Matthew 18:21-35

²¹ 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.”

I have mentioned before Peter Mommsen’s beautiful book about his grandfather, J. Heinrich Arnold, one of the leaders of the Bruderhof Christian communities before his passing. The book is entitled Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold – A true story of faith, forgiveness, sacrifice, and community. Mommsen writes of his grandfather:

Trust was an article of faith for him. Newcomers and old-timers alike sometimes shook their heads at his endless insistence on forgiving. Why, after such and such a person had stabbed him in the back time after time, did he insist on trusting him yet again? It went against all common sense. But Heiner saw it differently. As he once explained to Christoph, “I would much rather trust and be betrayed a thousand times than live in mistrust for a single day.”[1]

This is most interesting, is it not? I wonder if we too would consider this constant posture of forgiveness as unwise? And yet there is something very gospel about lavish forgiveness.

In our text, Peter comes to Jesus to discuss the matter. How much should we forgive? Jesus’ response is powerful and convicting and perspective-bringing. He tells him a story about a forgiven man refusing to forgive, and about the judgment that such haughtiness invites.

The parable assumes that each of our debts are greater than that of our debtors.

The parable that Jesus tells is occasioned by a question from Peter. The framing of Peter’s question is most illuminating. Peter’s initial question positions him as less sinful than the one needing forgiveness.

²¹ 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?”

There, in a nutshell, is the human problem. We assume our innocence and we assume the guiltiness of others. “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” Surely he could have framed it in the opposite way: “Lord, how often should my brother forgive me when I sin against him.” But, no, that is not what Peter says.

Peter proposes seven times as a possible answer. We need to understand that, in Peter’s mind, this was more than generous, for, as Michael Card points out, the “Talmud mandated that a person be forgiven only three times.”[2] So Peter more than doubles the required number and also lands on the loaded, perfect number of seven. In this, he puts his own righteous efforts alongside his assumed innocence. Jesus gives him a little taste of what is coming in his parable when he responds:

²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

Here, Jesus employs his first of two hyperbolic numbers. Some versions say “seventy-seven times” and some say “seven times seven.” The upshot is the same: we should forgive without limit. In this, Jesus sets the stage to correct Peter’s assumptions in a powerful way.

The default of the human position is our superiority to others and our own righteousness. Peter demonstrates that in his question, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” But Jesus has an amazing way of turning the tables on his questioners and, more than that, of striking at the assumptions behind their questions. So Jesus tells Peter a story. But note that in Jesus’ parable He positions each of us as in greater debt than whoever asks us for forgiveness.

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.

It will become clear that the one owing ten thousand talents will be the one who withholds forgiveness and therefore invites judgment upon himself. In other words, the greater debtor is Peter…and you…and me! Peter’s question is about whether or not he should forgive a brother who wronged him. In the parable, the one who refuses to forgive is, in fact, the one who is in the greatest need for forgiveness!

In the parable the man owes his master “ten thousand talents.” The Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentarynotes that the “word for ‘ten thousand’ is myrioi, ‘countless’ (cf. Heb. 12:22; Jude 14).” Furthermore, the “talanton was not a coin but a unit of monetary reckoning, valued at approximately seventy-five pounds or six thousand denarii. Today’s equivalent would be at least two and a half billion dollars.”[3] In other words, Jesus is using a term that would be something like if we said, “That guy owes me a billion dollars!” It is intended to communicate an immeasurable amount.

The point? We are the greater beggars!

Augustine wrote:

…consider when a beggar asks you for something that you are a beggar too in relation to God. When we pray, we are all beggars before God. We stand in front of the great householder’s gate, or rather lying prostrate, and begging with tears, wanting to receive something and that something is God himself. What do beggars ask you for? Bread. And you, what do you ask God for, if not Christ, who says, I am the living bread who came down from heaven (John 6:51)? Do you want to be pardoned? Pardon…Do you want to receive something? Give, and it shall be given you (cf. 5:42).[4]

Augustine is right! Believers are the greatest beggars of all for we beg for Christ Himself! Other beggars, however, simply want bread.

Let us understand our position. We should see our own debts as greater than anybody who has asked us for forgiveness and we should see our own requests as more audacious than whatever requests we might receive.

The parable assumes we will understand the obscenity of the forgiven refusing to give forgiveness.

The parable hinges on a moment of disgust, or what should be a moment of disgust: the man who is forgiven the greater debt withholds forgiveness from the man who owes the lesser 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.

