Forgive Us Our Debts
Matthew 18:21-35 · The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
As with so many of the stories of Jesus, the parable of the debtors arose out of a question that was posed to Jesus. Peter said to him: “Master, if my brother sins against me, how many times should I forgive him? Seven times? Even as he asks that question my mind cannot help but think about children and how they will sometimes confess something they did wrong expecting to get praise because they were so honest.
In the same sense, Simon Peter by asking this question is not expecting rebuke but praise. According to Jewish law, Peter had the right to think that he had done something good. Scribal law clearly read: “If a man transgresses one time, forgive him. If a man transgresses two times, forgive him. If a man transgresses three times, forgive him. If a man transgresses four times, do not forgive him.” What Peter has done is to take this law of limited forgiveness, multiply it by two and add one, and then sit back with a smile on his face and say: Now how is that for being a great guy? And he surely must have been taken aback when Jesus said you must forgive seventy times seven.
Then Jesus proceeded to tell a story. There was a certain king who had a day of reckoning for his servants. He found one who owed him 10,000 talents and, because he could not pay, he was about to have him thrown into jail and his wife and children sold into slavery. In response to the man’s pathetic pleadings, however, he forgave him the entire debt.
Whereupon that forgiven servant went to a fellow servant who owed him 100 denarii, a very small sum of money, and demanded payment. He pleaded for extra time, an extension, but the man would not hear of it, and he had him thrown into jail. This story got back to the king who went into a rage. He called in the forgiven servant and said that because of his conduct, he was now to be thrown into jail. His original debt was reinstated.
Now the question is, what was Jesus attempting to say? Through this parable Jesus says you can be forgiven. But forgiveness carries a heavy price, and a forgiven soul should be a forgiving soul.
Jesus says, Peter you can be forgiven, but you are starting with the wrong question. Peter starts by asking, how many times must I forgive? Jesus responds, Peter, how many times have you been forgiven? It is of course the proper place to start and when our minds are properly oriented, we are more apt to approach personal injury with mercy and grace.
The second thing Jesus would have Peter know is forgiveness carries a heavy price. The King was owed 10,000 talents we are told. The point is that it was a huge amount of money, quite beyond the reach of the servant to pay. The story says to us that forgiveness carries a large price tag.
Forgiveness is not always logical. It is not pleasant. It comes with a price. The truth is that all too often the times we think that we have forgiven someone it hasn’t been real forgiveness at all. It may have been a condescending toleration, or a quick dismissal, or a cheap kind of pity. True Forgiveness is not as easy as we like to think. Indeed, it goes to the core of our very being. It is perhaps the primary test of our spiritual maturity.
In the story of the prodigal son, the prodigal is welcomed back not as a servant but as an equal. The elder son is not given any protection at all. What happened cut him deeply. The elder son might have said something like I’ll forgive you, but I won’t forget. He might have gone on to add an addendum: don’t tell me it is my responsibility before God to forgive him and don’t tell me that my need for forgiveness is the same as his, because I know there is a difference. Let the record show that I am the forgiver and he is the forgiven. I have the moral high ground. I will forgive him if he understands that he is not really restored to full relationship with me.
When the king forgives his servant’s debt, a debt that he cannot possibly repay, he is saying that he is restored to full relationship. No strings attached. We only ask forgiveness when we think we will be forgiven. But there is a heavy price. In receiving forgiveness there comes the great responsibility to forgive others. This is the first answer to Peter’s question. Peter, Jesus says, forgiveness is unlimited do not try to impress God.
The third point of this parable is found in the actions of the one forgiven. He goes out to a colleague and demands immediate payment of a paltry amount of money. Having been forgiven, he cannot now forgive.
The King finds out about what has happened and he again summons the servant before him. We had better be careful about how we handle this whole subject of forgiveness, because one day our life is going to be exposed. Jesus said in Luke 12: “What is veiled will be unveiled, and what is hidden will be known.” Nobody is going to get away with anything. Friends, one day you are going to be caught and exposed. Every unpure thought, every self—seeking act, every cruel word will come out.
The whole point of the cross is to let us know that we all know so little about goodness and godliness that at one time or another we all play a role in this messy and deplorable condition called sin.
Jesus said: don’t forgive 7 times, forgive 70 X 7. I do not know of anyone who has sinned against me 490 times. But I must be honest and tell you that during the span of my lifetime, I have sinned against God more than 490 times.
Once we understand the depth of our own sin, then we will forever be motivated to get involved in the process of forgiveness.
In Victor Hugo’s novel Les Miserables, Jean Valjean served a 19-year sentence for stealing a loaf of bread in order to feed his sister’s family. Finally, he is set free. A Bishop is the only one who will befriend the embittered man. Valjean rewards him by stealing some of his silver. He is caught red-handed by the police.
The Bishop, is called to the police station to prefer charges. Instead of doing that, he brings Valjean his silver candlestick holders in an effort to fool the police into thinking that Valjean had not stolen. Valjean is forever changed. He extends grace to an orphan child and raises her as his own. He forgives the police man who wanted to put him back in jail. Finally he dies, holding in his hand the two candlesticks that the bishop gave him. What is it that so completely changed this embittered man? He learned to extend mercy, because mercy had been extended to him.
Friends, every time we enter this place of worship we have a symbol of the forgiveness that has been extended to us. It is the cross. Accept the grace that is offered to you this morning and then, in the name of that One who has forgiven you a debt which you cannot possibly repay, extend grace to others.