Forgive

by Major Phil Wittenberg

I know I am greatly forgiven through the mercy of God and the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. There was nothing I could bring to Him to cause Him to forgive my overwhelming debt. He blotted out what I owed on my debit ledger by grace and grace alone.

I think it is important to often remind myself how greatly I have been undeservedly forgiven before reading any Scripture. For example, see how powerfully the parable in Matthew 18:23–35 deals with the dual issues of divine and human forgiveness.

Jesus answers Peter’s question about the limits of forgiveness in the book of Matthew by telling a parable. The parable that Jesus tells makes it clear that the Kingdom of Heaven is a Kingdom of Forgiveness. It is a kingdom where forgiveness is free, plentiful, and undeserved. It is also a kingdom where there is little tolerance for unforgiveness.

The greatly forgiven should be among the most generous forgivers in the world. Yet, this is not always the case. I know this because I have seen the contradiction all too often in my own life. I embrace divine forgiveness with both arms but sadly can clench my fist when forgiving others.

So, the question to consider is, when I have received forgiveness from Him so freely and kindly, how can I be so unforgiving, and vehemently so, when my brother or sister sins against me with (comparatively speaking) the smallest of infractions?

Let’s look at the math in this parable. The master is settling accounts with his slaves. They owe him, and he wants repayment of what is rightfully his. In verse 24, one is brought before him who owes him 10,000 talents (NKJV). How can we begin to understand this ancient measurement of currency?

Here is what some scholars and accountants believe: In modern terms, 10,000 talents is the equivalent of 200,000 years of labor or 60 million working days. In dollars, we are looking at a figure approaching $3.5 billion.

What would it take to repay such a sum? Well, at 4% interest (a reasonable rate!), paying $5 a second would take 200,000 years of work to bring our debt down to zero balance! Incomprehensible, impossible, overwhelming, depressing, hopeless— choose your word.

The servant in our story has nowhere to run and can’t escape the master’s presence. How is this going to turn out? The servant does his best to make promises he can’t keep (v. 26) by asking for patience until he can repay what he owes (what would that installment agreement look like?). The master listens to this curious offer and then does something completely unexpected; he forgives the entirety of the debt (he was “moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt,” NKJV v. 27).

This servant was brought into the master’s presence a deeply indebted and hopeless man. The weight of his debt was with him every moment of every day, inescapable and oppressive. But he leaves the master’s presence in a completely different state, free and forgiven!

If we didn’t know how this parable played out, how would we expect this unburdened man to treat his fellow humans? How would we expect him to treat someone who, comparatively speaking, owed him very little (approximately $5,800)? In the light of what has just happened in the master’s presence, given the new lease on life he has just so undeservedly received, we expect him to be kind, generous, merciful, and forgiving (choose your word here).

Verses 28–30 tell a different story. I will leave it to you to ask the “how could this be?” question—the “why” of how the greatly forgiven can, in turn, be so violently unforgiving.

As a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, I want to forgive as we expected the servant in our text to do. As I try to comprehend how greatly I have been forgiven, I pray that this directly impacts how I freely forgive those who have trespassed against me.

A sobering final word: The end of the parable (v. 32–35) shares that there is very little tolerance in the Kingdom of Heaven for those who are greatly forgiven but are not freely forgiving to those who have sinned against them.

Perhaps you need to ask for forgiveness, or there is someone you need to forgive. It’s never too late to ask God for forgiveness; you need to ask Him and accept that he has paid your debt.