Lesson 5: Forgiveness: Our Sin Debt has been Paid by Jesus
Questions 3 and 4
Because Jesus knows us and our weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15), He uses a parable to give us the eternal outlook we need to do this repeated forgiving. Let’s read the story:
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.”Matthew 18:23-27
A parable is a story that teaches a moral or, in our case, the principle of biblical forgiveness. In this parable, we see that a King had a servant who owed a great debt. The Greek word that Jesus used to describe the great debt this servant owed is mýrioi, which means an indefinitely large number, an amount too large to count.
This servant owed a massive debt, but he did not have the means to repay. Accordingly, as was the custom at the time, the king commanded that the indebted servant be sold, along with his wife and children, into slavery and that all his possessions be sold to recoup some of the loss.
But then something happens that changes everything. The servant falls on his knees and begs for mercy! Amazingly, the king has pity, releases the servant, and forgives the debt. Notice the king does not agree to the servant’s foolish request to have patience and give his servant more time to repay the debt. The king knows it is not possible for the servant to repay such a massive debt, so in an act of nobility and grace, the king forgives the unpayable debt. The servant walks out of the palace, debt-free, by a miracle of mercy.
Question 3. Each person in this parable is not a real person but a symbolic person. Who does the king in the story represent?
Question 4. Who does the servant with the great debt represent?