Matthew 18:21-35
Peter asked, "How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven times (unlimited). Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants."
In the Kingdom of Heaven, King Jesus will settle all accounts.
"As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him ... "
In today's money, one talent was worth $1.8 million. So ten thousand times $1.8 million would be $18 billion--it would take forever to pay that much.
"The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.'"
As though he would be able to!
"The servant's master took pity on him, cancelled the debt, and let him go."
God forgives us of our totally unpayable debt of sin.
"But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii (a few dollars, or a handful of change) He grabbed him and began to choke him. 'Pay back what you owe me!' he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, 'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.' But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt...."
He refused to give his brother even a little of the forgiveness he had received from his master.
"Then [word got back to the king, and] the master called the servant in. 'You wicked servant,' he said, 'I cancelled 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 the master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.'"
Wow, tortured! He could never pay back that much money in his whole lifetime--he'd never get out of prison!
"This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."
God will judge each of us with the standard we hold against others. So if we say that God forgave us, then we must be sure to treat others, who don't deserve it any more than we do, as God has treated us; to give others the same forgiveness, allowance, and acceptance we want from God. If we find we can't do that, then maybe we need to search our own hearts to see if we have really admitted to God that we owe that immeasurable, eternal debt that Jesus paid on the cross. If He paid more than we think we owe, then it wasn't our debt He paid; it was someone else's who did owe that much. There is no dividing up the suffering Jesus endured--it's either all my debt or not. Personally, I know I owed that immeasurable debt, and Jesus took my place on the cross & paid my debt for me. He loves me that much.
