An Incredible Story

The Unmerciful Servant

Jesus began to teach in parables late in his public preaching. His first parables were about the kingdom of God and were taught beside the Sea of Galilee, near the end of his second teaching year. These are the parables found in Matt. 13; the rest of his parables came in the last year of his life when he was preparing the Twelve for the events and duties which were soon to fall upon them. This is especially apparent in The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in Matt. 18:21-35.

Shortly before their return to Capernaum Jesus had attempted once again to warn the disciples about his suffering and death.

Matthew 17:22-23 Now while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him, and the third day He will be raised up.” And they were exceedingly sorrowful.

However, their continuing fascination with “greatness” reveals that they understood nothing and were still in the grip of self-seeking pride. Pride is that attitude of the heart that causes one not to be concerned with the other person’s needs. It is a spiritual cancer that will cause you to be harsh towards the faults of those whom you consider “inferior.” It is also a disposition that causes one to be slow in admitting that he has been wrong or is wrong.

The Lord does not deal gently with the apostles. Though they wanted him to reveal which of them was the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus passed over them entirely and chooses at random a little child whose humble simplicity, he says, exemplifies the greatness that they must first find if they are to be fit for the kingdom of heaven. Lets take up the reading the Mark 9:33-37.

Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.”

Matthew 18:1-5 records the event as follows:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.”

Greatness in the kingdom of God is not determined by how many servants you have, but upon your humble service to others. This is the message that the apostles had not yet learned and would not learn until after Jesus’ resurrection.

But after teaching them about how God determines greatness, the Lord issues a stern warning that a man would be better off dead than to be alive and causing one of his disciples to stumble (vs. 6) and he speaks threateningly of “the eternal fire” (vss. 7-8). To this is added instruction on the need to deal redemptively with those who sin against us, being quick to seek reconciliation through repentance and forgiveness.

Matthew 18:15-17 Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

The thrust of what he is teaching is: be merciful, unresentful, easily entreated and willing to forgive.

The apostle Peter shows, that he totally missed the point when he asked in vs. 21: “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Peter was thinking statistically, not spiritually. Being familiar with the enlightened thinking of the day, Peter probably believed that his proposal was remarkably generous. For Rabbinical tradition said that one should forgive the brother who has sinned against him three times. But Jesus’ answer is not only a revelation of the mercy of God, but of the harnesses of men

Matthew 18:22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”

How often should I forgive my the one who has sinned against me? Three times? Seven times? How about “seventy times seven”; which, simply put, means as often as is needed. Mercy is a quality, not a quantity. Peter’s approach suggests that forgiveness is the temporary forfeiture of a right that might at some point be reclaimed. Jesus wants him to understand that no such right exists and tells the story of a merciless servant to dramatize his point.

Matthew 18:23-35 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, “Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, “Pay me what you owe!” So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.” And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt. So when his fellow servants saw what had been done, they were very grieved, and came and told their master all that had been done. Then his master, after he had called him, said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me. Should you not also have had compassion on your fellow servant, just as I had pity on you?” And his master was angry, and delivered him to the torturers until he should pay all that was due to him. So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.

The parable contains three scenes full of some incredible things. First of all there is the incredible sum which the servant of the king had either stolen or squandered - “ten thousand talents.” which is equivalent to at least $10,000,000. This was 50 times larger than the annual taxes which Herod Antipas collected from Galilee and Perea (200 talents) and according to Josephus more than ten times the annual revenue of the whole of Palestine (Antiquities, XVII, xi, 4). We are tempted to wonder how would even a royal servant get his hands on, much less manage to steal or lose, a sum like this? We are not told how, but the fact that he did is not disputed even by him.

But this is not the only remarkable detail in this story. For when the servant is brought to the king he has the audacity to ask him for more time in which he could repay what he had lost. What audacity. But what is more surprising is the king’s response. The king forgave him! A most unlikely treatment from an oriental ruler. Even kings would suffer from such a loss of money, and suffer markedly. And though there was utterly no hope of recovering the money, the man has made a fool of him in a way that no other person should be tempted to repeat. An example would be needed to deter this from every happening again, and a very severe one indeed. And yet, inexplicably, the king forgave the scoundrel of everything. It staggers the mind to think of such a thing, doesn’t it? And yet this is exactly what the king does. What extraordinary grace to show to such a scoundrel!

The second scene of the parable opens with the forgiven servant leaving the presence of the king. He has been delivered from a terrible fate. But with the ink hardly dry on his own pardon for millions of pounds, this man catches sight of a “fellow servant” who owes him a few dollars and chokes the poor fellow while demanding full and immediate payment. Do you find this as incredible as I do? That a man forgiven of such a great debt could be so unforgiving? It does not even seem to touch him that his debtor appeals for mercy from the same posture and in the very words he himself has so recently used. It is also ironic that while his own appeal for time to pay was ridiculous, there was a real chance that this man could have paid his debt.

We are made to wonder what was going on in this forgiven man’s mind. Was he congratulating himself on how clever he had been to escape certain disaster? Did he think the king a fool for falling for his line and vow that he would never be caught in such sentimental nonsense? Or is it conceivable that he was so dull as to see no connection between his own situation and that of his fellow? Jesus does not say.

Then we have the final scene. Some of the king’s servants who have witnessed the whole process are so dismayed by it that they report it to their master. The king, now deeply angry where he has been graciously forgiving, recalls the offending servant. Now he declares him to be “wicked,” not for his original transgression, but because, having received such incredible mercy, he had none to give. He is then turned over to men who will painfully see that he pays for every pence! The unmerciful servant had decided that he wanted to play justice rather than mercy and his lord abundantly accommodates him.

Jesus then makes the point of his story exceedingly clear: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” (Matt. 18:35) And this is no obscure lesson, but one that Jesus kept repeating throughout his ministry.

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Matthew 6:12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

Matthew 7:1-2 “Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.

And nearer to the time of our parable the Lord warned his disciples:

Luke 17:3-4 “Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

Dear brethren, the enormity of our sins against God is aptly illustrated by the servant’s impossibly large debt to the king. And the small debt owed to him by his fellow servant speaks well of how tiny by comparison are the injuries other may inflict on us. It becomes inconceivable then that those forgiven so much could refuse to forgive so little. Yet many rise from the Lord’s Supper—a memorial to mercy of God—to go out and live with merciless hardness in daily life?

The problem is that too many of us want to live with God under grace, but with men under law. With our Father we want mercy but with others we want justice. We can’t have it both ways, and when we try, we are truly “wicked.” It is bad enough for us to have sinned against God’s righteous law in the first place, but how much more grievous must it be for us to treat His gracious mercy with contempt? And isn’t this what are doing when we fail to show mercy toward those who trespass against us?

Hebrews 10:29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

And when those of us who have received such mercy from God refuse to show it to others ..., well it also says in Hebrews:

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Heb. 10:31)

Brethren, there was a time when:

Eph 2:1ff … you were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

In spite of our sins we receive mercy when we, by faith in Jesus are baptized (in water) for the forgiveness of sins (cf., Acts 2:38). How can a people who have been so abundantly forgiven have so little mercy to give to those who transgress against us? This is what God will want to know too, just before he hands us over to be punished for eternity.