Author : Keith Sharp
Series : The Parables of the Master
Text : Matthew 18:21-35
Introduction
The story of the unmerciful servant is truly remarkable. The Master had just finished teaching His disciples – and us – what to do if a brother sinned against them and how to do it (Matthew 18:15-17). Peter’s quick tongue provided the setting for this incredible parable. He inquired, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” “Rabbi Jose ben Hanina said, ‘He who begs forgiveness from his neighbour must not do so more than three times” (Barclay. 2:213).
There is probably little doubt that Peter felt his proposal to be remarkably generous. Rabbinical tradition said three times (based erroneously on Job 33.2930 and Amos1.3 – 2.6), but sometimes never made that. The Talmud tells the story of a Rabbi who would not forgive a very small slight to his dignity though asked by the offender thirteen years in succession and that on the Day of Atonement! (Earnhart. 82).
The apostle was so generous with his forgiveness that he doubled the Talmudic standard and added one for good measure! And seven was the perfect number (Psalm 12:6).
But Peter was trying to quantify mercy, to set a limit on how many times we should forgive. Christ replied, “”I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven”(verse 22). The number represents infinity. Mercy cannot be quantified. We must always be ready to forgive.
The Parable
The Master illustrated the principle with the story of The Unmerciful Servant. The kingdom of heaven is like a king settling accounts with his servants. In the parable the servant of a king owed his lord ten thousand talents. We are not told why the royal servant owed his sovereign such a sum, but the amount is staggering. A talent equaled in value 6,000 denarii (Vine. 617). Ten thousand talents was sixty million denarii or sixty million days’ wages for a day laborer (Matthew 20:1-2). “That was a sum 50 times larger than the annual taxes which Herod Antipas collected from Galilee and Perea (200 talents) and more than 10 times the annual revenue of the whole of Palestine (Josephus, Antiquities, xi, 4)” (Earnhart. 82). No servant could ever even begin to repay such an incredible debt.
Very justly the ruler reacted with indignation, commanding that the man and all his family be sold into slavery and that all his property be sold in order to pay the debt. “So the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything” (verse 26, NASB). Give me a break! Of course no servant could ever hope to repay such a debt regardless of the grace period granted. The debt was too enormous to ever be payable.
But amazingly, the ruler had compassion on his miscreant servant and forgave him the entire debt. “Compassion” is the emotion of pity which one feels for those who suffer (cf. Luke 15:20; 1 Peter 3:8-9). The debtor asked for patience and received forgiveness. Patience would put off until later the settling of accounts. When forgiveness takes place the debt is released, and the creditor takes the loss. By forgiving the debt the king suffered a huge loss he could never regain.
Leaving the scene of unparalleled mercy the forgiven servant found a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii. That was not a trifling sum. It was the amount a common worker would earn for one hundred days’ labor. It was a serious but manageable debt that was a drop of rain in the ocean compared to the ten thousand talent debt.
But the servant learned nothing from the compassion and mercy of his king. He grabbed the other slave by the throat and demanded immediate payment. After all, honest people pay their debts! This is mine by right! I demand justice!
The other servant made precisely the same desperate request the first servant had made to the king. Only, he might really have repaid it if given leniency. But, no, the first servant threw his poor fellow into debtors prison until the entire sum could be paid.
His fellow servants were saddened by the lack of mercy and informed the king. Now the merciful king was enraged by the lack of mercy in his servant. The king addressed him as “You wicked servant.” His refusal to forgive was wickedness.
The English Standard Version correctly translates verse 33, “And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?” Whereas “compassion” is the feeling of pity for the one who suffers, mercy is the action that compassion prompts. It is the actual help of the helpless.
The unmerciful servant should have learned mercy from the example of his king (verse 33) and acted as the king had done toward him. He demanded justice from his fellow servant, so the king gave him justice. “And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him” (verse 34).
“So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (Matthew 18:35, ESV).
Application
Of course, the king of the parable is God. The ten thousand talent debt illustrates our debt of sin we owe him. We can never repay it. It is so enormous that it took the death of the Son of God to square the account (Romans 3:21-26). His great mercy was and is manifested in the forgiveness of our own enormous debt of sin (Titus 3:3-7). The Father Himself took the incredibly huge loss by giving His only Son to die on the cross so our debt to Him might be forgiven.
The one hundred denarii debt pictures the sins others have committed against us. They are significant but are as nothing compared to our debt to God. Forgiveness manifests compassion and mercy (verses 27,33, NASB, ESV). If we appreciate as we should how much the Lord has forgiven us, How much He sacrificed so He could forgive us, we will be longsuffering and forgiving toward those who wrong us (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:12-13). Asking for and receiving forgiveness from God obligates us to forgive our fellow servants. We cannot live under grace with God while we live under law with others. “… how many Christians rise from the Lord’s Supper to go out and live with merciless hardness in daily life?” (Earnhart. 85)
Citizens of the kingdom of heaven are and must be merciful (Matthew 5:7). Thus we must forgive those who sin against us in the same manner God forgives our sins against Him (Matthew 6:12, 14-15; Luke 11:4). God does not overlook our sins but calls us to repentance (Acts 2:36-38; 8:22-23). We should not overlook a brother’s sins against us, for they are also sins against God and separate him from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). We should in love rebuke him, and if he repents forgive him, even if the sin is repeated seven times in one day! (Luke 17:3-4)
Have you turned away from Christ and remain the object of divine wrath because you have been wronged by a brother and refuse to forgive him? How foolish! Are that brother’s sins against you as great as your sins against the Lord? Is the Lord willing to forgive you? Rebuke your erring brother for his sin. If he repents, forgive him – even if he does it seven times in one day!
If my Lord could pray, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34) for those who crucified Him, if Stephen could cry, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin” (Acts 7:60) for those who stoned him, I think I can forgive those who sin against me. If God has forgiven my unpayable debt, I can forgiven my brother’s much smaller bill. “With our Father we want mercy but with others we want justice. We can’t have it both ways, and when we try we are truly ‘wicked’” (Earnhart. 85).
Works Cited
- Barclay, William. The Gospel of Mathew.
- Bible,
- English Standard Version
- New American Standard Bible
- Earhart, Paul, Glimpses of Eternity.
- Vine, W.E., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words. 617.
