Understanding the Power of Forgiveness: A Deep Dive into the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

Ever wondered why Jesus asked us to forgive seventy-seven times? Brace yourself for a deep dive into the vast ocean of biblical wisdom as we untangle the complex parable of the unforgiving servant, recounted in Matthew 18. Our conversation will shed light on Peter's insightful interaction with Jesus, the king's boundless mercy, and the servant's massive, unfathomable debt. You'll also understand the profound connection between Jesus' teachings and the concept of repentance.

Moving beyond the scripture, we'll apply the lessons of this parable to our daily lives, emphasizing the power of forgiveness and mercy. Delve into the irony of the forgiven servant's merciless behavior towards his debtor, and the consequences he suffered as a result. Tune in to reflect on our human tendency to sin and the miraculous grace through which we receive forgiveness. Let's together learn to extend the grace we receive to those around us, just as Peter was taught. This episode promises to be not just an intellectual exploration, but a spiritual journey towards understanding and practicing mercy and forgiveness.

Transcript

Unforgiving Servant Parable Explained

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome back to the two fish podcast . My name is Nick , I'm Aaron and this week we're going to the book of Matthew and talking about the parable of the unforgiving servant .

Speaker 2 0:15

That's right , two fish community . We are back and we encourage you to go grab your Bible . Open up to Matthew 18 and you'll find where we're headed in first 21 through 3535 .

Speaker 1 0:30

Yeah , definitely a section on forgiveness and I think I want to say grace , maybe a little mercy thrown in there .

Speaker 2 0:41

Yeah .

Speaker 1 0:42

But I think the whole reason that Jesus starts talking about this parable is a question , and we'll get into it . Actually , let's just get right to it . Here we go . Matthew , chapter 18 , verse 21 . Then Peter came up to him and said to him Lord , how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him as many as seven times . Jesus said to him I do not say to you seven times , but seven , but 77 times . Let's stop right there just for a second . Like I just think I wonder if Peter just threw this number out there . Lord , I got this guy he keeps sending against me . How many times should I forgive him ? Like Peter wants a number because obviously there's probably this situation going on . He's not happy . He's like how many more times do I need to forgive this guy ? Seven , probably , throughout a number , yeah , which is ? I mean , that's a big number to me If someone's going to come against me doing the same thing for seven times .

Speaker 1 1:37

I'm like dude . I would have been like three Forgiven , but we're going different directions . But Jesus says no , not seven times , but 77 times . But I think Jesus throws out this number . He says 77 times . And that is just to go from seven to 77 times just seems unrealistic . And I think that's what Jesus's point is . Is he saying no , you're going to continue to forgive and you're going to continue to forgive and you're going to continue to do it ?

Speaker 2 2:07

The one thing that my footnote for that section right there on the I think yours reads 77 times my footnote reads , or 70 times seven , which is even more Right , and I'm still stuck at maybe three times Exactly . But once again this points to and I think we often talk about this like Jesus has a higher standard for us . Yeah , and in regards to like any of the sins , like lust , it's not . If you even look at a woman , wrong . You have sinned and lusted towards her .

Speaker 2 2:44

If you think about being angry at somebody you've committed murder or whatever you know it's . Once again , he's coming to a higher standard . We're going to be held to something far greater than what even perhaps the law is presented and I can't help but see that almost foreshadowing .

Speaker 1 3:04

Jesus has not yet been crucified , he's not been come back , he's not yet fulfilled all the things , but he's saying look and he'll explain this little in this pair . I'm not going to go , but how much more you're going to need my , my forgiveness , and I'm going to keep pouring it out to you . So , moving on , verse 23 . Therefore , the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants . When he began to settle , one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents and since he could not pay , his master ordered him to be sold , with his wife and children and all that he had , and and payment to be made . So the servant fell on his knees , imploring him have patience with me , I will pay you everything . And out of pity for him , the master of the servant released him and forgave him the debt .

Speaker 2 3:57

My verse 24 reads 10,000 bags of gold .

Speaker 1 4:02

So it's a lot of . That's a lot of money .

Speaker 2 4:04

It's a lot of money , right , and what was ?

