I can still remember the panic I felt looking at the receipt in my hand: “INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.” Standing in front of the ATM machine in the large lobby at my place of work, I stood in disbelief. I had attempted to make a withdrawal from my checking account, and this was what I got instead of the $20 bill I was expecting.
There was no such thing as online banking in those days, so the only way a person could reconcile their account was via the monthly statement and canceled checks that arrived in the mail. I was on a shoestring budget, watched my spending like a hawk, and balanced my account to the penny every month. The worst news on the receipt was that my account was overdrawn by several hundred dollars. “This has to be a mistake,” I thought. I certainly hoped so because I had no savings and couldn’t imagine how I would possibly make up the deficit.
I called my bank, and the associate who took my call checked my account. “I’m sorry,” he said, “but our records show that the amount on your receipt is correct – your account is overdrawn by xxx dollars.” My mind began racing. How would I pay the bills or adequately feed the kids next month? “There must be some kind of mistake,” I argued.
“Not according to our records,” he responded. “But if you’d like to come in and bring your checkbook, we can take a look at things more closely.” Late that afternoon I sat at the associate’s desk, and after comparing the bank’s records to my check register, it became obvious that I was the one who had made the error. My heart sank. “Is there anything we can arrange so that I can pay this over time?” I asked.
It may have been the panic in my eyes or the desperation in my voice that led him to say, “Let me talk to my manager.” When he came back, he told me the bank would cover all of my insufficient funds and added fees. My debt was completely erased! I could barely put my gratitude into words but managed to keep my composure until I got back to my car, where I burst into tears of relief.
In her book, “The Seeds of Heaven,” Barbara Brown Taylor writes this about the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18:15-35):
“The point of the parable is that you have already been forgiven, that someone to whom you owe everything…and who has gotten precious little in return has examined your enormous debt in great detail and knows from your credit rating that the chances of repayment are nil. [God] knows all of that and has taken the stack of your IOUs and torn them in two, balancing your books in one fell swoop for one reason and one reason alone: because God wants to remain in relationship with you, and wants you to be free to respond.”
Loving God, thank you for your extravagant grace. Help us to be extravagant with the grace we offer to others. Amen.