The Unmerciful Servant

This parable is one of several instructions that Jesus gave concerning forgiveness.

Jesus Christ: His Life and Teaching, Vol.4 - The Parables of Jesus, Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev

This parable is found in Mattew 18: 23 – 35.  It is a long passage, so I will summarize the content: a king was taking account of his servants.  One owed ten thousand talents.  He ordered the servant, his family, and all he owned to be sold and payment to be made.  The servant begged – be patient, I will pay you.  The king then forgave the entire debt.

This forgiven servant then went to one of his fellow servants who owed him one hundred pence: pay me all of it.  The second servant begged, to no effect; the first had the second thrown in prison.  Other servants saw this and reported to the king.  The king had this first servant delivered to his tormentors. 

Jesus offered the parable in response to a question by Peter:

Matthew 18: 21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

A few translations say seventy-seven times.  Either way, the number is symbolic: we are not to count, we are just to forgive – there is no limit. 

It strikes me that the use of the number “seven” is not merely coincidence:

Numbers in Biblical times were often symbolic of a deeper meaning and significance. The number seven is especially prominent in the Bible, appearing over 700 times. From the seven days of Creation to the many “sevens” in Revelation, the number seven connotes such concepts as completion and perfection, exoneration and healing, and the fulfillment of promises and oaths.

Read the last part again, as to what the number seven connotes.  There is a completion, a perfection, and a healing that comes with not limiting or even counting the number of times we forgive another.

Returning to Metropolitan Hilarion… The question arises: are we to forgive only if there is repentance?  In other words, only after a since apology and change of mind by the one who has trespassed against us?  While there are cases where Jesus speaks of repentance before forgiveness, the Gospel does not definitively answer this question. 

In the Lord’s Prayer, there is no such condition.  Metropolitan Hilarion sees this as the most definitive statement.  We are to forgive, regardless.  In any case, the question of repentance as a prerequisite for forgiveness is not the most important point of the parable:

The most important point of the parable is…the difference between the way the king reacted to his slave and the way the slave reacted to his debtor. 

Slaves, or servants, in this parable belong to a common master – the king or lord.  The slave was considered the property of the master; the master could treat the slave freely in any manner desired.  It was not until the time of Constantine when premeditated murder of a slave was considered the same as if this offense was committed against a freeman.  The fate of the slave was totally in the hands of the master.

The first slave owed ten thousand talents.  This was an almost incomprehensible sum.  One talent was equivalent to six thousand denarii – the yearly wages of two thousand day-laborers.  How a slave came to owe this much is not explained, but we might consider it the depth of what we owe God – an amount not measurable.  It is an amount that could never be repaid.  Yet this is the amount that the king forgave. 

The second slave owed one hundred pence to the first slave – five or six hundred thousand times smaller than the debt owed by the first.  Yet, the first could not forgive even this amount after being forgiven an incalculable amount.

What we see here is the limitlessness of God’s mercy and forgiveness, and this compared to the relatively insignificant trespass against any one of us by any of our neighbors…or enemies.

The first slave, in this parable, is thus shown not only as merciless to his fellow slave, but also ungrateful to his king.

Jesus ends the parable:

Matthew 18: 35 “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

It is language that Jesus has repeated, for example in the Lord’s Prayer.  Metropolitan Hilarion understands this as meaning God will forgive me to the extent I forgive others – that God’s forgiveness is dependent on mine. 

God denies forgiveness only when a person who has been forgiven by him does not forgive his own debtors in turn.

I humbly offer: I am not comfortable with this understanding.  When studying the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer, Lloyd-Jones offered a different understanding:

It means that the proof that you and I are forgiven is that we forgive others. … I say to the glory of God and in utter humility, that whenever I see myself before God and realize even something of what my blessed Lord has done for me, I am ready to forgive anybody anything.  I cannot withhold it.  I do not even want to withhold it.

True forgiveness breaks a man, and he must forgive.

If we are in Christ, we forgive – it is natural, according to our new nature: our nature of being in Christ.  In other words, cause and effect are the opposite of what is presented by Metropolitan Hilarion. 

Conclusion

Our debt to God is immeasurable.  If we understand and live into this, we will forgive unconditionally – naturally, according to our new nature.