The Unmerciful Servant

Story Snapshot

A servant owing an impossible debt is forgiven entirely by his king. He then seizes a fellow servant who owes him a small sum and has him thrown in prison. When the king hears, he reinstates the debt and hands the unmerciful servant over to be punished.

Main Characters

Story Summary

Peter asked how many times he should forgive someone who sinned against him, up to seven times? Jesus answered seventy-seven times, and told this parable. The kingdom of heaven is like a king who settled accounts with his servants. One owed him ten thousand talents, an impossible sum, and could not pay. The king ordered him and his family sold to repay the debt. The servant fell on his knees and begged for patience, and the king took pity, canceled the debt, and let him go. But that servant went out and found a fellow servant who owed him a hundred denarii. He seized him, choked him, and demanded payment. The man begged for patience in the very words the first servant had used, but he refused and threw him into prison until he could pay. When the other servants saw it, they were distressed and told the king. The king summoned the servant and said, You wicked servant, I canceled all that debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had on you? In anger the king handed him over to the jailers until he should repay all he owed. Jesus concluded that his heavenly Father will treat each of us the same way unless we forgive from the heart.

Timeline

• Peter's QuestionPeter asks how often he must forgive.
• The Impossible DebtA servant owes the king a sum he can never repay.
• The CancellationThe king takes pity and cancels the entire debt.
• The Small DebtThe forgiven servant seizes a man owing him a pittance.
• The RefusalHe shows no mercy and has the man imprisoned.
• The ReckoningThe king hears, reinstates the debt, and hands him over.

Themes

What This Story Means

Peter thought forgiving seven times was generous; Jesus answered with a number meant to mean without limit, and then this parable to show why. The first servant owes a debt so vast it could never be repaid, a picture of what we owe God. The king cancels it all out of sheer compassion. But the forgiven servant then throttles a man over a trivial sum, refusing the very mercy he has just received. The contrast is deliberate and shocking. Jesus teaches that those who have been forgiven an unpayable debt by God cannot then withhold forgiveness from others over small offenses. To do so is to misunderstand grace entirely. The warning is severe: unforgiveness in the forgiven is a contradiction God takes with utmost seriousness. Mercy received must become mercy given, from the heart.

Bringing It Home

• We have been forgiven a debt to God we could never repay.
• The offenses others commit against us are small beside what God forgave us.
• Refusing to forgive others contradicts the mercy we have received.
• Forgiveness must come from the heart, not merely the lips.
• Grace received is meant to flow outward to others.

Key Verse

Did You Know?

• Ten thousand talents was a staggering sum, more than the taxes of whole provinces.
• A hundred denarii was roughly a hundred days' wages, real but small by comparison.
• Jesus told it in answer to Peter's question about how often to forgive.
• It is unique to Matthew's Gospel.

Read Next

What This Shows Us About God

• God forgives a debt we could never repay.
• God expects the forgiven to forgive others.
• God takes unforgiveness in his people with grave seriousness.

What This Shows Us About People

• We easily forget the size of the debt we have been forgiven.
• We can demand from others the mercy we refuse to give.
• We are called to let received mercy become given mercy.

A Question to Sit With

Am I withholding from someone the forgiveness that God has freely given to me?

Prayer

Lord, You canceled a debt I could never repay. Keep me from clutching the small debts others owe me. Teach me to forgive from the heart, as You have forgiven me. Amen.