouldn't you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt. (Matthew 18)
