THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT

I think Peter was sincere when he asked, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? As many as seven times?” (Matthew 18:21). Jesus’ response was stunning. “No, Peter, not just seven, ‘but seventy times seven’ ” (Matthew 18:22), almost five hundred times.

To further explain His upside-down, counter-cultural kingdom, Jesus told a story, the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.

“The kingdom of heaven can be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle accounts, one who owed ten thousand talents was brought before him” (Matthew 18:23–24). “Ten thousand talents” is approximately equal to a zillion dollars… it was something like the national debt! The servant owed an amount so large that it could never be repaid!

Instead of throwing the servant into debtor’s prison, the merciful king forgave the debt. He wrote it off, marking it “pain in full!”

What did that servant do? He went immediately and put the squeeze on a man who owed him a minor debt, something like twenty-six dollars. Because he was unable to repay the twenty-six dollars, he and his family were sent to prison.

And, what do you suppose the merciful king thought about that? The king “handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he could pay everything that was owed” (Matthew 18:34).

Though it isn’t recorded in Scripture, I suspect that Jesus looked at Peter, and asked, “How much have you been forgiven? How many times have you failed and fallen? Just seven times? Or five hundred? If you’ve been forgiven, shouldn’t you forgive your brother who wrongs you? Shouldn’t you?”

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