No 15

(The Unmerciful Slave)

In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 18, we read of a story that Jesus told to His Disciples that begins with the very familiar words “…the kingdom of heaven is like unto…” Jesus tells about a king who pardoned one of his servants for a large sum of money (10,000 talents). A talent was a very large amount and for the servant to owe his master 10,000, it must have been unpaid taxes or something similar; in any event, the servant was totally incapable of repaying his debt. That same servant turned around and demanded that one of his fellow servants pay him back a small amount of money (100 pence) or else he would throw him into prison until he paid his debt. We have all read this story often and the emphasis is mainly on the compassion we should show to others just as Jesus Christ had compassion on us.

Our debts (sins) are just like the amount that the first servant owed; totally beyond our capacity to repay or to atone for. Jesus had to pay the price for our sins because of the utter heinousness God has toward sin. When we begin to realize just how bad our sins are and the price Jesus had to pay, we can begin to understand how we ought to treat our friends and neighbours. The Bible says in Colossians 2:14 we read “…having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;” Paul here likens the forgiveness of our sins as an unpayable debt – the words “handwriting of ordinances” refers to a certificate of debt that existed in Biblical times. Paul uses the metaphor of “nailing it to his cross” as if to say that our debt has been expunged. May we be as forgiving to others as Jesus did by making full payment of our sins (debts).