One day, Jesus was trying to make a point about forgiveness and so He told this story (Matthew 18: 21-35). This story is about a king who was settling debts with his servants. There was one particular servant who owed ten thousand talents. This was a massive debt that would require being imprisoned or sold into slavery if he couldn’t pay. When it came time for the King to settle this servant’s debt, the servant begged for mercy because there was no way for this servant to pay this debt back. The king took pity on this servant and canceled the debt and let him go.
Does this mean that the debt went away? No. When the king forgave the debt, the debt didn’t disappear but the obligation for payment was forgiven. The king absorbed it, wrote off the debt as if it no longer existed and took the loss.
So, how did this story impact those listening to Jesus tell this parable? First, they realized that the debt this servant owed was huge. It was not uncommon in order to repay a debt to sell the individual into slavery to work off the debt. And the people listening knew that there was no way this guy was ever going to be able to repay this debt in his lifetime. They knew that this would mean that his whole family would be sold into slavery for generations. This man’s debt not only impacted him but also those around him…especially his family.
So, when the people heard Jesus say that the debt of the slave in the story was forgiven; they were anxious to learn how he responded. Surely being forgiven of such a debt would make him grateful and change his life significantly. So Jesus continued the story and explained that the servant immediately went out and found one of his servants that owed him a debt (extremely minor in comparison to the debt that was just forgiven of him). The people listening to the story thought “surely this man will show the same forgiveness to his own servant who owes a comparatively smaller debt.” Instead, finding out the servant couldn’t repay his debt; the servant begged for mercy and asked for more time. Instead of responding with patience and mercy, the forgiven servant actually responded in great anger and instead of forgiving this servant, he threw him into prison.
I can imagine how the people listening to the parable responded to this man’s ungratefulness because of how I personally responded to the story. They must have thought this was unthinkable….why would the forgiven servant not respond with the same kindness and mercy shown him? Especially regarding a debt that was significantly smaller than his. The people listening to the parable must have felt some relief and anticipation when they found out that the story wasn’t over. Jesus continued by saying “When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed (just like those listening to the story probably were) and went and told their master everything that had happened.”
The King was enraged upon hearing about this servant’s actions. He called the forgiven servant back and told him “You wicked servant… I canceled all that debt of yours…Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” The servant was taken and handed over to the jailers not only to be imprisoned but to be tortured until he should pay back all he owed.
GO DEEPER => Matthew 18: 21-35 Study Questions