The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant: An Exposition of Matthew 18:21-35
We live in a world which demands “justice.” People have always demanded justice. Often this demand to justice leads to violence. On the other hand, people demand “grace” for themselves. This is the way it always has been. It was just as true in Jesus’ day as it is now. Jesus addresses this dichotomy in the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.
A Parable is a story which makes a point. It is the Hebrew way of establishing a proposition. So if Jesus tells a parable here, what point is he illustrating. To look at this, we need to look at the previous passage for an answer. This passage gives instruction on how discipline is to be enforced within the church, between brother and brother. One purpose is to keep peace among the brethren. The church is to advertise to the world what the Kingdom of God is like. If the church cannot resolve its own internal disputes, then why should the world listen to our message? Internal unity and boundaries are always necessary in times of persecution as well. Another purpose of discipline within the church is restorative. Offenses are not to be swept under the rug. Believers need to be held accountable for their offenses. The passage also teaches us that this is to be dealt with as privately as possible. (For more on this, see “The Purpose of Church Discipline” which is also in this sermon archive.)
The Lectionary selection for this week begins with Peter asking how many times one must forgive his “brother”. He had been taught to do so seven times. Afterward, the person could be treated as a tax-collector and publican. This came from Jewish interpretation. The number 7 is very significant in Hebrew thought. It is the number of perfection. It is also the number for Sabbath or rest. Both of these could apply here. The idea of forgiveness is to restore a relationship to what it was before the offense. As it pertains to our offense against God, this would mean being restored to the relationship Adam and Eve enjoyed with God before the fall. The idea of Sabbath also indicates rest from conflict, the removal of enmity.
Or the “seven” here could be taken literally, as Peter’s asking the question seems to imply. Jesus replies not seven times, but seventy times seven. Jesus is not saying to now forgive 490 times. Ten also is an important number in Hebrew thought. Here we have seven times ten times seven. Jesus is clearly telling Peter, that he should have understood “seven” differently through use of hyperbole. The entire goal of discipline is to restore and not separate, even if temporary separation from the group is used to bring the offender to his or her senses. This view is the view of the Father as well. He has not put a limit upon us. As the Apostle John tells us, if we confess our sin, He is just and faithful to forgive us. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The very purpose of discipleship, that is a person under discipline, is to become like the master. If Jesus asks something of us, even if it seems hard or impossible, He is not demanding something that He will not do. We need to think our thoughts after His thoughts. So in this, we are comforted and challenged. We know how willing God has been in forgiving our sin. The challenge is to apply it to the other brethren.
We come now to the Parable proper. It almost seems that it is an application of the LORD’s Prayer in the Sermon on the Mount. The prayer we recite asks God to forgive our trespasses against God. But it also says “even as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Even though it can be applies generally to our dealings with everyone, it must first start within the church body. The only comment Jesus makes about this wonderful prayer is that if we don’t forgive others their trespasses against you, neither will your Heavenly Father forgive you. These words cut deep. The teaching of the Sermon on the Mount keeps showing up elsewhere in Matthew. We see the application of “Ask, seek, knock” is demonstrated in the persistence of the Canaanite (Syrophonecian) woman is just another of many examples.
The Sermon on the Mount is addressed to the Church and not to the “Jews.” It is not for some coming age. It is not an ethical teaching for the world. It is for us. This is a frightening thought, because it seems to make keeping the Law far easier because it prohibited acting and not the thought itself. But if we remember that this same Jesus died on the cross and shed His blood to reconcile us to God. If we do not remember this, then we shall be lost in utter despair. It is Jesus who keeps every jot and tittle of the Law, and we are in Him. (I have an entire series on the Sermon on the Mount in this archive, if you want to pursue this in more depth.)
God is the ultimate reconciler who has stated His willingness to forgive us. The whole purpose of Christ is to restore all who believe on Him to a new humanity. The Yoke of His discipline is easy and meant to restore us to Sabbath rest and the healing of the relationship between God and man. This is the radical good news of the Gospel. But when we read Paul, we realize that God has more than restored us to Eden. Our final state shall be far greater than that of Adam and Eve. (For more information, see “The Superabundance of Grace” in this sermon archive.)
I took some time to establish the character of God as He is the King in this parable. Not many of us live under an monarchy today, although some live under a dictatorship. The King was the final arbiter in the Kingdom. He had the ultimate authority of life and death in his realm. We see a shadow of this in the united States where the President has power to commute a death sentence. In the days of Jesus, debts could be made to be repaid by making the debtor a slave to the one he owned a debt to. His wages would be used to satisfy the debt. When it was repaid, the debtor would be released.
