Radical Forgiveness: The Parable Of The Unforgiving Servant Series

Radical Forgiveness: The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant

Dr. Bradford Reaves

Crossway Christian Fellowship

Hagerstown, MD

www.mycrossway.org

Matthew 18:21-35

A little girl’s Prayer: A little girl was eating alone in the corner of the dining room as part of her punishment. The family paid no attention to her until they heard her pray: “I thank Thee, Lord, for preparing a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.” (Brian McCutchen, Sermon Central)

In the musical Les Misérables, the antagonist is a policeman named Javert. He believes in judgment alone and not mercy. The main character is a man named Jean Valjean. He spends 19 years in hard labor because he stole a loaf of bread to feed his family. After he breaks his parole, he receives mercy from a Bishop. He lives the rest of his life trying to show the same mercy he received. Yet he is constantly on the run from Inspector Javert.

Javert, on the other hand, lives his life in pursuit of justice against Jean Valjean. He says things like “once a thief, always a thief.” At one point in the movie, he makes a mistake and requires the mayor to punish him – his justice must even apply to himself – but the mayor (Valjean in disguise) has mercy on him, finally ordering him to forgive himself because the chief of police must obey an order from the Mayor. At one point in the story Valjean’s true identity revealed and he is given the chance to kill Javert. Instead, he has mercy on him and sets him free. In the final scene, Javert and Valjean meet up again: https://youtu.be/ArBsOVlyX18?si=oKt4kCabP0tzsrZQ

Javert cannot live with the reality that Valjean has been redeemed, and the realization that Valjean is a better man than he is, when he catches up with Valjean in the end, he sets him free and kills himself because he cannot live with the mercy that was shown him and the mercy that he gave.

This is a great illustration of our Parable today and the bondage of a person who is unwilling to forgive and show mercy to others. We’ve talked before about radical forgiveness in our series of the Sermon on the Mount. If you remember, we used the example of the forgiveness shown by the Amish after the Nickle Mine School shooting in Lancaster. Today, we’re going to understand this concept even further.

Forgiveness is crucial for unity in the church, love between anyone, and for meaningful, ongoing relationships.

Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. (Proverbs 19:11)

Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. (Ephesians 4:32)

bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:13)

The highlight of the Christian life is to be a person of radical grace, radical mercy, and radical forgiveness. This flies in the face of modern culture that tells is built upon cancel culture, the destruction of the preborn, and the decimation of marriage. Is it any wonder that forgiveness is so misunderstood in today’s church? With that, let’s look at Jesus’ parable:

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. 23 “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18:21–35)