PAID IN FULL

When Peter asked Jesus if he was required to forgive an offender up to seven times, Jesus replied, “Nope. Not seven, but seven times seventy” (Matthew 18:22). The Master then told a story to illustrate His own great grace.

“A king wanted to settle accounts with his servants… one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him. Since he did not have the money 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 servant fell facedown before him and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you everything’ ” (Matthew 18:23-26)

The king seems harsh, until we consider the enormous debt owed… “ten thousand talents.”

A talent is equal to six thousand denarii. A denarius was equal to the wages a common laborer was paid for a day’s work. To make the math easy, let’s say a worker was paid just ten dollars per day. ($10 X 6,000 = $60,000 … $60,000 X 10,000 = $600,000,000). The delinquent dude owned a serious amount of dough!

It’s hard to fathom the merciful response of the master! When the servant begged for forgiveness, “the master of that servant had compassion, released him, and forgave him the loan” (Matthew 18:27).

Jesus was obviously telling the story to illustrate His own mercy and grace. We are like the indebted servant. We owe a debt we’ll never … not in a zillion years … be able to repay! So, Jesus paid a debt that He didn’t owe! He forgave us! He cleared the slate … clean! He took our loan documents and, in bold print, wrote: “It is finished!” Paid in Full!

Why would the Master forgive such a debt? Why did He do that? Because “the master of that servant had compassion!”

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).