28 “But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 ‘Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
The parable up to now could have stood alone as an illustration of God’s forgiveness, building on the story of the shepherd who left the ninety-nine to find the one (18:12-14) and teaching about forgiving “70×7” times (18:23). But this is the setup for illustrating the requirement to extend forgiveness.
The audacity of the forgiven slave is obvious to the point of being incredulous. He had been forgiven a debt far greater than he could ever pay in his lifetime. Then finding a fellow slave who owes him 1/600th the amount of his own forgiven debt, he rejects the identical plea for mercy from him that he had himself made to the king. That reminds me of a present day story of a local man who went uninvited, trespassing, into a home under construction to look around. While using a ladder to descend into the unfinished basement he fell and broke his leg. The owners graciously decided not to sue him for trespassing. The intruder subsequently sued the owners for negligence in having an unsafe house. Such is the impudent depth to which selfishness descends.
As Jesus’ parable progresses, word gets back to the king, who became furious with the slave, blasting him with the obvious: forgiveness ought to beget forgiveness, mercy ought to beget mercy. Those who have been shown grace ought to “pay it forward.” There should be an inherent compulsion in this truth. God’s grace in sending Jesus on a mission was to save people from the eternal weight of our sin-debt. No sacrifice could pay for our offenses against God—except one, the one which Christ was on His journey to pay. His sacrifice on the cross would be payment for our debt of sin. The point in this series of teaching is that Christ-followers ought to have, therefore, a forgiving spirit—period!
Lord, thank You so much for Your forgiveness. Help me forgive others as You have forgiven me!
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