Jesus told a story about a debt too huge to repay—just like ours

By Dean Collins

If I had to make a wager I would bet Peter didn’t do the math in his head. Maybe Matthew whispered it to Peter during or after Jesus gave his parable and made his point.

Matthew 18 has lots of numerical references. Jesus said it would be better to live with one hand or foot or eye than to die in sin with two. Then there was the familiar passage about dealing with offenses. Go alone, one-to-one, to resolve a conflict. If that doesn’t work take one or two believers with you. Now we are at three. If that doesn’t fix it, then take the problem to the church, which could mean dozens or more. Then Jesus said wherever two or three gather in his name, he would be there.

Checking the numbers

And then Peter jumps in with a math word problem. (I never really liked these in elementary school.) The question Peter asked was, “If my brother does sin against me and I forgive him, then how many times do I need to do this? Seven? Jesus responded seventy- seven times. Actually, some scholars think it was an addition problem, 70 + 7 = 77. Others interpret the translation to be a multiplication problem or 70 x 7 = 490. Maybe Peter understood what Jesus said, but before he was sure, Jesus gave another parable with more math involved. I imagine at this point in the story Peter slides away from the other disciples that were fishermen and got next to Matthew who was more experienced in numbers.

I feel for Peter because it seems he was trying to follow Jesus’ instructions about righteousness exceeding the Pharisees. After all, the Pharisees advocated for forgiving a repeat offender three times. Peter more than doubled his forgiveness by asking Jesus about seven times. But Jesus’ point about our righteousness exceeding the Pharisees wasn’t really about the numbers; it was about the heart. To drill the point home, Jesus continued with math since Peter had started that way.

Settling accounts

Jesus told about a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. One guy owed the king 10,000 talents. A then was equal to about 10 years of income. So to owe 10,000 talents to someone would be more than 100,000 years of labor. Obviously, it was a debt impossible to pay. The servant and his whole family could be sold, and it wouldn’t come close to covering the debt.

But in this parable, the indebted servant pleaded with the king, and the king did the unthinkable. He forgave all of the debt. Peter didn’t even need Matthew’s help to understand this was huge. But the plot intensified as Jesus explained that this servant who had been completely set free from debt and could now breathe again and live freely for the first time, turned and demanded that a man who owed him 100 denarii pay him in full and pay him now! (One talent equaled about 6,000 denarii, so this debt was just a fraction of what the king had forgiven.) He literally began to choke the man as he demanded payment. And when the man couldn’t pay his debt, the servant put him in prison.

Why would someone who had been forgiven so much treat someone like that? Didn’t the servant remember or even care what the king had done for him? Peter and the disciples probably began to connect some of the other teachings of Jesus. One of the disciples might have quietly repeated the line from the prayer Jesus had taught them a few months earlier, “and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” This is powerful stuff Jesus was teaching in this parable.

When the king heard what the ungrateful servant did, he called the servant wicked. He was shocked at his lack of mercy after he had received so much. And the king had the servant placed in prison until he could pay. A life sentence.

Remembering the debt

Jesus paid a debt for us that we had no capacity to handle. Yet how often have we turned and refused to forgive someone for their wrongs against us? Before we answer, we must consider our attitude toward those who disagree with us in big and small ways. Do we act with harshness and anger in our daily exchanges at work, at home, on social media? Do we look at others with disdain when they don’t see things our way? Do we wish them harm, hope they get what is due to them for their attitudes? Might all of this somehow relate to this lack of mercy we read in this passage?

Our forgiving king continues to pour out his grace, his mercy, and his forgiveness each day. Maybe it’s time we pause not just with gratitude, but with obedience to make sure we do the same with those around us.

Your time with God’s Word
‭‭Matthew‬ ‭18:21-35‬ ‭ESV

Photo by Mackenzie Marco on Unsplash

To receive daily posts delivered directly to your inbox, complete the form at the bottom of our home page.
To download a printable version of today’s post, click here.