Page 17 - September 2025 - Truth & Tidings

The Great Debt Forgiven (vv23-27) pardon.
A king settles accounts with his servants, The Reckoning (vv31-34)
and one is brought before him who owes Witnesses to the injustice report the
10,000 talents – a staggering debt, equal incident to the king. The king confronts
to approximately 200,000 years of labour. the servant, calling him “wicked,” and
This is a picture of our sin-debt before reminds him of the mercy he had received.
God – immeasurable and insurmountable. “Should you not have had mercy on your
Unable to pay, the servant faces judgment: fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?”
he, his family and all he has will be sold. Angered by the servant’s duplicity, the
Though the Mosaic Law provided for king delivers him to the jailers until the
a debtor to be sold into servitude, the debt is paid. Given the size of the debt,
practice was strictly regulated to prevent this effectively means lifelong imprison-
oppression, and release was guaranteed ment. The unforgiving servant ends up
in the year of Jubilee (Lev 25:39-41). The enslaved, not by the king’s wrath but by
servant pleads desperately for patience, his own merciless heart.
promising repayment – a promise which
would be impossible to fulfil. Moved by The Warning (v35)
compassion, the king does more than The Lord concludes the parable with
grant an extension; he forgives the entire this solemn warning: “So also my heav-
debt and releases the servant. This dual enly Father will do to every one of you,
act of forgiveness, cancelling the debt if you do not forgive your brother from
and releasing the debtor, reflects God's your heart.” This is not a doctrine of
own dealings with repentant sinners. God salvation by works. The Saviour is not
does not merely postpone our judgment; saying that forgiveness is lost if we fail
He removes it. to forgive once. Rather, He is revealing a
The Lesser Debt Withheld (vv28-30) spiritual reality: a person who refuses to
But the story takes a dark turn. The forgive may have never truly understood,
forgiven servant encounters a fellow ser- or received, God’s forgiveness. Those who
vant who owes him a mere 100 denarii – are forgiven are transformed. Forgiveness
around three months’ wages. Compared is not only something we receive; it is
to the 10,000 talents, this is negligible. Yet something we live.
the forgiven man seizes his debtor and The point is further emphasized by Paul
demands repayment. Despite hearing the in 2 Corinthians 2:6-8, where the apostle
same plea he once made, “Have patience urges the Corinthian believers to reaffirm
with me, and I will repay you,” he refuses love and forgiveness to a repentant broth-
and has the man imprisoned. This is a er. Paul, a minister of the New Covenant,
stunning picture of hypocrisy. He who calls for the grace of forgiveness, not pun-
was forgiven a mountain of debt shows ishment. The ministry of the Spirit, unlike
no mercy for a molehill. The tragedy is not the letter, gives life (2Co 3:6). As forgiven
only the lack of forgiveness but the failure people under the New Covenant, our lives
to recognize that he had been forgiven. must overflow with grace.
His action shows no change of heart, no
evidence that he had grasped the gravity Key Lessons from the Parable
of his debt nor the abundance of his own 1. The Measure of our forgiveness reflects
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