The debtor in this story was not in debt to some other person. An appeal to the king might have had the claims to that debt cancelled. He owed the debt to the king himself. This servant was called in to give account. People have tried to evaluate how much ten thousand talents would be in today’s money. It certainly was a lot. We are given further light when we realize that 10,000 is ten times ten times ten times ten. The point here is that ten thousand talents represents an impossibly large amount of money. No matter how much the man earned would not even make a dent on the debt. So, this servant was about to have everything taken from him, and he and his family sold into slavery to satisfy a debt that could not be satisfied. They would die in bondage. Now when we again realize that the King in this parable is God Himself, we realize that we faced eternal slavery for our debt.
The servant knew the trouble He was in. If only the people in the world realized how much trouble they were in. But the church for the most part does not preach that part of the Gospel any longer. Instead, we lull them to sleep by telling them how much god loves them. This is a tragic mistake, and many souls have perished as a result. People need to know how much trouble they are really in. then they can be told of God’s redeeming love. Sin is never to be swept under the rug. It is to be confronted. It is true that the purpose of confrontation is to bring one to repentance and restoration. But how is someone to know that reconciliation is needed unless they be told.
This man does the only thing he knows to do. He prostrates himself and asks for patience. “Give me time and I will repay all.” How is he going to do that when the debt is infinite? “Give me forever, and I will repay what I owe” is what he is saying. He thinks that the power is within himself to repay the debt. This is the was we try to deal with God about our sins and trespasses against Him. This was delusional on his part, and it is on ours as well.
Then the impossible happens. The king saw the pitifulness of the servant’s situation and had mercy on him. the servant deserved no mercy at all. He had lost, probably most corruptly, an incalculable amount of the kings wealth. The loss was now the king’s loss. The king was the only one in the kingdom who could pay the loss. When we realize that our incalculable debt before God was freely forgiven by His Son who paid the price of our redemption with His priceless blood. A priceless debt can only be forgiven by a priceless payment. This is what Jesus has done. It is an astonishing act of god’s grace. So we must not only realize how great a debt we owed before God for our sins, we must always keep in mind how great a gift our redemption is.
If the parable ended here, we could all go home relieved for our great reprieve. But the parable does not end here and more than our recitation of the LORD’s Prayer ends with Amen. We now have to apply this infinite gift we have been given in a quite finite world. The servant who had received infinite forgiveness now goes on to shake down a fellow servant who owned a large but finite sum of 100 silver coins. Typical wages for a laborer in those days was a single silver coin for a days labor of twelve hours. If we were to monetize this debt today, it would be in the neighborhood of ten thousand US dollars. This is indeed a lot of money for a common laborer, but it is theoretical that through even harder work could repay this debt. But there is a problem here, besides the fact the person would be barely able to make it on the wages he was already earning while working 12 hours a day. Would he have the strength to take on a second job? Another problem is that when he was sold into slavery, the one he was indebted to would charge room and board, as you might guess it, or one silver coin a day. So even though this debt was theoretically payable, it would never be repaid, and the man would die a slave along with his family.
When we look at the world today, there are many who despise the poor. It may be true that they are responsible for the trouble they got into. Some would think that they need to suffer the consequences of their action. Even if a rich uncle paid off the debt, how long would it be before they were in deep debt again? If this person had seventy times seven rich uncles, he would still get ensnared into debt. It is not enough to forgive. The person needs to be transformed as well. Redemption involves transformation as well as forgiveness. We must come to a new way of thinking as well. As Paul tells us, our minds must be transformed. This is called genuine repentance. Repentance involves rethinking the reality of the situation and making the right decision. One must turn from a bad way of thinking to the new way of thinking. This is called worldview.
The problem with the unforgiving servant is that even though he had been forgiven a great debt, he had not repented of it. His worldview had not been changed. He proves it by shaking down a fellow servant. A person who is not transformed will revert to form. It would not be long before this man would be totally re-ensnared in debt. He would be a Peter says it, a dog that returns to its own vomit. In the case of the parable, the enraged king found out what the servant had done in selling his fellow servant into slavery for a comparatively small debt and was so enraged that he cancelled the great forgiveness the king had shown and sold him into eternal slavery. This is frightening to think about and causes us to think. This is what defines our relationship within the body of the church.
So if the context of Jesus’ teaching on discipline and reconciliation is primarily the church body and to proclaim the greatness of God’s mercy in Jesus Christ which is supported by our own actions, what do we do? We must continue to remember to preach and to practice transformation alongside forgiveness. We know that Jesus died for the sin of the entire world. He has paid the price in full. But unless one is transformed as well, this forgiveness of debt has no effect. Transformation is as much an act of the inestimable grace of God as the forgiveness of sin. Discipline is a part of this process of transformation. We must continue to grow in this grace until the point that we can forgive others as freely as He has forgiven us. So we must realize as Hebrews 12 tells us, that even though discipline and correction seems harsh for a moment, it has an eternal good as its goal. To not receive discipline says that a person is not his. So let us encourage one another along the way with these truths in mind. Let us continue to remind one another who God is and what He has done for us in Jesus Christ. And let us continue to remind one another to live this truth.
