Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I Forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 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. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
As I was going through my morning devotions, I came across the parable of the Unforgiving Servant this week. And if I’m being honest, since I’m quite familiar with the passage, I read through it quickly assuming that I already knew the thrust of the message. I thought, there is clearly a contrast between a large debt and a smaller debt owed. So therefore forgive, since you have been forgiven.
But after I read it, a question came to mind. What is the difference between a talent and a denarii?
After some light reading I discovered, in New Testament times, a talent was a unit of monetary reckoning valued at about 6,000 drachmas, the equivalent of about 20 years wage for a laborer. In modern terms, if a laborer made $15 per hour, and worked 2,000 hours a year, he would earn $30,000 per year, and a talent would equal $600,000. Hence 10,000 talents work out to 6 billion modern dollars. With this sum of money Jesus hyperbolically represents an incalculable debt in his parable.
But what about a denarii? In his parable, Jesus gives the example of 100 denarii owed. This debt is still a significant sum of money, adding up to about 20 weeks of common labor, or roughly $12,000 in todays equivalent.
And it was at this point my mind started to reel. I had always assumed the point of the parable was, “God has forgiven us much, so you can find it in your heart to forgive little”. But that’s not the point at all! $12,000 is a huge debt owed to a servant like me, and I started to think of the times when I was slow to forgive over so much less.
I was correct with my initial assessment to conclude that God has forgiven us much, (although I didn’t anticipate Jesus would use 6 billion as his example). But this parable has really challenged me on the worth of my relationship with my brother.
Jesus told his disciples this parable after Peter had asked, “how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” Jesus’ first response to Peter, “seventy-seven times”, represents the idea of continual forgiveness, but then in his parable we see that he is not referring to only forgiving trivial things.
God, thank you that you have forgiven us a debt that we can’t even fathom, a debt that we can’t even begin to pay. I pray that the depth of your grace would be pondered by the church. As we continue to understand you in a fuller way, help us to be moved toward love and compassion toward our fellow servant. May we see the enormous blessing of a brother or sister in Christ, and allow no debt to become an obstacle of true Christian community, and that we would forgive much as our Heavenly Father has forgiven us.
Amen.