That’s precisely the point Jesus is making -- you don’t keep score when it comes to forgiveness. Like grace, forgiveness has about it a maddening quality because it is undeserved, unmerited, and unfair. When We Need Forgiveness Since the truth of forgiveness without limits is hard for us to grasp, Jesus told a story to help illustrate what He meant. In the first half of the story, Jesus deals with those of us who need forgiveness. Here he gives us some practical help for those times when we’ve wronged someone and stand in need of their forgiveness. In the second half, He targets those of us who need to forgive others. We’ll find some practical help for those times when someone has wronged us -- when they’re in need of our forgiveness. Let’s start with verses 23-24: “Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him 10,000 talents was brought to him.” Here’s the picture. The king in the land decided to call in all his debts. He sent out his collection agents and they came back with a man who owed the king a considerable chunk of change. His CPA’s figure that he owed the equivalent of about $25 million that’s like the entire yearly income for the whole kingdom. We’re not sure exactly how he ran up this kind of debt but it’s clear that he would never be able to repay the king. Since he couldn’t pay the debt, verse 25 says that, “the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.” The king knew he could never recoup all his losses -- he just wanted to get back whatever he could. At this point, the servant did what most of us would have done. He fell on his knees and said, “Be patient with me, and I will pay back everything.” Even though he could never pay it back, he’s now desperate. He can’t stand the thought of his family being sold because of the debt he ran up. The king was moved. The Bible says that he was filled with compassion. And, he does something the man doesn’t even ask for. The king not only releases him, he also forgives the debt. This is at great personal cost to the king. By assuming the debt, he allowed it to go unpaid and thus impoverished his treasury. He wipes the slate clean, erases the books, and cancels the debt. Now the man owes him nothing. Friend, this is exactly what forgiveness is all about. To forgive is to cancel the debt. When we’ve wronged someone, and they choose to forgive us, they are in essence saying, “I cancel the debt. The slate has been wiped clean. You don’t owe me anything -- I release you from ever having to pay me back.” I want you to notice that the servant did not deserve this forgiveness; it was purely an act of grace and mercy on the part of the king. I was in this situation several years ago with a friend of mine. I had done something that really hurt him. When I realized what I had done, I asked him if we could go out for breakfast and talk. As we sat across from each other, I owned up for what I had done and asked him for forgiveness. I didn’t feel like I deserved to be forgiven because I had really wronged him. As tears were streaming down my face, he looked at me, smiled and said, “Brian, I completely forgive you.”
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 23:02:49 +0000
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