The Parables of the Lord Jesus Christ
5 - The Unforgiving Servant
The parable of the Lord Jesus that we are discovering this time is about an unforgiving servant. You will find it in the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 18, verses 21 to 35. Earlier in this chapter Jesus has been warning about the danger of causing others to sin against God - particularly young children. Instead, He says we should find the straying sheep and bring it back to the fold.
But suppose it is the other way round; suppose someone is sinning against me? And so Peter asks the Lord a question: "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times? Jesus answered, ' I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven." Jesus has already shown us the principle of how we should act towards those who wrong us. In verse 15: "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over." In other words the first step to reconciliation is a private not a public act. It is to be a personal interaction.
Perhaps Peter felt he was being very generous when he suggested that he should forgive seven times as though a forgiving spirit was something to be measured very carefully. Jesus' answer made it clear that there are no limits to forgiveness, it is a basic attitude and a state of heart. Forgiveness is not something to be measured or calculated. We don't hear people saying, "How often should I love my husband or my wife of my children?" Such love is unconditional and continual. Our blessed Lord was saying in effect, "You must never stop forgiving those who wrong you."
Now, forgiveness is not a natural or automatic virtue. It is not always easy, but it is very important. So Jesus tells this parable to illustrate the great principle that a person who is forgiven themselves must always have a forgiving spirit towards others. He says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants." These servants had a duty to collect the royal taxes in their provinces and to deliver these large sums of money to the king at the appointed time. One of these high-ranking servants owed the king ten thousand talents. To give you an idea of the size of this debt, one talent was worth six thousand denarii and one dinar was the wage of a working man for one day. A working man would have to labour for one thousand weeks to earn just one talent. He could not accumulate or save even ten talents in a lifetime. So ten thousand talents really was a huge amount of money, the equivalent of millions in today's currency.
The man was unable to pay this vast sum. What had he done with it? Had he squandered it on himself and his family? Had he thrown big parties or just gambled it away? We do not know, but the fact is he stands before the king with nothing. He is completely unable to pay his master and so is faced with the penalty imposed by the law of the day. In verse 25 we read: "Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt." His situation is utterly hopeless and in relation to this huge debt the sale of his family and possessions would produce very little money for the king.
What is he to do? He is at the mercy of the king. Jesus' story continues: "The servant fell on his knees before the king. 'Be patient with me', he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'" He does nor deny the debt. He does not explain what he had done with the money he had collected. He makes no excuses. He offers to repay the debt in time, but he must have known that this was impossible, but he is desperate. And now comes the first powerful lesson of this parable. What does the king do? Does he reject out of hand his servants plea? No! We read, "the servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt and let him go." The king had compassion on this erring servant and took pity on him as he saw his apparent contrition and freed him from his enormous debt. Here is a picture of the great compassion and mercy of God towards sinners who come to Him for mercy and forgiveness. But the parable does not end here. This picture of unconditional and abounding forgiveness is not the only lesson that Jesus wants Peter to learn from the story. In goes on: "But when the servant went out (from the king) he found one of his fellow servants who owed him just a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!', he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt." Note that the sum that this man owed was about one six hundred thousandth of the amount forgiven by the king to his servant. The sum owed in this case was really very small, but the servant of the king had no pity, no compassion. The debt was too small to have this man sold into slavery, but he could legally have him committed to prison and this is what he did.
The other servants on hearing about this are horrified and report the matter to the king. They felt sad for the king, that his kindness had been treated with such contempt. So he calls the servant to him. "You wicked servant" he says, "I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?" Now this unmerciful, unforgiving servant has to face the consequence of his actions. "In anger his master turned him over to the jailers until he should pay back all that he owed."
Jesus concludes this parable with another powerful lesson. He says, "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart." The unforgiving and the unmerciful cannot count on the mercy and forgiveness of God. As those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ we should be filled with unceasing gratitude to Him for saving us and releasing us from the penalty due to us because of our sins. Christians are to be forgiving and merciful because of the forgiveness and mercy they have received. Those who have been forgiven much should love much. We must forgive those who sin against us. This was the lesson that Peter and the others who heard this parable had to learn. Forgiveness should not be measured out or calculated depending on circumstances, but should be given willingly, and from the heart, to those who wrong us or who are in debt to us in some way.
What has God done to make forgiveness possible for us? We are all debtors to God because we have all broken his law and fall short of his standard of perfection. The Bible says, "For we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God." This is an immense and unpayable debt. There is nothing any of us can do to make amends for or to pay for our sinfulness before God who is utterly holy. But because of the Lord Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice on the cross, the debt of sin has been fully paid for all those who place their faith in Him. "God made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ allowed our sins to be placed on Him, so that his perfection could be placed on us. He did this so that we could be set free from the debt of sin for ever. Have you come to Christ and been forgiven of all your sins?
So forgiveness is no trivial matter. There is always a cost to be paid. It may be the cost of swallowed pride. It may be the cost of mending a relationship. But where there is true forgiveness, there is also a sense of peace and joy. Our forgiveness cost the Lord Jesus his very life. This was the highest cost. A cost that took the Son of God to the cross to be punished in our place. Dare we who have been forgiven much refuse to forgive those who hurt us?