The Parable of Austerity and Debt Forgiveness

Jesus tells a Parable about a man, 

who will be called Greece, 

who was burdened by billions of Euro worth of debt, and he had defaulted. 

There was nothing he could do, 

                                         no referendums, 

                                                                no negotiating tables, 

                                                                                               just debt and no way to pay it. 

He was called up for it.

Heading into the European Central Bank office he knew he was in trouble. He pleaded with Mario Draghi (President of the ECB) to give him more time and not kick him out of the Euro.

Having mercy on the man in tonnes of debt, the entire debt was written off!

There was no way the man could pay it, but there was kindness and mercy shown to him.

Later on the same day, Greece met Germany who owed him some rent money since World War II (supposedly),

when Germany said she couldn’t pay, Greece made Nazi posters and posted them on the Internet of Germany, publicly shaming her.

The European Central Bank got wind of the story and brought Greece back to another meeting.

Greece was told that even though all their debt had been written off, the ECB was disappointed with Greece for what they had done to Germany,

"Don't you know what you put on the Internet stays there forever?" Mario asked Greece. "All your debt was forgiven, but you could not pay it forward, and humiliated Germany. You wicked, wicked man."

Consequentially, Greece was forced to bring in reforms that created more austerity and worse conditions for living, until all the debt was paid off.

- Matthew 18: 24-34