The Price of Forgiveness

Mt. 18:21, 22  Then Peter came to Him and said, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?  Up to seven times?"  Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven."

No, not seven times or even seventy times seven.  The point Jesus makes is that there should be no limit on our willingness and capacity to forgive.  Regardless of the offense.

The parable of the unforgiving servant that follows tells of a servant who owed his master a considerable amount of money.  Ten thousand talents (v.24) today would be worth approximately twenty billion dollars.  No servant would even come close to having that kind of money.  I read somewhere that this wasn't the debt of a servant, it was the ransom or price of a king.  Of course, he could not repay it.  But, out of compassion (v.27), the master forgave him the incredible debt that he owed.

A fellow servant owed the now-forgiven servant one hundred denarii.  About two thousand dollars.  In comparison, to twenty billion dollars, two thousand dollars is a very small, almost insignificant amount.  Yet the forgiven servant was himself unwilling to forgive even a penny of it.

Forgiveness requires a compassion.  Even though we may feel hurt or offended by someone, until, out of compassion, we recognize their need to be forgiven above our own self-interest and pride, we can not forgive.  A heart of compassion was found in our Master and must also be found in us.

Forgiveness requires a comparison.  Only when we look at the incredible sin debt from which the Master has released each one of us, can we see the comparatively small price of forgiveness that is sometimes required from us by another person.  God the Father was willing to pay the price of a King, His Son Jesus Christ, to forgive our debt.  So, if a Master forgives a servant a great debt, how much more should that same servant be willing to forgive a fellow servant of a lesser debt?

Forgiveness requires a cancellation.  There can be no score keeping of how many times we have been wronged or offended.  No matter what it might cost us, we should always be willing, seven times or seventy times seven, to pay the price of forgiveness.


Sock Monkey Snippet:  The price of our forgiveness was the price of a King.