By James Riley Strange, Ph.D.
Professor of New Testament, Samford University
Forgive
Matthew 18:21–28, 32–33
This week we read what Jesus has to say about forgiveness, the third in our series of Christian traits that repair broken relationships.
The setting of today’s passage is significant. This is Jesus’ last teaching before He journeys to Jerusalem (Matt. 19:1), where He will be crucified, as He has just predicted (Matt. 17:22–23). Between now and then, Judas will betray Him, His disciples will abandon Him and Peter will deny knowing Him. Yet the risen Lord will meet these abandoners and deniers back home in Galilee, as He promised (Matt. 26:32).
Christians experienced persecution in parts of the Roman Empire as early as the A.D. 60s, during the reign of Nero, but before that itinerant missionaries like Paul also suffered. I think Matthew knew that for the sake of protecting their families, Christians were tempted to abandon the faith and deny Jesus.
By recording this story — and the disciples’ failures — Matthew implied, “As God forgave you through Christ, so Christ forgives your failures. Return to God.”
God’s forgiveness of sinners and Christ’s forgiveness of the disciples become models for our forgiveness of one another.
Read 18:15–35 for context.
Forgive — and keep forgiving. (21–22)
Jesus has just taught about dealing with wrongdoing within the church. Peter follows up with a question: besides the formal process, how often must I forgive someone who has wronged me? Jesus says, “Seventy times seven,” that is, 490 times (some translations say “77”). Both Peter and Matthew’s first readers would have understood this number symbolically. As seven symbolizes completeness, “seventy times seven” means something like, “a complete completeness ten times over.”
When we forgive our fellow believers, we need to remember that a brother or sister may wrong us repeatedly. So we must forgive repeatedly. Our brother or sister may need to forgive us in the same way.
One important exception prevails: Jesus is not instructing people to stay in abusive relationships.
Remember that God forgave you. (23–27)
Jesus’ parable of the unmerciful slave shifts the topic from forgiveness of wrongs to forgiveness of debts (see 6:12). The amount the slave owes the king is astronomical: a talanton was worth more than 15 years of wages for a laborer. Again, the symbolism of the number would have been understood: we cannot repay our debts to God.
The immensity of what we owe God is surpassed only by the magnitude of His mercy.
Forgive because God forgave you. (28, 32–33)
The amount owed to the slave is high (a denarius was typical payment for a day’s work) but a fraction of what the king forgave him. Not only does he show no mercy in turn, he also makes it impossible for the man to earn the wages to pay him back. It turns out the merciless slave is not interested in what he is owed. No, he wants to harm the person in his debt. Because his behavior is antithetical to the king’s, he reveals that the king’s mercy had no lasting effect on him.
This is the key lesson of the parable. Yes, God is merciful, but Peter knew that, as did Matthew’s readers. They needed to learn that God’s mercy is meant to transform the one who receives it.
God extends forgiveness to us, but not only for our own benefit. If I turn to God merely to escape hell or only for the promise of heaven, I show where my true interests lie. God’s mercy toward me, a sinner, changes me here and now so that as best I can, I live now as I will live one day. Let us forgive one another because God has forgiven us, and because, by forgiving, we become more like God.
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