Devotional Reading: Colossians 3:12-17
This year many of us witnessed the wedding of the American actress, Meghan Markle, and Great Britain’s young prince, Prince Harry on May 19th, 2018 at Saint George’s Chapel at Windsor’s Castle. It was absolutely beautiful. However, Sarah Ferguson (Fergie), Duchess of York, who is the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, Queen Elizabeth’s second son and Harry’s uncle, was on the guest list who was not necessarily approved by the Royal Family. She was not invited to the wedding of Harry's brother, Prince William and Duchess Kate at Westminster Abbey in 1991. Fergie has a strained relationship with the Royals since she sold controversial photos with her financial adviser. The Royals have not forgiven her and no longer consider her part of the family. 1http://www.ibtimes.com/sarah-ferguson-snubbed-george-clooneys-dance-invite-wedding-reception-source-says-2682696 . However, Harry and Meghan proved to the world forgiveness was most important. Fergie was allowed to attend their wedding and the larger reception, even though she was not invited to the more private reception of only 250 guests. http://ewn.co.za/2018/05/07/sarah-ferguson-snubbed-from-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-s-reception . The Apostle Paul noted in Col 3:12-13, “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if another has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.” (NKJV)
This summer quarter focuses on Justice in the New Testament. We are in Unit II “Jesus Calls for Justice and Mercy” of the three units of the quarter. This is the first lesson of the five lesson study. Jesus did not teach that believers should give their offenders a reprieve which is a postponement of the punishment. Jesus demands that we forgive others. (Matt 18:21-35) There is justice in forgiveness.
Forgiveness is described Biblically in so many ways. It is described as the removal of Sin, as far as from the East is from the West. Forgiveness is when you have Divine forgetfulness, I will remember your sins no more. A debt metaphor is used in describing Storing up wrath for the Day of Judgment and forgiveness is cancelling of the debt. Today’s forgiveness uses a debt metaphor.
There will be disagreements, quarrels, and friction at times between Christians. We are human. Our lesson today immediately follows the teaching of Jesus as to how to handle a Christian brother if he has offended and/or sinned against you. You feel as if there is a debt and you want your brother to acknowledge he has harmed you, even if it is just an apology. (Matt 18:15-17) First, keep the disagreement between you and your brother. Try to settle. The goal is reconciliation. Don’t publicize your grievance. If your Christian brother is not accepting of your offer to settle the disagreement, bring in a disinterested Christian witness or two in order to assist in trying to settle the offending disagreement. Should your Christian brother refuse to settle the offense, Jesus taught we should take our grievance to the church. If our brother still refuses to settle, we are instructed to treat him like a heathen. The Apostle Paul taught at 1 Cor 6:1-2, “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to the law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?” (NKJV)
Being the outspoken bold spokesman for the disciples, it was Peter who inquired of the LORD as to the issue of forgiveness of Christian brothers who refused an offer to settle. He remembered the teaching of Jesus on the necessity for forgiveness as taught in the model prayer and the consequences of forgiveness. (Matt 6:12, 14-15) Peter does not state that he is the sinner who should be forgiven for his sin. That seemed to be inconsequential to his thinking, but let us never forget we all are sinners in need of forgiveness. We have all fallen short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23) Peter was willing to forgive his brothers their trespass, their debt, and wipe their slate clean, but exactly how many times should they be forgiven? At Matt 18:21-22 we read the LORD’s response to Peter’s inquiry. The Scripture reads, Then Peter came to Him and said, “LORD, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.” (NKJV)
The Jewish teaching was to forgive someone three times. Peter’s offer of forgiveness in his inquiry to the LORD was twice the number of the Jewish teaching plus one, perhaps for good measure. He probably had good intentions, but the LORD’s response was that his scorecard was irrelevant. God is the only one who can keep account because He is the Judge, and vengeance is His. We must not attempt to step into His shoes to keep score. It matters not how many times we forgive. It goes to the very core of the struggle between the “old man” who we were before we came to know Christ and the “new man”, who we are now in Christ. We are to forgive all wrongs done unto us no matter how many. It goes to the very core of peace that we forgive and forget by habit.
The LORD knew how impossible His teaching sounded. When we have been harmed we feel we need justice from the person who has harmed us. So the LORD presented the parable of the unforgiving servant to help us accept His teaching.
