Parables of The Kingdom
Passage: Matthew 18:21-35 - Parable of the Unmerciful Servant
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Recap: Sermon 10-30-11 – Parables of the Kingdom – I Can’t Count that High
Jesus tells a story of a man with a debt so unbelievably great he cannot possibly pay it back. There are many current examples of people/groups with unpayable debt:
· A woman in Florida got a $200,000 cell-phone bill. It was not a mistake but her brother racked up the charge by sending large amounts of video & texts while in Canada, not realizing that they were not included in his plan. The phone company eventually reduced the charge to a more payable, $2500.
· The green-energy company Solyndra borrowed $527 million from the U.S. govt. to build a solar cell factory, and has now gone bankrupt and cannot pay it back.
· The City of Harrisburg, capital of Pennsylvania is in bankruptcy and trying to negotiate a bailout from the state government. Most of the debt was through ill-conceived public projects.
· The country of Greece has accumulated debt beyond their ability to pay, and the European Union is debating on whether and how to bail it out.
The context of this parable about debt is on forgiveness. Peter asks how many times he should forgive his brother, suggesting 7 as a reasonable number. Jesus responds that not seven but seventy-seven times (or it can be interpreted seventy – times – seven = 490) is how many times we are obligated to forgive. In other words don’t bother keeping track because we cannot count that high.
Jesus then tells the parable of the Unmerciful Servant or the Unpayable Debt:
· This is not about financial issues but is instead a continued teaching on the role of forgiveness within the kingdom of God.
A king goes about settling accounts and calls in his servants for debt owed
· We owe a debt to God. He created us, and he gave us life and a good world to live in. We owe him our worship and if we fail to worship we incur a debt. He gave His Word to guide us and if we fail to live up to it we incur a debt. God blesses us and if we fail to give thanks, we incur a debt. In this way all people owe a debt to God, so we pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”
The man owes a ridiculous amount of money, 10,000 talents of gold, far beyond what any king would lend out to someone, and beyond what anyone could ever pay back.
· Jesus purposefully chose an incredulously large number to highlight the great debt we owe to God over our sins as well as things we should do and yet fail to do. We can in no way pay back this debt.
The man pleads for forgiveness and asks for time to pay back the debt. The master has compassion upon him and cancels the entire debt.
· Through Christ our debt is cancelled and our sins are completely forgiven. We do not earn this forgiveness but receive it as a gift from God. Eph. 2:8 “For it is by grace you have been saved…”
The servant then tracks down another servant who owes him 100 denarii and demands it back. When his fellow servant asks for patience and time to pay it back the servant refuses and has him thrown into prison.
· Could it be the first servant did not truly grasp the forgiveness he had received from the Master and is yet trying to pay back his unpayable debt? So it is with us when we fail to grasp God’s grace to us, that we then fail to give grace to others.
· The amount owed is 100 silver coins, which is about 3 month’s wages. It is not an insignificant amount. In the same way when someone sins against us it does not seem insignificant. We are hurt and want to strike back in some way. Yet when compared to the debt that we had been forgiven from God it is truly insignificant.
The fellow servants who see what the unmerciful servant has done are greatly distressed.
Ä A lack of forgiveness not only hurts the two people involved, but brings distress and harm to the whole fellowship of believers.
The Master then gets angry with the servant because he had received mercy but did not show it to his fellow servant. He has him turned over to the torturers until he has paid back the entire debt.
Ä The one most hurt by unforgiveness is the one who fails to forgive. The hate we hold in our heart and the anger we refuse to relinquish only serves to torture us, and does no damage to our opponent. The only way of peace is to surrender our right to revenge to God and ask for His help to forgive.
Further Thoughts: Six Points on Forgiveness
One: Forgiveness is not optional but an expectation for those in the community of believers in Christ
Ä 18:35 – Jesus concludes his parable with the admonition that it will be the same [being sent away to torture] for all of us unless we forgive our brother or sister from our heart.
Ä Forgiveness is clearly commanded by Jesus for those in His Kingdom. [see also Matt. 6:14-15]
Two: Jesus showed us how to forgive.
Ä He forgave and restored Peter within the church after he had denied Jesus in his time of great need.
Ä While the Romans crucified him, Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do.”
Three: Our salvation is tied to forgiveness.
Ä It is not that we gain our forgiveness because we forgive, but more that our lack of forgiveness is a sign that we have not really accepted the grace and forgiveness of God.
Ä God will not allow hate, revenge, and unforgiveness into his eternal kingdom, therefore if we insist on clinging to our desire for revenge we cannot enter into His Kingdom. Forgiveness is not optional.
Four: Some of the hesitancy we have towards forgiveness is a misunderstanding of what forgiveness is.
Ä Forgiveness does not mean ignoring sin, or the hurt others have inflicted upon us. The path to forgiveness might very well include confronting the offender with the hurt they have caused.
Ä Forgiveness does not necessarily mean the offender faces no consequences or criminal penalties.
Ä Forgiveness is not the same as trust. You may forgive someone who hurt you without having to put yourself under their power or authority again. Forgiveness is given freely but trust must be earned.
Five: Forgiveness is giving up the right to punish the offender ourselves.
Ä Forgiveness means forswearing revenge and the intent to hurt them back.
Ä Forgiveness may mean opening the door for reconciliation in a relationship, but restoring that relationship is a two-ways street and so is partly dependent on the offender.
Six: Forgiveness in the body of Christ is a powerful witness to the world of the grace of Jesus.
Ä We need to learn how to forgive our brothers and sisters amidst the fellowship of believers, when we fail to forgive the world will rightly be skeptical of the truth of our message.
Ä Forgiveness for a fellow believer is only the first basic step. God ultimately wants us to forgive our enemies and those who persecute us. That is how to earn the advanced degree in forgiveness.
Further in the Scriptures:
Read Matthew 18:15-35 – see also Matthew 5:43-48 + Matthew 6:8-15
³ Romans 12:9-21 + Colossians 3:12-17 - similar message in the epistles.
Take and Seal It - An e-mail follow-up to Sunday morning’s message
By Pastor Mitch Reed - Immanuel UCC, Zanesville – Ohio - e-mail: cowcountry94@yahoo.com