Speaker 1 4:07

your footnote . My footnote says a talent was a monetary unit worth about 20 years' wages for a laborer . So one talent a talent is 20 years' worth of labor and this guy owes him 10,000 talents . How did you ?

Speaker 2 4:21

get that far .

Speaker 1 4:24

Oh , the housing crisis they yeah , we'll give you a house for nothing , it's just this , and I think Jesus again is trying to make this point this is unrealistic . Yeah , this is probably an unrealistic amount . Jesus is probably saying these to his disciples and they're like what that is . They can't even imagine that . 10,020 years , it's an unrealistic number . And , and Jesus says , the master had pity and he forgave the debt and let him go . He was going to sell his fam himself , his family , his children , and he was going to recoup some of his loss , which wouldn't cover the loss to sell them as slaves . But he was going to recoup some of what he was owed and just move on from the situation .

Speaker 2 5:07

Yeah , this guy . This guy was going to give everything he loved . He was going to sell it all in order to get out of debt with the king . Yeah , attempt to get out of debt with the king , but I imagine back then very few people had that kind of money . Yeah 10,000 times 20 years of working .

Speaker 1 5:28

working One is your uh well , it's just unrealistic , yeah , and .

Speaker 2 5:33

I think , but again .

Speaker 1 5:33

I think that's Jesus's point . But the king had pity and he forgave him all , released him and forgave him of his debt .

Speaker 2 5:42

I think uh going back to like your foreshadowing that you talked about Nick on verse , verse 26, . At this , the servant fell on his knees before him . Be patient with me , he begged and I will pay back everything . It just reminds me of like repentance and what we are to do with God , and I think Jesus is pointing to that here in this , I would think I I like that , I like that .

Speaker 1 6:10

But let me push back on that a little bit . He's willing to pay for it . He says uh , have patience with me and I will pay you everything . He's still going to try to pay for that and I think , yes , repentance , but he still wants to earn that .

Speaker 2 6:24

Yeah .

Speaker 1 6:25

You know what I mean . The way that reads to me is he's like please just give me more time and I will pay you . Don't sell my family , I will , I will pay you , I promise . Just give me more time , and God's and . But the master doesn't say okay , I'll give you another year . You got another year . I will postpone this payment . No , it's not a , I will postpone it . He says I'm going to forgive it and your slate is going to be wiped clean . So I like what you said , the repentance thing . He got down on his knees and said you know , forgive me , but then he wanted to still earn that . And we have an episode from . I mean , it's probably the very first episode still on there . We should redo it sometime , because I feel like we've talked about so much . I feel like we could add stuff to it . But Our salvation is not in works , Right , it's in faith alone . Now we need works . Works goes with it Goes with it .

Speaker 1 7:18

It's the outward showing of our faith .

Speaker 2 7:23

Yeah .

Speaker 1 7:24

But we can't earn salvation

The Concept of Forgiveness and Mercy

Speaker 1 7:26

. And this master says no , no , no , you can't do this . I'm just going to forgive you .

Speaker 2 7:31

Yeah , he still wanted to earn it , which is not what repentance is Correct and what God does for us .

Speaker 1 7:37

It's seeing the fault , it's understanding how I've messed up and I owe you so much money . Let me give me more time to repay you and the master saying no , no , no , no , you can't do it Right .

Speaker 2 7:49

Which is I mean first 27, . The servants master took pity on him , canceled the debt and let him go . Yep , which is what God does for us ? Yeah . And then he tells us we don't have to pay him . Yeah .

Speaker 1 8:02

It's already been paid .

Speaker 2 8:04

Yeah , we can't pay . Yeah , he paid it for us . Yeah , because it can't .

Speaker 1 8:08

You're right , you were saying that you can't pay it , it's impossible to pay for it . So someone else is going to pay it for you . And that someone was obviously Jesus , verse 28, . But when the servant and OK , before we go to 28 , the response of the servant should have been thank you so much . And to live out in that , in that , in that forgiveness , in that freedom that he was given , to live out that . I mean , if someone were to come tomorrow and say , hey , your mortgage is paid off , my attitude is not going to be cool . Thanks , bro . My attitude towards that person is just going to be Thank you , thank you , thank you . And every time I see that person , thank you . You know what I mean ? Yeah , because they took a huge amount of debt from me and I'm not imagining a little amount of debt .

