THE PENALTY FOR UNFORGIVENESS

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“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 ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.”

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’”

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’”

In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.”

“This is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Matthew 18:23-35

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. Ephesians 4:32

These words from the Apostle Paul to the fledgling Christian church in Ephesus remind us of three life expectations from our Lord:

1. We are to be kind and compassionate to one another.

2. We are to forgive each other.

3. We have all been forgiven by God through Christ Jesus, His Son.

In yesterday’s devotion, we looked at the words and actions of Jesus in regard to the expected depth of forgiveness we are to show to one another, words and actions later reinforced by the prior words of Paul we looked at. Jesus’ message could have been left at that. He could have finished His discourse with the message that we are to forgive exponentially more than we may ever believe is reasonable through our human determination.

But as we see in today’s passage and the concluding verses of Matthew, Chapter 18, Jesus puts some teeth into His expectations, showing that there are consequences attached to someone who refuses to pardon as they have been pardoned. Look again at His words here:

“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 ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.”

“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’”

“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt.

When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.

“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’”

In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.”

“This is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”   Matthew 18:23-35

  

Here we find Jesus using His most popular form of teaching, the parable which was nothing more than a story used to illustrate a spiritual point or truth Jesus wanted to make.

In this case, we find a scene opening which sees a man and his family in peril.

We know the man was the servant of a king who had decided it was time to settle accounts with those who served him. Think of the king as wanting to initiate debt collection from those who owed him.

As the proceedings began, we learn the man at the center of the parable owes quite a hefty sum, ten thousand bags of gold, a sum he cannot repay. And so the king, with the debt still in abeyance, decides to recoup what is owed him in another way, by selling off the man, his family, and everything he owed. Surely, the family would have been cast into poverty and slavery, the property of whoever purchased them.  It was a rather harrowing threat to them all.

Facing this threat, the scriptures tell us the man fell to his knees in front of the king and begged for mercy. The man asked the king to be patient, promising to repay the debt he owed.

Did the king honor the man’s request?

Yes, and then some for we read where the king not only withdrew his desire to sell off the man and his family but cancelled all the debt the man owed! It was an incredible gesture of kindness and compassion by a king who didn’t have to do any of it.

Now, you would have thought a redeeming experience like that would have been enough for anyone to be grateful and learn to show grace to others, reflecting the same blessing that they had experienced to someone else.

But this man who had just been shown the ultimate forgiveness didn’t learn anything. Instead, now debt-free himself, he went after a fellow servant who owed him money (100 silver coins). Note that he didn’t just demand payment from the debtor but grabbed him by the throat and began to choke him, such was the maddened fervor he displayed to get his money back.

Well, the fellow servant, unable to repay the man, fell to his knees and begged for patience while he paid back the debt but as we see, the wicked servant failed to honor the fellow servant’s petition. Instead, he had the debtor thrown into prison until he was able to repay what he owed.

The difference between the two encounters where debt was owed couldn’t have been more different in the way they were handled, interesting because the common denominator between both cases was the man who was pardoned in the first instance but refusing to grant pardon in the second. He was forgiven but then refused to forgive likewise when given the opportunity.

So what would be the outcome of this wicked choice?

Back to the scriptures where we find the servants who witnessed the man’s refusal to forgive the debtor angered by what had transpired, so much so that they went back to the king and reported what had happened. As we see, this prompted the king to call the servant he had once forgiven back into his presence. Once there, he chastised him saying:

“You wicked servant. I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”

It was food for thought and the wicked servant would have plenty of time to regret not showing forgiveness when he should have. For the transgressor was turned over to the jailors by the king with the command to torture him until he paid back all he owed. The debt once cancelled was reinstated.

So what was Jesus getting at with this parable? What did it means to the believers who herd it then (and now)?

Jesus gives the answer, explaining the meaning of His illustration:

“This is how My heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

In other words, there is a penalty for unforgiveness, a penalty that involves torment and torture for anyone who does not forgive as they have been forgiven.

Question: Who are you more like in this parable, the king or the wicked servant?

If the answer is the latter, then look not to the king but rather the King, Jesus, and model your life after His. It’s the only way we will ever be assured that we will forgive as God expects, and we all know He does expect it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com