Matthew 18:21-27

Matthew 18:21-27

At that time, after Peter drew near he said to Him, “How many times will my brother sin into me and I will forgive him? As much as seven?”  Jesus said to Him, “I do not say to you until seven times but until seventy-seven times.  Because of this, the kingdom of heaven was being compared to a human king, who desired to check on the accounts with his slaves.  After he began to check on the accounts one debtor of ten thousand talents was being brought to him.  And while he did not have enough to repay the debt, the lord commanded him to sell his wife, his children, and whatever he has and to repay the debt.  Therefore after the slave fell down he was prostrating himself before him while saying, ‘Have patience upon me, and I will repay everything to you.’  And after being moved by compassion, the lord of that slave released him and forgave the loan for him.”

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

I love the play here between Jesus and Peter.  Peter comes to him thinking himself to be generous.  Truthfully, from our human perspective this is really generous.  How many times do you actually tolerate the same mistake before getting upset?  I’m guessing that in most circumstances seven is larger than you answer to that question.  I know it is for me.  Of course, there are a few circumstances where I am prone to forgive many times – with people I care about especially.  But given my interaction with typical people in the world, most of us have an incredibly low threshold of irritation when it comes to repeated sin from other people.  But love at what Jesus says in response to Peter.  Jesus tells him to forgive seventy seven times.  In other words, God’s perspective on patience and tolerance blows humanity out of the water.  And thanks be to God for that patience and forgiveness.  Because I know I sure am in need of it.

Do you see God as being incredibly patient with your sins?  How well do you imitate this patience?

Second Thought:

The servant in the parable has a debt of ten thousand talents.  A talent was approximately the amount of money that a day laborer could hope to make in twenty years worth of work.  That’s an impossible debt!  Of course the slave couldn’t repay his debt.  This is not too much unlike us, by the way.  Each of us are slaves.  We are slaves to our thoughts, our habits, our relationships, our desires, our money … I could go on for quite a while here.  And we have a debt to pay that we have no hope of repaying.  Yes, we are like the slave in this parable.  And when God comes to collect on our debt, the best we can hope to do is to fall on our face and beg for mercy.  Because we’ll never be able to repay God for our debt.  Thanks be to God that He is kind, caring, and compassionate.

What is your debt like to God?  Do you recognize the debt that you owe?  How does this recognition affect your life?

Third Thought:

In this parable, we get a great example of what forgiveness is.  Forgiveness comes out of compassion.  After the lord was moved by compassion, he forgave the debt.  It’s that simple.  Forgiveness doesn’t come to us because we deserve it.  Forgiveness doesn’t come to us because we actually were able to make amends.  Forgiveness comes because while we are still in someone’s debt they decide not to make us accomplish full restitution.  That’s forgiveness, and that is exactly what God does to us.

How does this understanding of forgiveness affect your understanding of God?  Can we ever make full restitution for our sin?

Passage for Tomorrow: Matthew 18:28-35