Speaker 2 8:57

Yeah , oh yeah .

Speaker 1 8:58

The mortgage . That's probably a bad example , but it's a good example . It's a realistic example , but instead this man's response was totally different from that .

Speaker 2 9:07

Yeah , verse 28 . But when the servant went out , he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins . He grabbed him and began to choke him . Pay back what you owe me , he demanded . So he immediately left a situation where he was forgiven 10,000 , 20 years Bags of gold , yeah , and somebody owes him a mere hundred silver coins .

Speaker 1 9:38

My footnote again says a denarius , which is what mine says . A denarius was a day's wage for a labor . So what'd you say ? A hundred ? So a hundred days worth of work , which is still a lot of money . Yeah , Nowhere near 20 years Times 10,000 . Right ? So just comparing the two , this is nothing . This is a couple of pennies compared to a mortgage . And he's demanding it . He turns around , leaves in his freedom and starts demanding and choking pennies , choking .

Speaker 2 10:13

Yeah , that's got physical . Yeah , I'm gonna choke you out . I need my hundred hundred silver coins . Yeah .

Speaker 1 10:19

So this fellow servant , so his fellow servant , which means this is probably someone that's around him that knows and that probably Heard and saw of what the king did for this guy and he fell down . Have patience with me and I will pay you first 30 . He refused and he went and put him in prison until he could pay the debt which I'm thinking . In prison there's probably not a lot of ways to earn money to pay him back .

Speaker 2 10:44

No , there's not even a modern-day prison . I can't imagine it would have been better back then .

Speaker 1 10:49

Yeah , verse 31 . When his fellow servants saw what he had taken place , they were greatly distressed and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place . Then the master summoned him and said to him you wicked servant . I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me , and should not you have had mercy for your fellow servant as I had had mercy on you ? I mean that it's a very Understand , understanding question . That's the same one I'd have . What did you not just remember what I just did for you ?

Speaker 2 11:23

Just to keep reading here in verse 34 in anger , his master Handed him over to the jailers to be tortured until he should Pay back all he owed . Once again , let's go back . He owed 10,000 . Back to gold , which is 20 , 20 years of labor times 10,000 .

Speaker 1 11:46

Yeah , so this is 200,000 years of wages . You got to have something to live on , so you're probably gonna have to take , and it's gonna be more than that Because you got a feature family . So this is a life , life life sentence , and now he's doing it from jail where he probably doesn't earn a lot .

Speaker 2 12:03

So the master had mercy on him and he had zero mercy on his own servant . He walked out of the kingdom forgiven of all that debt . White slate's clean , completely clean . You can go back to life . You didn't lose your possessions like you got to imagine . If guy owed this much debt , he has a lot Right , because you're not just gonna get yeah , that's that kind of money from the king Without having what are you buying ?

Speaker 1 12:36

What do you need that money for ?

Speaker 2 12:37

right , you got some status in the community right . Yeah . And then he walks out and a guy owes him a hundred silver coins . He begins to choke them out , throw them in jail as other servants report them to the master , and the master ticked , ticked .

Speaker 1 12:57

Do you blame them ? No , no , and I think I would have . Well , I probably would have the same exact response as all these men if I'm being honest . But I would have the same reaction as this master here . I would be like you don't get it , you don't get it . Yeah . I'd have the response of please forgive me or let me give me more time . I Probably also have the response , if I'm being honest , those days where I'm like you owe me some money . You know what I mean . I did . I mowed your yard . You said you pay me 25 bucks . You never said another word about it and not harbor that in my heart , thinking to my neighbor you never paid me my 25 bucks chief , I mow your yard again .

Speaker 1 13:43

Yeah .

Speaker 2 13:44

Would you , would you throw them in jail ? To heaven . I'd go down , choke them out and say give me my money for my , for mowing your yard , oh no , but .

