The Sunday Sermon Archive

Dear Friend,

In the parable we are presented with today we see that the servant owed ten thousand talents. This represents an enormous sum, which is obviously more than could ever be repaid. The servant is now to be sold with his wife and children and all that he owns so that at least some of the payment should be made. The servant begs for mercy promising to do what he would never be able to do: repay all the debt. All he asks for is more time.

To those who can see from a distance this appears most ludicrous. The man has not been able to pay his debt for a long time and has only increased the debt with time. And now he promises to pay it all back if he is only given more time. Yet, we see that this is not what the master is focused upon. He sees the impossibility of this man ever repaying his debt, but he also sees the misery of the man and has compassion on him. The master forgives the entire debt so now the man can start over with a clean slate.

How often has God not done exactly the same thing for us? Our offences against God are against an infinite being and therefore are an infinite debt. We often appear before God not promising the impossible; to repay the debt if we are given time, but we are even more brazen as we ask Him to pay the debt for us and to release us from all guilt. And this He is most willing to do as the master did in the parable today.

As we continue with the parable we see that the servant meets his fellow servant who owes him a trivial amount. He demands payment of the trivial amount and the fellow servant begs for mercy promising to repay it all if he is given a little more time. This was a very reasonable request from the fellow servant, because it was a trivial amount and in time he could easily have repaid the debt, whereas the first servant's request was quite unreasonable as he could never have repaid such a large amount.

When our fellow men commit offences against us, these offences are truly of a trivial amount because they are only offences against other creatures and not against the infinite goodness of God. Our sins against God are infinite debts each and every one of them, and the sins of our fellow men against us are truly trivial in comparison.

How does the servant treat his fellow servant? He shows no patience or mercy. He is not ready to forgive as he himself has been forgiven, but on the contrary he demands an exact justice which cannot be paid. He hands his fellow servant over to the torturers until all should be repaid. I assume that the poor man will be beaten to death as no matter how much he is beaten he will not be able to come up with the sum owed. The only way that the fellow servant could gather the money to pay the debt would be to have some time to work and earn it. So once again we see the unreasonableness of the servant.

All too often we resemble this wicked servant. We unreasonably demand of others that which is impossible. We become blinded with our own pride and vanity so that we can no longer reason correctly. We wish to inflict punishment upon our fellow men for the offences which they have inflicted upon us even though this punishment offers no way of ever repairing the damage done to us. Our vengeance is blind and unreasonable and runs to extremes. Most often we do not wish to have our fellow men restore to us what has been lost, but instead we wish to see our fellow men destroyed completely for the slight offences they have committed against us.

In the parable the master hears of the doings of the servant and brings him back to punish him for his lack of mercy toward his fellow servant. This time the master does not threaten to have him and all that belongs to him sold, but delivers him over to the torturers as he has done to the fellow servant.

God does not go back on His word. When he pardons us he will not then bring that back again and then punish us for what He has already pardoned us for. But He has commanded us to love our fellow men. And He has taught us to pray that He will forgive us as we forgive them.

Vengeance belongs to God. Let us never seek vengeance from our fellow men, lest God seek it from us. Let us always be compassionate and merciful to others as we would wish them to be towards us, or perhaps more correctly, let us be compassionate and merciful to others as God has been towards us.

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