MEDITATIONS FROM THE PARABLES OF JESUS
THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT
Read Matthew 18:21-35
How often should we forgive a brother who sins against us? This is the question Peter asked of Jesus. Note Jesus' answer: "I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven." Jesus did not mean only 490 times, but all the time! Like our Lord, we are always to be "ready to forgive" (Psalm 86:5).
The parable of the unforgiving servant illustrates Jesus' point to Peter. A certain servant owed the king such a great amount that he would never be able to work off and repay his debt. When the king justly would have sold him and all that he had to recover at least a part of this debt, the servant pleaded for mercy. The king was moved to compassion and forgave the entire debt. But then this servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him only a very small and insignificant amount in comparison with the huge debt which had been forgiven him. Rather than showing mercy to this servant, as he had been shown mercy by his lord, he refused to forgive this small debt and "cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt." When the king saw that his compassion and forgiveness had no effect on this unforgiving servant, he was angry and "delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him."
We, like the first servant in this parable, owe to God a greater debt than we can ever repay. Our sins against the LORD God are so great that we deserve only to be cast into the eternal fires of hell! But God, in His grace and mercy, has forgiven our great debt of sin. Because Jesus Christ took our great burden of sins upon Himself and bore on the cross the just punishment for them, God has canceled out our debt of sin and has given to us complete pardon and forgiveness!
In our earthly lives, others sin against us many times; but this debt of sin, though it may seem great to us, is small and insignificant in comparison with the great debt of sin that the LORD God has forgiven to us. As a fruit of our faith in Christ Jesus, and as a result of God's great mercy to us in Christ, we ought also to forgive those who sin against us, even "until seventy times seven." If we refuse to forgive from our hearts those who sin against us, neither will our heavenly Father forgive us; instead, He will cast us into the fires of hell!
Forgive our sins, Lord, we implore, remove from us their burden sore, as we their trespasses forgive who by offenses us do grieve. Thus let us dwell in charity and serve our brother willingly. Amen. (TLH, Hymn #458, Verse 6)