Jesus taught that we must forgive every time we are wronged; to say, "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us, and to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us", is to forgive with a heart of love.

What the unforgiving servant in the Gospel owed the king was enormous compared with the debt of his fellow servant, and similarly the wrongs people do to us are small compared with our sins against God. By the subsequent punishment of the unforgiving servant, Jesus warns us of the possibility of rejecting our Heavenly Father's love, if we do not forgive experiences, chastisement of one kind or another!

The first reading is an example of such chastisement. The mimed oracle of Ezechiel referred to Zedekiah, a wicked King of Jerusalem. During his reign the city was besieged by Nebuchadnezzar. The king escaped through a breach in the wall, was captured, and after witnessing the executions of his sons he was blinded and led into captivity loaded with chains.