First Mennonite Church
November 23, 2025
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Text: Matthew 18:21-35
Last Sunday, we considered the parable of the Lost Sheep. It is part of Jesus’ larger teaching about pastoral care and church life. In that very same teaching session, Jesus gives a step-by-step process on how to deal “when a brother of sister sins against you.”
It seems that Peter did not quite understand the process and especially the reason for pursuing the restoration attempt of someone who had wronged someone in the fellowship. So, he approaches Jesus and makes a follow-up question: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Peter wanted a specific number of times forgiveness should be given to someone who keeps sinning against him. Peter thought seven time is being beyond generous.
Jesus responds, “Not seven times, but I tell you seventy-seven times,” or it could also be, “Not seven times, but I tell you seventy times seven.” Whichever we prefer, the number hardly matters anymore because it goes beyond Peter’s perceived generosity. What Jesus means is that forgiveness in the church is not an issue to be keeping count on, but a practice that should freely and, yet, genuinely be given to one another. Forgiveness is not only the healing balm that keeps the church from having festering and untreated painful wounds within the body, but a divine necessity with eternal consequences. By divine necessity, I mean, even that Jesus died for our sins to be forgiven, but if we withhold forgiveness, the benefit of his death is annulled. Thus, in the following parable Jesus stresses the importance of forgiveness and reconciliation, not as an occasional exception to the rule in the church, but the rule. Forgiveness is a permanent practice and not an occasional task.
In the parable, there is king who decides one day that it’s time to settle up financial accounts with his slaves. No reason is given why the king decides to do this, but let us remember that kings never give reasons for their actions. Among those who owed the king, one was brought who owed him “ten thousand bags of gold.” There is no need to make calculations here. This poor guy owed billions and billions of bucks. It would be simply dizzying if we could hear the exact number. And that was the point Jesus wanted to communicate. The poor man would never be able to pay the money back. The king knows it very well, so he determines to recover as much as possible as he can. But the only way is by selling the slave, his family and everything he had. Even so, any amount he would collect would certainly only make an insignificant dent to the amount owed. For a poor man like him, much of his belongings might have not even be accepted at Goodwill! But the story continues. The poor man throws himself on his knees before the king and begs, “Have patience on me, and I will pay you everything.” He does not describe how he would do it and GoFundMe was still not available. His offer does not make sense. And to everyone’s astonishment, the king forgives the man. The king strikes the long number off his book and sets free his slave.
The slave gets up on his feet and as light as feather he goes out to his home a free man. However, as he was going, he crosses path with one of his fellow servants who owed him money. And the circle of interaction he just had with the king begins again between him and his fellow slave. The amount owed a “hundred silver coins” was by no means peanuts. It is a good amount, but reasonable enough that could be paid. Servant #2 asks for patience and offers to pay the full amount. But servant #1 is not in the mood to reason. “He grabs him and begins to choke his fellow servant.” He sends servant #2 to be thrown into prison until he could pay back.
The other servants having witnessed both scenes, “were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.” And once, again servant #1 was summoned by the king. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
The king hands over the unforgiving servant to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed, sound pretty scary especially in light of what Jesus says next. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
The picture, characters, elements and language in this parable are hyperbolic—that is, an exaggeration to the greatest degree. The size of the debt, the process of loan recovery, and the acts of the king were not realities in any ancient context. However, the parable intends to reveal two realities: 1) the reality about God’s grace and (2) the reality about our indebtedness to God. God’s grace is compared to this king’s willingness to forgive an unimaginable debt his servant can ever repay. This equally unimaginable mercy of God to forgive is God’s everyday favor extended to anyone who comes before him. As for the slave, he had no mean possible to repay his debt. It was simply beyond any and every effort he could put together. He had no merit nor right to be forgiven. Yet, he was given something undeserved and unearned. That is how God gives us his forgives us. The parable intends to awaken in us the very same principle with which God deals with us towards those who owe us very little. The danger and foolishness are that we act contrary to how God treats us. That was the fatal mistake the slave #1 did.
We can never earn God’s grace. Grace earned is not grace at all.
Therefore, when we realize that God’s forgiveness flows so freely and abundantly towards us, we leap with joy into its cleansing flood. This cleansing flood of God’s forgiveness flows to us and amongst us in the church. It flows freely and wildly in this desert of a world where recrimination, retribution, hatred, recalcitrance, and revenge are the norm. But for us who have experienced God’s generous forgiveness, it would be unbecoming of us if we do not participate in it or embody it towards our fellow brothers and sisters. On the one hand, we all need forgiveness. We need God’s forgiveness and the forgiveness of those we have offended. But although forgiveness is a vital human and divine need, it is yet one of the most difficult to give or to ask for.
As you might know, pastors are asked to be reference persons on occasions. Just last year I wrote reference letters for three young people. When I was a young pastor, I was asked to give recommendations on behalf of some young people applying for scholarships to enter a Christian high school. In my honest description of someone, he was not accepted nor granted a scholarship, while three others did get. What I did not know was that the principal of the high school revealed the reason for the rejection of their son’s application to the parents. This family stopped coming to church. After some time, I felt the need to face the situation. That night, I had to ask for their forgiveness. It was one of the most difficult interactions I have had in my life. But I needed to be freed from the burden I was carrying.
What has been your experience with forgiveness, either giving or asking it for?
On the other hand, withholding forgiveness to others actually withholds our own need of forgiveness from God. Yet, when we release others from their wrongdoing against us, we free ourselves too. In his book, The Art of Forgiveness, Smedes writes: “When we forgive, we set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner we set free is actually ourselves.” (p. 178). If you know there is something between you an another, take time to take care of it. Forgiveness, either from God or others is liberating.
This parable, also, can remove the possible blinders from our eyes who are sometimes tempted to think that forgiveness is possible under only certain terms. “I forgive you this time, but don’t do it again,” type of thinking. Or, “this, I can forgive, but that, I cannot,” type of thinking. Anytime we set parameters on what or what not to forgive we distort, we disfigure, and deny something of God in us—his unconditional grace that covers all sins.
Here are Jesus’ words once again: “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Amen!
Pastor Romero