Bible Studies

Another Unforgiving Servant

by Duncan Atkinson
05/24/16
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…The servant’s master took pity on him, cancelled 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….

…Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I cancelled 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?’ Matthew 18:27-28, 32 NIV

Aggression and revenge are less tempting for some of us than others, though I suspect unforgiveness and resentment are hostis humani generis. Meek and retiring persons such as myself, in a peace-loving western culture, may be more likely to bear with our friend’s failures than confront them. Sadly, this may be frequently linked to lack of action and engagement in the church community. Meekness and humility are certainly commanded by God–but they should make us more vulnerable, not less. An alternative version of the Unforgiving Servant’s parable may be useful;

After the servant departed from his lord, forgiven of his unpayable debt, he met a fellow servant who he himself owed a hundred denarii. This servant politely broached the subject of repayment; just as politely, our hero pled inability, and put him off for some little time.

Sometime later, the second servant came again in quest of the money owing. The first servant knew, vaguely–since he hadn’t concerned himself with the matter–that this man had his own financial problems. However–our hero reasoned–shouldn’t this servant learn from the grace of their lord, and place no inconvenient demands on his fellow servant? Hadn’t their lord entirely forgiven an astronomical debt? And wasn’t that owing to his exceptionally humble servant’s abject poverty and incapability? The longer the servant held to this reasoning, the less inclined he was to do anything at all.

Eventually, the fellow servant’s money problems snowballed. He lost everything, and was sold into slavery with his family, to settle his debts. It was nothing the first servant had anticipated, but utterly irreparable once it had happened. And you may judge whether the king had reason to look on this servant more kindly than his original.

In all our spheres, there are those who need our help. Brothers and sisters only we can strengthen; needs or offences God means us to mend. Instead of excusing deliberate inaction with God’s infinite mercy, we should live up to the example of his saving love, and stretch our gifts to the utmost for our fellow servants. Even a ‘hundred denarii’ matter may be God’s instrument to keep a soul from falling.

Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8 NIV