Jesus is standing within the prophetic tradition of creating a crisis moment, a moment of outrage, for His audience. The one forgiven the immeasurable debt refuses to forgive and then attacks the one who owes the lesser debt, “a hundred denarii.” This is, in a word, outlandish. How on earth can the man who was forgiven so much react in this way to the man who needs to be forgiven so much less? How can he be so blind to the wickedness of his own heart in treating him in this manner?

This telling of a story in order to create an outrage moment of conviction reminds us of the prophet Nathan’s confrontation with David in 2 Samuel 12.

¹ And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. ² The rich man had very many flocks and herds, ³ but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. ⁴ Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.” ⁵ Then David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die, ⁶ and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.” ⁷ Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

One feels the same outrage at the rich man taking the poor man’s lamb as one does at the forgiven man’s persecution of the man with the smaller debt. The story draws us in and we are shocked at what we see there…and what we see within ourselves! The shock in our text extends to the servants and then to the master, with predictable results.

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.”

We must see and understand the sheer obscenity of the forgiven refusing to give forgiveness. We must feel moral outrage at this. Then, as painful as this is, we must aim this outrage at our own hearts and ask ourselves whether or not we are that man! We must dare to accept that Nathan’s knockout blow to David—“You are the man!”—might be said of us, and is said of us whenever we refuse to forgive.

How can we, whose sin-debt was freely forgiven by Jesus, not forgive others their lesser debts to us? Truly we must realize that no man or woman will ever dishonor us in the ways that we have dishonored God! If God can forgive us our immeasurable debt, can we not forgive lesser slights? And all sins against us are lesser slights!

This is why the Christian who withholds forgiveness is so inwardly-conflicted: he or she is withholding that upon which his or her very salvation depends. David Seamands wrote of the inner anguish that refusing to forgive causes the one who refuses.

For here and now, the unforgiven and unforgiving person is plagued with guilt and resentment. He lives in a prison house where he finds himself tortured by all manner of inner emotional conflicts.[5]

This is so, especially for the Christian! You have been forgiven, therefore you should want to forgive! The thought of refusing to do so should strike you as utterly obscene.

The parable assumes that the cross will be operative in how we view and respond to others.

The moral outrage we feel at hearing this story, this parable, is itself a result of the complete grace and mercy shown the man with the greater debt. It is the fact that his debt was paid that makes his behavior so outrageous. Jesus mentions this payment twice.

²⁷ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.

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?’

The master “released him and forgive him the debt.” The master exclaimed that he “forgave you all that debt.”

In application this is referring to the cross of Jesus Christ where Jesus paid our sin debt. The definitive statement on the cross as a sin-debt payment is found in Colossians 2:

¹³ And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴ by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Our “record of debt that stood against us” is our sin-debt. Jesus “canceled” it by “nailing it to the cross.” Christ is the payment for our sins! He makes satisfaction! He cancels the debt by paying it in full! This is amazing!

Jesus’ parable about forgiveness is bringing us back to that fact and demanding that the cross become operative and how we view and respond to others. Because of the cross, I am now able to forgive. Because of the cross, I want to forgive!  Because of the cross, I am now able to see the offending person as a beautiful opportunity for me to show another the love I have been shown!

We must carry the cross if we are to be Jesus’ disciples! And to carry the cross, whatever else it might mean, certainly means to forgive.

Forgiveness should be the business of the people of God just as it is the very currency of the Kingdom of God! Martin Luther was right when he wrote:

In the kingdom of God, where he reigns by the gospel, there is no exacting of the law, neither any dealing by the law, but only remission and forgiveness, neither wrath or punishing, but brotherly service and well doing one to another.[6]

Yes! Forgive one another! Forgive without counting, without limit, without begrudging! Forgive joyfully! Forgive freely! Forgive as you have been forgiven!

 

 

[1] Mommsen, Peter (2015-04-30). Homage to a Broken Man: The Life of J. Heinrich Arnold – A true story of faith, forgiveness, sacrifice, and community (pp. 317-318). Plough Publishing House. Kindle Edition.

[2] Card, Michael. Matthew. (Downers Grove, InterVarsity Press, 2013), p.166,

[3] Wilkens, Michael J. “Matthew.” Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Gen. Ed., Clinton E. Arnold. New Testament I (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2002), p.115-116.

[4] Williams, D.H. Matthew. The Church’s Bible. Gen. Ed., Robert Louis Wilken. (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018), p.366.

[5] Seamands, David A. (2010-11-01). Healing for Damaged Emotions (Kindle Locations 385-386). David C Cook. Kindle Edition.

[6] Lee, Jason K. and William M. Marsh, eds. Matthew. Reformation Commentary on Scripture. Gen. Ed., Timothy George. New Testament I (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2021), p.241.