So far, out of the parable of the unforgiving servant, we have discussed a few stages in the story of this servant: First, he was unforgiven; second, he was forgiven. And now, we can see that the servant was unforgiving despite hte compassion, mercy and forgiveness that he experiences from his Master.
In verse 28 we read:
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He was forgiven. He should have been rejoicing. He should have felt good towards everyone. He should have freely forgiven everything owed him. But he came straight from the king and pounced upon the man that owed him something. He grabbed this fellow by the neck and started choking him, saying, "Pay what you owe me!"
The fact is he was owed 100 denarii. That would be the equivalent, perhaps, of about $20. Or it would be one hundred days' wages. That would come to a debt today of maybe $5,000. That is a considerable sum, but it is a debt that could be paid. What is important, however, is the contrast between this and the debt that the man had been forgiven. Compare a debt of $20 with a debt of $10,000,000! He was owed only 2/10,000 of 1 percent of what he had been forgiven!
What do we learn from that?
Simply this: Whatever we are called upon to forgive, it does not begin to compare with what God has forgiven us. However great the sins of others against you, your sins against God were and are infinitely greater! Should you not, therefore, be willing freely to forgive the wrongs others have done to you?
In the next two verses we read:
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The servant in our story was forgiven, but unforgiving. He found himself in the place of his king. He had the power to forgive. But he had learned nothing from the kingís example. When he had fallen down before the king, the king had forgiven him. When his fellow servant fell down before him, he refused to forgive.
Sometimes we are like that: Although we have been forgiven, we refuse to forgive.
In verse 31 we read:
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It is right to be distressed when Christians fail to forgive. But the main point is that the king found out. And our King, our God knows when we fail to forgive!
Notes:
Some of the information here are excerpts from Coy Roper.
published by Truth for Today in the year 2005.
Cheers,
Kaizen