Sermon based on Matthew [18:21–35]

The gospel reading this morning continues a conversation that Jesus was having with his disciples that we heard about last Sunday. Last Sunday, we heard Jesus speaking about relationships, specifically with relationships in the church. He provided a teaching to his disciples about what to do when someone sins against you. How to deal with conflict and sin in the church and in our families. Now we hear Peter asking a question about all this, a question that leads Jesus to share a famous parable about forgiveness.

Peter asks Jesus how often he must forgive—suggesting “seven times.” Jesus responds: “Not seven times, but seventy‑seven times.”

Jesus teaches Peter and by default us, that forgiveness is not optional nor is it limited; He calls His followers to forgive extravagantly, “seventy‑seven times” that is because God has forgiven each one of us an immeasurable debt.

Jesus then tells the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, that contrasts a king who forgives an impossible debt (10,000 talents) with a servant who refuses to forgive a small debt (100 denarii).

“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his Lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So, the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the Lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.

But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.

When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their Lord all that had taken place. Then his Lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’

And in anger his Lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

The conclusion to this parable tells us that God expects us to extend the same mercy that we have received. Forgiveness is not a number or a quota; rather it is a quality of life for followers of Christ. It is “a way of being, a way of loving, a way of relating.”

The king forgave a debt so large that it was impossible to repay—symbolizing God’s extravagant grace toward us. Our forgiveness of others should flow from this gift.

Now the unforgiving servant’s refusal to show mercy towards another reveals a heart untouched by grace. Jesus warns us that refusing forgiveness leads to spiritual imprisonment.

However, forgiveness does not mean pretending harm did not happen, it does not mean to allow abuse, or to ignore justice. It means releasing the desire to retaliate or “even the score. Sometimes we must forgive the same offense “77 times” not because the offender repeats the offence, but because our hearts need repeated healing.

The valuable of this parable lies in seeing that it is a picture of us. The Lord Jesus is here holding up a mirror in order that we might see ourselves. We are the servant who has been forgiven a vast and staggering amount of money, and God is the great king that has forgiven us. The ten thousand talents is an incredible amount. According to the margin a talent was worth about a thousand dollars. Ten thousand talents is ten million dollars which, in those days, would be a king's ransom. The entirely yearly income of a kingdom would hardly be that much.

We must see ourselves in this parable if we are going to be helped by these words of Jesus. We must see that the sum of our offenses against God through the years that we have been on this earth constitutes this kind of a debt, an absolutely impossible amount. Our rebellions, our selfish acts and thoughts, our wilful choices, our lovelessness toward one another, and the hurt we have caused others, our pride, our anger, our lusts, our bitterness, our hates, and our lies; all these add up through the years to a staggering debt we owe God and which we cannot pay. But then there comes the good news, the wonderful good news of the gospel. There came a day when we were called by God, when we were born from above. The debt we owed for sin was wiped away. In one moment, it was gone. How we should remember, as we look back to the time when we first believed, the glory of that moment when we realized that before God, we stood cleansed, blameless, free; the debt was paid and we were freed from our bondage to sin. Jesus came and died in our place for the forgiveness of our sins. Amen.