Speaker 1 13:55

But honestly , there's been times where I feel that way . I'm like you , dirtbag , yeah , you owe me money , but I know that I've been given money in the past for things . Hey , let me help you out . That's happened for me before , so it's one of those things . It's like why , why do we hold on to those things ? And I think part of it and this guy should obviously . This is a parable . Jesus is telling a story . He should have , in the back of his mind , said , huh , don't worry about it .

Speaker 2 14:26

I've always wondered about the parables . It's the one thing about the parables I've always wondered is Somebody in the crowd ? Hmm , was this person ?

Speaker 2 14:35

Yeah , or was going through almost the exact same thing , yeah maybe , like Jesus , exaggerated it yeah right , yeah but was , oh , was one of the people standing there , this guy and he's Like you ever go to church and you're like yeah yeah , so I was just gonna say preacher man , why are you preaching at me ? You're preaching right at me everything you're saying is me . Yeah , so I was just gonna say that and I've always wondered that with these parables , like you're probably right , who Was he preaching to and who is he warning ? Warning to you're gonna get thrown in jail and you're gonna be tortured .

Speaker 1 15:15

What you want to do is not the right thing to do , right ? You need to forgive in this circumstance . Yeah , yeah , absolutely . I think you're probably right . There's price .

Speaker 1 15:26

I'm in that crowd that needed to hear that and they probably went oh you know I Was upset at my neighbor because he said he paid me for Moe in his yard and then he never said another word about it . At the end of the day it's nothing off me , I'll just let it go really it cost me five bucks Moe's yard and he was gonna pay me 25 .

Speaker 2 15:45

Yeah , I'm out . 20 bucks . Yeah , I'm a guest .

Speaker 1 15:48

You're probably right . And I think then verse 35 kind of wrapping up what Jesus is saying here he's back to Peter and the disciples . So also my heavenly father and this is where it gets serious my heavenly father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart and I think that takes it , that takes it another level , just like , hey , if you're angry you might as well be murdering , if you're lost you might as well commit adultery . He's saying you can forgive , but if you don't actually mean it , you're not really doing it right .

Speaker 1 16:25

He's taking it to another level . It's not just a service . Hey , bud , forgive you See . Ya , it's no , you need to . It needs to come from the heart . You need to have a forgiving heart to people . And man . Is that hard ? Because there's a lot of times in our lives where we go through things and we go no , I I'll say all right , yeah , it's all good , we're good , but I'm walking away , I'm bitter , I'm angry and I'm just not going back to that situation and really that forgiveness was just get out of my face , right .

Speaker 2 17:03

To forgive but not deal with it correct .

Speaker 1 17:06

Right like it's not true , you're not really forgiving . Yeah , it's just , it's just a show , and I've been there for sure .

Speaker 2 17:16

Yeah , oh we all have . If we have a two fish , we have somebody in the two fish community . That's never been there .

Speaker 1 17:24

Email said we're looking for gas .

Speaker 2 17:27

To fish podcast or Gmailcom . No , we want to hear you , Um , but yeah and and this is how my heavenly father will treat you . Thank you for watching . I hope you enjoyed the video . See you next time . Bye , each of you , unless you forgive your brother or sister from your own heart . Yeah , he's going to throw us in jail and torture us . You can't throw us in jail and torture us .

Speaker 1 17:46

I was thinking of something else . No , he's going to allow us to not be with him . We're in , you know , read revelation but there's going to be a whole lot of torturing in hell .

Reflection on Grace and Forgiveness

Speaker 1 17:57

I I'm reflecting on this , erin , I were just talking today and I was asked to give a talk on grace . And this is one of those things and I believe I believe grace . I believe in grace , god's grace towards us . I'll tie this in here in a second , but I believe in it . I believe we need to give grace and forgive people . I I know in my life I have needed a lot of grace from people and I appreciate that grace that I've been given . But at the end of the day , I don't understand God's grace for us . I do not understand , and this parable he's giving is unrealistic . You look at all those numbers . It's unrealistic .

Speaker 2 18:40

Hey , you can't even live that long .

