A CERTAIN KING … TEN THOUSAND TALENTS

This parable was spoken in response to Peter’s query as to how many times he should forgive a brother who sinned against him. The Lord had just outlined the steps which a wronged party should take to be reconciled with a brother who had trespassed against him. Peter obviously felt that there should be a limit to the Christian’s forgiveness, suggesting the generous figure of seven times.

The Lord, in reply, stresses that Christian forgiveness should be boundless, ‘I say not… seven times but… seventy times seven’. To illustrate, He tells this parable of a certain king reckoning with his servants. One servant owed 10, 000 talents, a fortune of about £50 million. In response to the man’s plea for mercy, the king compassionately absolves him of his debt. But, instead of being grateful, the servant immedi­ately goes out and finds a fellow servant who owed him the relatively paltry amount of an hundred pence. He not only violently threatens the man, but has him imprisoned until such time as his loan is repaid. When the king hears this, he is very angry and delivers the cruel exactor into the custody of debt collectors until full payment is made.

In the four pictures of assembly life in Matthew chapter 18, Christ mentions His Father’s particular interest in four types of believers - vulnerable ‘little ones’, straying ‘sheep’, the wronged party in interpersonal disputes, and finally, the unforgiving bully who intimidates others. Because the Father has forgiven every Christian’s great debt of personal sin, He expects that we should behave similarly towards those who sin against us. It is not a question here of an intransigent trespasser, as in the previ­ous picture, vv. 15-20, but of a penitent offender seeking mercy and reconciliation. Under these circumstances, unconditional forgiveness should be proffered. Christians who do so follow the example of their heavenly Father who, for Christ’s sake, has freely forgiven us. Those who harbour an unforgiving spirit, in effect deny the faith. Indeed, they risk the anger of ‘my Father which is in heaven’, who will mete out to them the same treat­ment that they dispense to others.