Verse: Matthew 18:23-35
23 “For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 As he began settling his accounts, a man who owed 10,000 talents was brought to him. 25 Because he was not able to repay it, the lord ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made. 26 Then the slave threw himself to the ground before him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27 The lord had compassion on that slave and released him, and forgave him the debt. 28 After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ 29 Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’ 30 But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. 31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. 32 Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! 33 Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’ 34 And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Devotion
After telling his disciples that there is no limit to the number of times they are to forgive, Jesus tells a parable. I think the details matter in this parable. A “talent” in the NT is a way of measuring money (not an actual coin) equaling 6,000 drachmas, or about 20 years of earnings for an average laborer in that day. Turn that into today’s money: If the laborer makes $15 an hour, then one talent is about $600,000. Jesus is obviously going for hyperbole when he says 10,000 talents. In today’s money that’s $6 billion.
If I found out today that I owed $6 billion, I would know that there is no way for me to pay that back. Accordingly to Google, the average lifetime earnings of a middle class American is $1.7 million. That’s not even close. And that’s the point.
Jesus is communicating in no uncertain terms that our debt to him is un-payable. We could work our entire lives to try and pay off our debt of sin and it would not even come close. So, part of this parable is helping us appreciate the mind blowing grace and forgiveness of Jesus in our lives. Praise Jesus!!
The other point is found in the other detail. The forgiven servant goes and finds another servant who owes him 100 silver coins – or more specifically “100 denarii.” This is still a large amount of money. It’s about 20 weeks of common labor, or about $12,000 in today’s money. If someone told me I owed them $12,000 it would not be a small deal. That’s still a lot of money. And I wonder if that’s the point.
This guy had a legitimate beef with this other servant. Translate money into forgiveness: this guy had been hurt by this other person. A real hurt. Something significant. It was no small deal. And yet Jesus is saying, in comparison to what you’ve been forgiven, even real and painful offenses can be forgiven by you. And that’s the second point.
I usually read this and think I need to forgive someone if they cut me off in traffic or something. But the $12,000 price tag takes it to another level. This is a willingness to work through the process of forgiving someone who has actually hurt me. Am I willing to do that?
If I’m not willing to do that, it shows that to some degree the forgiveness of God hasn’t changed my heart fully. Being forgiven the $6 billion should make me eternally grateful and someone who, knowing the cost of my own forgiveness, becomes someone who forgives others generously. Please God work in my heart to make me a more forgiving and grace-filled person towards others, including those who wrong me!
Author: Christian Dunn
Recent Comments