The Unforgiving
Creditor
Taking stock is something we are all
engaged in. Most businesses have to prepare some form of annual report and
those of us who get involved in this realise how little has been done at the
right time. How many plans we made but never completed. Our optimism of a
year ago was not realised. I'm sure we all know the feeling well, whether in
business affairs or in our personal lives.
Of course, the annual accounting to our
superior at work is usually more traumatic than our weekly or monthly taking
stock when we get our salary. Then we add up our bills and hope we end up in
credit. Our short term plans are easily adjusted. The longer we leave it the
more difficult it becomes. Perhaps we do not take stock of our lives
sufficiently often.
In his parable about the Kingdom in
Matthew chapter 18, Jesus is pointing this out to us. He is relating God's
plans to our own plans so we will understand. God is also giving us a
warning that when Jesus returns, there will be the greatest accounting of
all time. As we read in the book of Acts:
`Because he (God) hath appointed a
day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man
whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in
that he hath raised him from the dead.' [Acts 17.31]
Perhaps a little preliminary taking stock
of our lives would be in order. This is especially true when we consider
that God created us. He has given us everything we have and as Jesus tells
us in Luke's gospel record:
`So likewise ye, when ye shall have
done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable
servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.' [Luke 17.10]
We are unable to give God anything that
He does not already have, or that He does not deserve, or that He has not
previously given to us. That day of account could look pretty bleak when we
consider the words of Jesus in another parable: `Cast ye the unprofitable
servant into outer darkness.' [Matthew 25.30]
However, the parable of the unforgiving
creditor, not only gives us warning of a day of account, but also
instructions about what to do so that we may have hope. We may even look
forward to our Lord's approval if we do well. Instead of taking stock at the
end of our lives, we should take stock weekly, or even daily. God, the
Creator of night and day has divinely appointed the periods of time for our
benefit. He took stock of the creation on the seventh day and as we shall
see, this prefigured the final stock-taking after 6,000 years.
Jesus told the parable in this way:
`Therefore is the kingdom of heaven
likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed
him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord
commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he
had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee
all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed
him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found
one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid
hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.
And his fellow servant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying,
Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but
went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his
fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and told unto
their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called
him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt,
because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion
on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was
wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that
was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you,
if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their
trespasses.' [Matthew 18.23-35]
In the parable, the unprofitable servant
threw himself down and worshipped his lord. He acknowledged the debt and
asked for mercy and forbearance. We read that `the lord of that servant was
moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.' [Matthew
18.27]
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Jesus related this parable as a way of
telling us about the coming day of judgement and this gives us hope. There
will be a need for love and compassion to be shown to God's servants on that
day. In the parable, the Lord's mercy was a result of the servant realising
his own worthlessness and declaring his debt to start with. The rest of the
parable shows us that mercy is conditional on our behaviour now. The servant
went out after obtaining forgiveness and cruelly demanded repayment of a
small debt that was owed him by a fellow servant. His demand for payment was
violent, ruthless and implacable. He threw his debtor into prison, in spite
of the man begging for mercy with the same words as he had himself used to
his own creditor:
`Have patience with me, and I will
pay thee all.' [Matthew 18.26,29]
How amazing that he did not recognise
himself in the one who owed him a debt - but that is typical of human
behaviour. We see others' faults much easier than our own. The outcome was
predictable and in the parable the merciless servant eventually received no
mercy.
A LESSON
IN FORGIVENESS
But this parable has a powerful message
for us as debtors to our Creator. Jesus told the parable in answer to
Peter's question:
`...Lord, how oft shall my brother
sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?' [Matthew 18.21]
No doubt Peter, wishing to appear
forgiving, suggested a large number. He might have expected Jesus to
compliment him on following the Sabbath principle which the Jews used,
resting every seventh day and allowing the land to lie fallow every seventh
year. [Leviticus 25.4]
Thinking about this more deeply,
according to Jewish law, all debts were cancelled after 49 years, or seven
times seven, when they had a jubilee year:
`And ye shall hallow the fiftieth
year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the
inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return
every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his
family.' [Leviticus 25.10]
To forgive someone's trespasses 49 times
sounds ridiculous. It was therefore not only a surprise to Peter, but to us
that Jesus replied:
`...I say not unto thee, Until seven
times: but, Until seventy times seven.' [Matthew 18.22]
Four hundred and ninety times to forgive
someone is incredible. In reality it means indefinitely. There should be no
limit or end to forgiveness, just as there is no end or limit to God's
forgiveness of those who repent and try to do His will. This message was not
just an isolated event in the teaching of Christ. We see it in the Lord's
prayer:
`And forgive us our debts, as we
forgive our debtors.' [Matthew 6.12]
It is also in the explanation that
follows:
`For if ye forgive men their
trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye
forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses.' [Matthew 6.14,15]
We also understand it in the way Jesus
replied to the question `which is the great commandment in the law?' He
replied that the first commandment is to `love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind', and that the second is
to `love thy neighbour as thyself'. He emphasised it by concluding, `On
these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.' [Matthew
22.36-40]
That is how important it is to be
merciful, loving and forgiving. That is a major characteristic of God
himself and it is not surprising that God requires it of His servants. Upon
the development of this characteristic hangs our own acceptance, when Christ
returns to judge the earth, like the king in the parable.
SEVENTY
TIMES SEVEN
There is one final, subtle point in the
parable that would not be lost on the Jews. They were looking for their
Messiah, because they knew about the prophecy of Daniel called the `seventy
weeks prophecy', or more precisely, the `seventy times seven prophecy.' In
it, Daniel was told that it represented the time allowed for God to bring
about everlasting righteousness:
`Seventy weeks are determined upon
thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to
make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.' [Daniel 9.24]
They had considered the details of the
prophecy and realised that the Messiah was due to arrive at this time. For
the 490 (70 x 7) years prophecy, on a `day for a year' principle, had been
primarily fulfilled with the coming of Jesus. It seems probable that
70 times 7 was also a secondary prophetic time period for God to
complete His plan in the future. Therefore when Jesus used it in his reply
[see Matt 18.22 on previous page], they must have understood that he meant
they were to forgive each other until the kingdom of God is established.
Then the earth will have its own Jubilee in a millennial (1,000 years) time
of rest.
As the writer to the Hebrews puts it:
`There remaineth therefore a rest to
the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath
ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore
to enter into that rest...' [Hebrews 4.9-11]
That time, we believe is very near, when
the final reckoning will commence. We hope that, by reading the Bible and
obeying Christ's commandments which he addressed to all of his followers, we
will obtain forgiveness when he comes to take account of his servants.
What
about you? |