Speaker 1 18:41

You can't . And he's saying I'm going to forgive you and that's that you're forgiven . And so to me , this , this original servant , does not deserve that .

Speaker 2 18:54

He's clearly doesn't deserve it , and he made he made some bad business plans and obviously they caught up to him , right yeah .

Speaker 1 19:03

And there are consequences to our center , consequences to the things we do . But God says I forgive you , I'm going to show you grace because you deserve what he gets at the end here is torture , and deserve that , but I'm going to withhold that and I'm going to let you go . That's a good master . It doesn't make any sense to me . He doesn't deserve that and clearly he . Clearly he doesn't , because he leaves that meeting and immediately goes and demands something of someone else the same thing .

Speaker 2 19:33

He was just forgiven , so clearly he doesn't deserve it on a much lesser scale and the difference then .

Speaker 1 19:41

Now he's talking about forgiveness , god , god's , jesus , teaching about forgiveness here and how we need to forgive each other , but the difference between this master then and Jesus . At the end of the day , god says , man , you screwed up , but I forgive you again , yeah , I'm going to forgive you again . And how many times we get that huge forgiveness of those huge things , that man God forgive me , I screwed up . And a little while later we're back to doing the same thing and then we realize it . And I think that's the difference is we can , we need to continue to have that repentance part that we were talking about ? No , definitely .

Speaker 2 20:17

Cause yeah , no , it's yeah , I mean you . You nailed it there . The thing that was coming on my mind was the whole don't worry about it , don't worry about the spec in your friends . I yeah we even got a log sticking out of yours and that , like that , just came to mind with this story and and that the idea of grace and , um , I sit in the same boat . Like I don't , I don't get grace , like I get grace but I don't , I can't . The concept is difficult .

Speaker 1 20:49

Concept the understanding , especially me . Why me God , I don't deserve this . Yeah , I may center , we all are . I am good and then I'm bad , and then I'm good and I'm bad . And like we constantly sin , sometimes not even realizing it . You know what I mean . I mean through our day and he continues to give us that grace and continue to say I got you . Just doesn't make sense . And Peter , I imagine Peter sat here and he said you gotta be kidding me . You gotta be kidding me 77 times , or seven times 70 . No way I'm doing that . You know , john is so annoying over here . There's no way I'm forgiving John that many times . Or John , there's no way I'm doing it . And Jesus is like man , just wait , just wait until you realize what I'm gonna do for you .

Speaker 2 21:43

And he's sitting there going . You know how many times I'm gonna forgive you , peter .

Speaker 1 21:46

Yeah .

Speaker 2 21:47

Cause he knows what's coming from . Peter , you know what I mean .

Speaker 1 21:50

Yeah .

Speaker 2 21:51

You're gonna deny me three times In one night .

Speaker 1 21:55

In one night Like and I'm gonna forgive you .

Speaker 2 21:57

And I'm still gonna make you the rock .

Speaker 1 22:00

Yeah , yeah . I imagine that this is probably one of those things that popped in his mind . Peter , after all that he's like man . I complained about forgiving John for the stupid things that he does and I denied my savior three times in one night and he forgave me and he's rebuilding something with me . I imagine these . I mean , I think of things that were said five years ago . Conversations were popping in my mind . It's like I wish I wouldn't have said that . Like that I kind of came back a bit man , yeah , yeah .

Speaker 1 22:37

I imagine there's so many of these Peters like I was kind of a Peter .

Speaker 2 22:42

Yeah , I love it . Now , that's such a such a good parable and such a good , good reminder of one we need to forgive one one another and the grace we need to have for each other and just the amount of I think the word is grace that we're going to receive from God and the forgiveness of our sins that Jesus paid for us . So I think this week , the thing to really reflect on is to move forward and not try not to make so many stupid decisions , right ?

Speaker 1 23:22

Yeah , and when you do understand , you've been forgiven . So when people do stupid things to you , man , just think twice and forgive them . Yeah , and don't get into that over your head . Don't owe someone 200,000 years worth of money .

Speaker 2 23:39

Thank you to Fish Community for joining us . We look forward to diving into the Bible with you next week .