Unmerciful Servant

The ultimate example of debt and forgiveness

Matthew 18:21–35 HCSB

Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how many times could my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” “I tell you, not as many as seven,” Jesus said to him, “but 70 times seven. For this reason, the kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed 10,000 talents was brought before him. Since he had no way to pay it back, his master commanded that he, his wife, his children, and everything he had be sold to pay the debt. “At this, the slave fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything!’ Then the master of that slave had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan. “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 denarii. He grabbed him, started choking him, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’ “At this, his fellow slave fell down and began begging him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ But he wasn’t willing. On the contrary, he went and threw him into prison until he could pay what was owed. When the other slaves saw what had taken place, they were deeply distressed and went and reported to their master everything that had happened. “Then, after he had summoned him, his master said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And his master got angry and handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed. So My heavenly Father will also do to you if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart.”

The Limits of Forgiveness

Rabbis of the day discussed this matter and recommended to limit forgiveness to 3 times.... So Peter’s “seven” even seems generous!

Jesus subverted this thought though altogether by alluding to an Old Testament story… Ironically the unlimited vindictiveness of Lamech

Genesis 4:24 HCSB

If Cain is to be avenged seven times over, then for Lamech it will be seventy-seven times!

Two cases of “seven”, the number of completion, denotes more than a mere number.

But Jesus uses this Seventy-Seven for forgiveness.

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary v. Forgiving Personal Offences (18:21–35)

The unimaginable size of the original debt (the talent was the highest unit of currency, and ten thousand the highest Greek numeral—‘a billion pounds’ would convey the impression

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary v. Forgiving Personal Offences (18:21–35)

If that is the measure of the forgiveness the disciple has received, any limitation on the forgiveness he shows to his brother is unthinkable. The fact that the second servant’s debt is one six-hundred-thousandth of the first emphasizes the ludicrous impropriety of the forgiven sinner’s standing on his own ‘rights’.

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary v. Forgiving Personal Offences (18:21–35)

Those who will not forgive cannot expect to be forgiven

Matthew: An Introduction and Commentary v. Forgiving Personal Offences (18:21–35)

The point was made strongly in the Lord’s Prayer and the comment which follows it (6:12, 14–15), and the use of ‘debts’ for sins there is illuminated by the emphasis on debt here (vv. 24, 28, 30, 32, 34 all use the same word or its cognates). If the church is the community of the forgiven, then all its relationships will be marked by a forgiveness which is not a mere form of words, but an essential characteristic; from your heart excludes all casuistry and legalism.