Rachel Workman: 21 Then Peter came to him and asked,
“Lord, how often should I forgive someone[i] who sins against me? Seven times?”
22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven![j]
23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.[k] 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.[l] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters[m] from your heart.” Jesus was using a teachable moment here. He may have been speaking to Peter but he is speaking to us here also. How can we possibly be forgiven if we ourselves can't forgive. These passages concern me a lot. I for one am not very good at forgiving people. In Jesus' story the king sent the servant to prison to be tortured until he paid off his debt. It's not hard to see what Jesus is saying here. If we can't have a forgiving heart then we will be facing the torment of hell. Jesus can not reside in a heart that does not have compassion. It is without a shadow of a doubt one of my weakest points.
22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven![j]
23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.[k] 25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.
26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.
28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.[l] He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.
29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.
31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.
35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters[m] from your heart.” Jesus was using a teachable moment here. He may have been speaking to Peter but he is speaking to us here also. How can we possibly be forgiven if we ourselves can't forgive. These passages concern me a lot. I for one am not very good at forgiving people. In Jesus' story the king sent the servant to prison to be tortured until he paid off his debt. It's not hard to see what Jesus is saying here. If we can't have a forgiving heart then we will be facing the torment of hell. Jesus can not reside in a heart that does not have compassion. It is without a shadow of a doubt one of my weakest points.
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John
Burnett: 21 Then Peter came and said to Him,
“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven
times?” 22 Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to
seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven
[a]may be compared to a king
who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he had
begun to settle them, one who owed him [b]ten thousand talents was
brought to him. 25 But since he [c]did not have the means
to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children
and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 So the slave
fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have
patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ 27 And the
lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the [d]debt. 28 But
that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred [e]denarii; and he seized him
and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ 29 So
his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him,
saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ 30 But he
was unwilling [f]and went and threw him in
prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 So when his
fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and
reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 Then summoning
him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt
because you pleaded with me. 33 Should you not also have had
mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ 34 And
his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should
repay all that was owed him. 35 My heavenly Father will also do
the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from [g]your heart.” Forgiveness is one of the hardest things that God calls for
us to do. When we put our trust in Christ as our Savior God no longer
holds our sins against us, He forgives us because of the sufficient price that
Christ paid for us. When we don’t forgive and we try and get back at
those who have wronged us, we are basically saying that Christ’s punishment for
those sins was not sufficient and we need to add our wrath as well. When
we do this, we are demonstrating that we don’t fully understand the
gospel.
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Allen Michaels: 21 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but
seventy-seven times.
23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who
wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the
settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. 25 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.
26 “At this the servant fell on his knees before him.
‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The
servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.
28 “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.
29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged
him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’
30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the
man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the
other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told
their master everything that had happened.
32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked
servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to.
33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as
I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master handed him over to the
jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.
35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of
you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
When Peter posed the question of
forgiveness, he characteristically offered an answer he thought Jesus would be
pleased with. Why not forgive seven times! How unthinkable for
Jesus to counter with the proposition that one must forgive seventy times
that. Jesus made it clear that there is no reckonable limit to
forgiveness. And he drove the lesson home with a parable about two very
different kinds of debts. The first man owed an enormous sum of money --
millions in our currency. In Jesus' time this amount was greater than the
total revenue of a province -- more than it would cost to ransom a king!
The man who was forgiven such an incredible debt could not, however bring himself
to forgive his neighbor a very small debt which was about
one-hundred-thousandth of his own debt. The contrast could not have been
greater! No offence our neighbor can do to us can compare with our debt
to God! We have been forgiven a debt which is beyond all paying; to ransom our
debt of sin God gave up his only begotten Son. If God has forgiven each of us
our debt, which was very great, we too must forgive others the debt they owe
us. Jesus teaches that one must forgive in order to be forgiven. If we do
not forgive our fellow man we cannot expect God to forgive us. James says that judgment
is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy (James 2:13). Mercy is
truly a gift and it is offered in such a way that justice is not negated.
Mercy "seasons" justice as salt “seasons” meat and gives it
flavor. Mercy follows justice and perfects it. To pardon the
unrepentant is not mercy but license. C.S. Lewis, a contemporary
Christian author wrote: "Mercy will flower only when it grows in the
crannies of the rock of Justice: transplanted to the marshlands of mere
Humanitarianism, it becomes a man-eating weed, all the more dangerous because
it is still called by the same name as the mountain variety." If we
want mercy shown to us we must be ready to forgive others as God has forgiven
us. Do you hold any grudge or resentment towards anyone?
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