The Limits of Forgiveness, Part 2 Yet Again
When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailors, till he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Matt. 18:31-35, RSV.
Scene three brings Jesus' answer to Peter on the limits of forgiveness to a climax. The moral of the story: we need to be just as forgiving to others as God has been to us (verse 33). The same lesson appears in the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus said, "If you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matt. 6:15, NIV).
Many have attempted to moderate the parable or explain why its sharp contrast cannot be genuine. But it is those very contrasts that help us to understand not only the wideness of God's mercy but also the mercy He expects in us as Christians.
The 10,000-talent debt is unbelievingly large. A talent equals 6,000 denarii. Thus the debt is 60,000,000 days' wages. One could work the 100-denarii debt off in 100 days, but it would take more than 164,383 years to erase the 10,000 talents if one labored seven days a week.
Alternately, one could carry the 100-denarii debt in one pocket. But the 10,000-talent debt would require an army of approximately 8,6000 porters, each transporting a 60-pound bag of coins, forming a line five miles long if spaced a yard apart.
William Barclay sums up the meaning of the contrast nicely when he pens that "the point is that nothing that men can do to us can in any way compare with what we have done to God; and if God has forgiven us the debt we owe Him, we must forgive our fellow-men the debts they owe us. Nothing that we have to forgive can even faintly or remotely compare with that which we have been forgiven."
So Peter has the answer to his question regarding the limits of forgiveness. For both him and us today, the answer lies not in counting or in some sort of extreme moral exertion, but rather in tilting your head toward the cross and beholding the Christ who paid your debt that you might go free.
Help me, Father, to have Your heart and Your love as I deal with others today.
When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me; and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailors, till he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Matt. 18:31-35, RSV.
Scene three brings Jesus' answer to Peter on the limits of forgiveness to a climax. The moral of the story: we need to be just as forgiving to others as God has been to us (verse 33). The same lesson appears in the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus said, "If you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins" (Matt. 6:15, NIV).
Many have attempted to moderate the parable or explain why its sharp contrast cannot be genuine. But it is those very contrasts that help us to understand not only the wideness of God's mercy but also the mercy He expects in us as Christians.
The 10,000-talent debt is unbelievingly large. A talent equals 6,000 denarii. Thus the debt is 60,000,000 days' wages. One could work the 100-denarii debt off in 100 days, but it would take more than 164,383 years to erase the 10,000 talents if one labored seven days a week.
Alternately, one could carry the 100-denarii debt in one pocket. But the 10,000-talent debt would require an army of approximately 8,6000 porters, each transporting a 60-pound bag of coins, forming a line five miles long if spaced a yard apart.
William Barclay sums up the meaning of the contrast nicely when he pens that "the point is that nothing that men can do to us can in any way compare with what we have done to God; and if God has forgiven us the debt we owe Him, we must forgive our fellow-men the debts they owe us. Nothing that we have to forgive can even faintly or remotely compare with that which we have been forgiven."
So Peter has the answer to his question regarding the limits of forgiveness. For both him and us today, the answer lies not in counting or in some sort of extreme moral exertion, but rather in tilting your head toward the cross and beholding the Christ who paid your debt that you might go free.
Help me, Father, to have Your heart and Your love as I deal with others today.
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