Matthew 18:23-27 23Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24When he began to settle, one was brought who owed him ten thousand talents. 25And since this one could not pay, his master commanded him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and in order to be repaid. 26Therefore, falling down the servant was begging him saying, ‘Be patience with me, and I will repay you everything.’ 27And having compassion, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
This parable revolves around the issue of forgiveness. When Peter approached Jesus with the question about how many times he should forgive his brother and then offered the tremendous figure of seven times instead of the standard three or four, he may have been expecting a pat on the back. But instead, he received an answer he was not expecting. Jesus applies (therefore) the principle of forgiveness from the previous passage to a real life scenario. This parable that describes what life should be like in God’s kingdom.
The story begins with forgiveness. There are several surprises in this parable, and each of these contains a message. The first is how much the servant owed the king. The amount of debts in this parable are significant for that time period. Ten thousand talents (10,000) equals sixty million denarii (60,000,000) or 164,383 years of labor for the average person of Israel. A talent was the highest currency, and 10,000 was the highest number in arithmetic. A denarius was one of the smaller amounts and was about a day’s wage. The debt of this servant was more than the taxation of Judea and Galilee together (Josephus, Antiquities 12.175, 17.318-20).
Jesus sets up a comparison that cannot be missed. The servant was in an impossible debt. The only option for the king was to sell the servant and all he had, including his family, to recoup at least a fraction of the debt. Since there would be no way a person could repay that huge about, this servant and his family would be forever slaves. This idea recalls the strong warnings in verses 8-9. The only solution to this great problem was for the servant to beg for mercy. The servant’s promise to repay everything is really empty because the debt would be impossible to repay.
Another surprise is that the king forgave the servant the huge debt. There is no hint of hesitation on the part of the king once the servant asks for forgiveness. The king was moved purely by compassion (splangchnisheis). Compassion is related to showing mercy and kindness to someone in need. The king represents God who is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, keeping covenant love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7). The act of the king forgiving the servant shows the depth of God’s gracious forgiveness of us.
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