The parable represents the kingdom of heaven as the church which is God’s family. God is the king over this court and His servants are those who profess to be believers. The servants are not slaves who work without compensation. The debt they owe is sin. The king is coming to collect the debt. Matt 18:23-27 reads, Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. (NKJV)
The king is settling his accounts, auditing the books. One servant is brought before him whose debt was too great. The Scripture explained that he owed the king ten thousand talents. It does not explain how he came to owe such an enormous figure. In Jesus’ day, this servant’s debt was equivalent to the pay for 6,000 workdays times 10,000. The servant could not bring neither a sacrifice nor an offering to satisfy the debt in whole. That would have created much hurt and harm for this servant to even attempt to pay. Both he and the king knew it was not possible. Justice demanded satisfaction. The king convicted him of nonpayment and ordered that he, his wife, children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt of sin. The servant fell on his knees and begged the king have patience. He did not deny the debt, but he was sorrowful and requested time for repayment. Because the servant had humbled himself and was sincere in his request, the king was moved with compassion. If the king had only given the servant time, he would have granted him a reprieve which would have been a postponement of the debt. Instead the king granted the servant grace and mercy, forgiving him the debt, and releasing him and his family.
So now wouldn’t you think the forgiven servant would go on his merry way, praising God that he and his family were not sold for everything possible in order that payment to the king could be made? This is where the parable takes a curious turn because the servant was not as forgiving to others as he had been blessed to be forgiven. The Scripture picks up and explains the cruelty of the servant at Matt 18:28-30, “But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. (NKJV)
The first thing that jumped out in this passage to me is that we have a servant who had been mercifully forgiven seeking a fellow servant who he might devour. He was not thankful for the immense, unmeasurable grace granted him by the king. He creeps around his surrounding territory until he finds a fellow servant who owes him a debt. This evil servant terrorized the fellow servant, grabbed him by the throat, and demanded payment. That was a cruel collection tactic in itself.
The payment owed by the fellow servant to the first servant was of no consequence as compared to the debt this evil servant owed the king. At least the fellow servant would be able to repay the debt within a few months if given a chance, whereas the evil servant had no hope of being able to pay his debt within his lifetime. Although the first servant had been forgiven by the king, he had no such plans for his fellow servant who, like him, cried in all sincerity for patience to pay off the debt.
The evil servant argued for a greater love of money and a lesser love of his fellow servant. Put the unforgiven fellow servant in prison/jail where he will rot, because how much chance is he given to pay off his debt behind bars? It did not matter to the evil servant that any dishonors done to servants (man) are small compared to any dishonors done to the king (God).
The witnesses to both the blessings and actions of the evil servant were his other fellow servants. Matt 18:31 states, “So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done.” (NKJV) They were upset and could not keep quiet having observed such harm done to their brother by a brother who had just reaped great blessings from the king. They dare not go directly to him for they felt he was unreasonable. So they took their grievance to the king.
Now if it was a bitter pill for the fellow servants to witness the actions of the evil servant, you can only imagine the depth of the anger of the king and his response. Matt 18:32-34 reads, Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?’ And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. (NKJV) The king tells the wicked servant he should have had compassion, because he had felt compassion. He should have forgiven his fellow servant, because he had felt undue forgiveness. No more. The king revoked his pardon and the debt judgment against him was revived. The wicked servant was delivered to torturers because the king is now demanding payment again.
Jesus sums up the meaning of the parable by stating its application of forgiveness in verse 35, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (NKJV) Jesus knows that He will one day in the near future give His life for the forgiveness for the sins of all mankind in order that they may have hope for eternal life and regain access to God the Father. As such, it is most important all Christian servants learn the importance of forgiveness. We are taught to forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. We are in a position similar to the first servant in the parable with a debt that can’t be measured. All we are able to do is request mercy. But we have a duty to sincerely forgive. The parable is not intended to teach that God will revoke His forgiveness. He does what He Wills. It intends to teach that He denies forgiveness to those who refuse to forgive his brother, who do not repent, or refuse to believe in the Gospel.
God is a God of compassion and mercy. He forgives. But He will not have servants who are not forgiving. No matter how costly it is to the servants, it cost God so much more.
1 http://www.ibtimes.com/sarah-ferguson-snubbed-george-clooneys-dance-invite-wedding-reception-source-says-2682696
2 http://ewn.co.za/2018/05/07/sarah-ferguson-snubbed-from-prince-harry-and-meghan-markle-s-reception
Deborah C. Davis
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