Matthew – the
Gospel of Fulfillment Chapter 18 Forgiveness Extremes
This chapter tells the story of a Master who had a
servant that had a debt that he couldn’t possibly pay. This Master had compassion for the servant
and forgave what could not be repaid.
Then this servant went to someone who owed him pennies by comparison and
threw him into prison because he couldn’t pay.
Well, word got back to the Master and his servant was called back to him
and the Master responded, “You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me. Should you
not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way I had mercy on
you? And his Master, moved with anger,
handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.”
This parable tells us of the great forgiveness of our
sins that God makes available to us through Jesus. It is a debt we cannot repay but salvation
and forgiveness are offered freely to us as a gift. By comparison how forgiving are we to those
who have wronged us? Notice that the
wicked slave would be tortured until he repaid what he could not repay. This is a subtle indication that hell will
be eternal for those who do you accept God’s gift of forgiveness. But the challenge remains to strive to
forgive as we have been forgiven. Makes
more sense instead of options like, “Not forgiving is like drinking poison and
waiting for the other person to die.”
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