Abstract
Never will I forget the time I heard a former professor of mine tell the story of the student who planned to murder him. The near-tragic event occurred on a remarkably ordinary day. The young undergraduate awoke and readied himself for a long day at the University. He rummaged through his bedroom in search of a shirt and pair of jeans that, by the smell of them, were no more than thrice worn. As usual, he packed his bag. Something for lunch. A few books. A laptop. But this day was different. To this day’s tools he added a handgun. The student’s plan was to wait patiently for the end of the day, when the particular professor with whom he was so upset returned to his office after his late afternoon lecture. This, the young man thought, was the opportune moment for the shot.
Thankfully, the plan was spoiled. A security guard noticed the student lurking in the shadows. They scuffled, and the young man was restrained. No shots were fired. The most amazing part of the story, however, is not what happened at the University that day, but what happened subsequently. The student was institutionalized and some while later this professor of mine was able to pay him a visit. He visited not to gloat, nor to berate the boy. The message he carried was full of grace. In essence, he said to the one who once plotted to take his life: “Forgiven, I forgive you.”
In Matt 18:21-35, Jesus tells a parable to make one primary point: forgiveness knows no bounds. Just after Jesus has given instructions concerning how to deal with sin in the Christian community (Matt 18:15-20), Peter approaches him and inquires, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Peter was a boisterous chap, and at times quite self-assured (e.g., Matt 16:21-23; 26:31-35). Here in Matt 18:21, Peter thinks he is being very generous by proposing to forgive fellow believers up to seven times. Seven is a common biblical number signifying completeness. But Jesus takes Peter’s number of completion and multiplies it: “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times” (v. 22). This is not to suggest that on the seventy-eighth offense a Christ-follower is free to hold a grudge. The idea, rather, is that there is no limit to the forgiveness offered by the Father through the Son; likewise, there must be unlimited forgiveness between believers. It is this point that Jesus goes on to develop in the parable contained in vv. 23-35.The parable can be divided into three scenes. We will look at each scene in turn.
Scene One: The Forgiving Lord (vv. 23-27). The story begins with a king/lord who decides to settle accounts with his servants. Presumably, this king has a great number of servants, but the camera zooms in on one debtor in particular, the one who owed his lord “ten thousand talents” (v. 24). The talent was the highest form of currency in the ancient Greco-Roman world. One talent was roughly the amount of weight a stout soldier could carry on his back, generally speaking about one hundred pounds of gold or silver. Ten thousand was the highest number for which the Greek language had a particular word. In modern terms, the man owed somewhere between several million and one trillion dollars. It was an insurmountable debt. As the lord begins the reckoning, it quickly becomes clear that this servant cannot pay what he owes. And so, the lord prepares to sell the servant, his family, and all their assets in order to recoup some of his losses. But the servant falls to his knees and begs: “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything” (v. 26). It is important to note that the servant asks only for an extension, more time to pay what he owed. But, Jesus tells us, “out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt” (v. 27). To cancel so massive a debt is to display his immense grace.
Scene Two: The Merciless Servant (vv. 28-31). Immediately following this unexplainable encounter with his lord, the servant stumbles across a fellow servant who owes him “a hundred denarri,” that is, one hundred days’ minimum wages (v. 28). This is a ridiculously small sum compared to the ten thousand talents of the opening scene. Not only do the debts sharply contrast with each other, so also the servant’s response proves entirely opposite to the lord’s gracious forgiveness. The servant seizes his fellow servant by the throat and demands: “Pay what you owe” (v. 28). Even when the fellow servant falls to his knees and begs, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you” (v. 29), the servant shows no mercy. He refuses to show the forgiveness he himself has experienced, and is even unwilling to grant an extension. The servant has his underling thrown into prison, and word of his ruthlessness travels far and wide.
Scene Three: The Indignant Lord (vv. 32-34). When word of the servant’s actions reaches the lord, the lord becomes furious. He summons the servant to rebuke him: “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me” (v. 32). This man had been forgiven so colossal a debt. How could he refuse to show mercy to his fellow servant, who owed him a comparatively paltry sum? Here, we see another side of the lord. The same king who showed unfathomable grace in the opening scene of the parable now unleashes his righteous anger. Foul is the servant, and judgment he receives. The lord orders the servant to be given over to the jailors, who will make him suffer until he can repay his original debt. It would have been impossible for a man in a Roman prison to accumulate anything close to ten thousand talents, so the lord’s orders guarantee a life sentence. Then comes Jesus’ closing comment on the story: “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (v. 35).
Hear the message of the parable. The one who thinks he has been forgiven by God but refuses to forgive others deceives himself—a debtor he remains. Just as there is no limit to the forgiveness God offers to sinners, so there must be no limit to the forgiveness we offer to others. The forgiveness spoken of in this parable is the forgiveness on the other side of loving confrontation and repentance. Jesus has just outlined how believers are to confront one another (Matt 18:15-20). “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one” (v. 15). Thus, Matt 18:21-35 is not a call to pretend an offense never happened; rather, it is a call to respond to penitent offenders in the only way befitting one who has encountered the forgiving lord. Those who refuse to forgive fellow believers, accept their apologies, speak kindly to them in return, and cooperate with them in gospel ministry are in danger of the eternal judgment expressed at the end of the parable. Even the thousand injuries of Fortunato are paltry in comparison to the tally of all things we have done to fall short of God’s perfect and holy standards. And yet, he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us (Col 2:13). The church is the community of the pardoned. And so we say to one another: “Forgiven, I forgive you.”