TUESDAY
As I teased yesterday, Jesus had a lot to say about the importance of forgiveness. In Matthew 18 Jesus gives the disciples a process to follow when someone in the church sins against them. Then in v. 21 Peter asks a good question:
Matthew 18:21 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
The traditional teaching of the day was to forgive someone up to three times. So Peter here thinks he is being incredibly generous and gracious by doubling it and adding one. He also probably thought he would get a few more points because of the significance of the number 7 in the Bible. But, that isn’t enough for Jesus:
Matthew 18:22 22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.
What! Seventy-seven times! Some translations say 70 times 7. It’s most likely 77. Either way the point is the same—our forgiveness should essentially be unending.
Then Jesus seeks to explain this point further with a parable:
Matthew 18:23-35 23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Jesus often describes sin and offenses against one another as a debt. In this analogy someone’s sin against us leaves them indebted to us. When we forgive, we are then canceling the debt that the person owes us.
As Paul said in our text from yesterday, our forgiveness of others is rooted a proper understanding and appreciation of God’s forgiveness of us.
The word translated “bags of gold” in v. 24 is talent. A talent was worth about 6,000 denarii, which a day laborer was paid one a day. The laborer would then have to work 60 million days or roughly 193,000 years to pay off the debt! The point is hyperbolic. The man owed an astronomical amount of money. Zillions of dollars would be a good translation today.
The servant’s plea to give him more time to pay back the debt is a little ridiculous. He would never be able to pay that debt. But the master took pity on him and canceled that insurmountable debt. This exemplifies the compassion of God’s forgiveness of our sin in Christ.
Then the servant goes out and encounters someone who owes him a rather small debt. The amount Jesus gives is 100 denarii. This is 100 days of labor, a little more than 3 months. Compared to the amount that the master forgave the servant—about 579 times the amount. The point is that the master has forgiven this servant an astronomical amount of money and now this servant refuses to forgive a small amount, despite the other servant’s pleas for mercy. As Turner writes in his commentary on Matthew, “He hypocritically accepts mercy but is not willing to grant it to another.”
Then the master calls the unforgiving servant back in and puts him in jail until he will pay back all he owed. This is reference to the lost state of a soul that is living in unforgiveness. It is tortured by Satan and his demons. Ultimately this soul is destined for hell. The debt is so large that it will never be paid back.
Verse 35 is a shocking statement as to the importance of forgiving one another. Jesus’ point again, is that our forgiveness should be limitless. When we genuinely understand how much God has forgiven us of, we should freely offer forgiveness to our brothers and sisters in Christ. If we are not willing to forgive others we should not presume upon God’s grace in forgiving us. Our willingness to forgive others their offenses towards us reveals our understanding of God’s forgiveness given to us. If we are unwilling to forgive others that should call into questions our understanding of God’s grace towards us.
Additional Content
The key to Christian forgiveness is the cross. It is the foundation of forgiveness because it not only makes it possible for God to forgive us without compromising his justice but it also provides both motivation and model for our own forgiveness to those who wrong us. To understand how we—as angry, wronged persons—can forgive, we must see how God, the ultimate wronged person, can forgive. The way he does this is the cross.
Keller, Timothy. Forgive (p. 71). Penguin Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.
Reflection
Reflect on how God has forgiven you in the cross.