The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant of the King

Matthew 18:21-35
Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.

Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fel down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgiveyour brother from your heart."

In my hermeneutics class we have been learning the ways to approach interpretation of narratives. This passage became so much more alive and applicable today after doing some research. This parable that Jesus shares is about a king and a forgiven servant. God is figured into the story as the king throught the application at the end.

The story is simple. The king is settling his accounts. The king forgives the servant. The servant imprisons another debtor. Other servants report this to the king. The king confronts the first servant.

What exactly was happening here? What was this servant doing owing money to a king? It is probable that he was a tax collector. The "settling of accounts" was a time when the tax collectors came before the king and gave him their share of money from the areas that they had collected from. So this was a tax collector who came to the "settling of accounts" with no money. Something fishy was going on. Exactly how much money was this that the tax collector owed the king? 10,000 talents. Was this a lot? Well, one talent is about 20 years wages, so multiply that by a thousand, and in today's economy, factoring the average annual income at $40,000, that would mean that the tax collector owed the king about $10 billion. That is astronomical. Did tax collector's actually collect that much? Not really. King Herod was only allowed to collect 200 talents a year for the Ceasar. This truly was an astronomical amount of debt. Could the servant be that in debt? Could he ever pay that much back? No. So, why are these numbers so absurd? That is the purpose--to show a debt that is impossible to have accrued and impossible to pay back.

Another question we have is, why did Peter ask his question about forgiveness the way that he did? Where did he get the number 7? Well, forgiveness was something that the rabbis of that day thought they had figured out. The general consensus was to forgive someone for the same thing three times then give up. But Jesus was trying to make a radically different point earlier in his ministry when someone asked him how many times to forgive. Jesus had responded, "If he sins against you seven times a day and turns to you seven times you must forgive him." Peter was taking it literally as forgiving seven times, but Jesus was being illustrative to say that you forgive as many times as they repent--an incalculable amount.

This parable also contains many beautiful examples of thematic repetition. My favorite is the phrase, "Have patience with me, and I will pay you." This alerts the reader that they are supposed to be comparing the two situations. Forgiveness is also a thread that runs through the entire tapestry of this parable.

Irony is also used in the story. It is employed in the contrast between the two characters that made the same plea. It is especially ironic because of the individual's different amounts of money owed, particularly in vs. 34 where the King says that the first servant will stay in jail until he can pay his debt, something impossible. Its as if the king says, "You will be tortured forever."

This parable fits into the book of Matthew, a book written to Jews that speaks against the rising synagogue system and teaching of rabbis in order to present a new way of living following the teaching of Jesus. When the temple was destroyed the question of how to be faithful of God was raised. The synagogue movement claimed rabbis were the way forward. Matthew is presenting a different way, the one true way.

So this parable fights against the cultural value of limited forgiveness. It highlights the absurdity of limiting forgiveness of others when God has forgiven my limitless sin. No hurt that anyone inflicts upon me compares to the sin that God has forgiven me.

We need to adjust our standards. So much hurt comes from expecting others to operate within ours. We claim a "justified reaction." We need to operate in a culture of mercy, not a culture of demands. We need to live a new way, the one true way. A culture of mercy that was demonstrated through Christ's work on the cross.