THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS — Episode 10
"The Unforgiving Servant"
Based on Matthew 18:21-35
So my friend Peter came to me one day with a question he thought was really generous. He said, "Lord, how many times should I forgive someone who wrongs me? Seven times?" Peter probably thought he was being super gracious. Most rabbis said three times was enough. Peter doubled it and added one!
I looked at him and said: "Not seven times, Peter. Seventy times seven."
Now I did not mean Peter should keep a scoreboard up to four hundred ninety and then stop. I meant STOP COUNTING. Forgiveness is not a math problem. It is a way of life.
Then I told this story to drive the point home.
A king decided to settle accounts with his servants. One servant was brought before him who owed the king TEN THOUSAND TALENTS. Now let me put that in perspective — that was millions and millions of dollars. An impossible amount. This servant could work his entire life and never pay it back. Not even close.
The servant fell on his knees, face on the ground, and begged: "Be patient with me! I will pay it all back!" He could not. But the king looked at him with compassion and did something absolutely stunning — he FORGAVE the entire debt. Every last coin. Wiped the slate completely clean. The servant walked out a free man.
But THEN — and this is where it gets ugly.
That SAME servant walked out and found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii. That is like a few bucks compared to the millions he had just been forgiven. And what did he do? He grabbed the man by the throat and screamed, "Pay me what you owe!"
The fellow servant fell to his knees and begged — the exact same words: "Be patient with me!" But the first servant refused. He had the man thrown into prison until he could pay.
When the king heard about this, he was FURIOUS. He called the servant back in and said: "You wicked servant! I forgave you that MASSIVE debt because you begged me to. Shouldn't you have shown the same mercy to your fellow servant?"
And the king handed him over to be punished until he paid everything he owed.
Then I looked at my disciples and said: "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart."
Here is the lesson: you have been forgiven an OCEAN. God has wiped away a debt you could never repay. Now someone wrongs you and you want to hold a grudge over a puddle?
Forgiveness is not saying what they did was okay. It is saying, "I am not going to carry this weight anymore — because God did not make me carry mine."
Let it go. Forgive like you have been forgiven.
Word count: ~430
Scripture: Matthew 18:21-35
Series: The Teachings of Jesus, Episode 10
