Bible Verse: Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. “At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” Matthew 18:21–35 (NIV)
Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:12; 1 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 1:9
To receive the grace and forgiveness of God but not extend it to others is like trying to dam up a river meant to flow freely.
Today’s Scripture reading is a parable Jesus taught that warns us about doing this very thing (Matthew 18:21-35).
A servant was forgiven of a massive debt by a king. This man should have been in prison, but instead, his debt was marked free and clear by the king’s generosity. Like this servant, we (Christians) have been given our freedom from sin by our generous King, Jesus.
The next thing the servant did was find someone who owed him a much smaller amount and try to extract full payment immediately. He thought, “No mercy for you, only for me!” Well, the king heard about it and corrected the matter. Jesus told this parable to teach us that forgiveness must flow through us and not be dammed up.
Our Saviour forgave us, and He wants us to pass it on.
Notice one aspect of the king’s punishment included being handed “over to the jailors to be tortured.” This is a metaphor for what unforgiveness does to us all—it torments and tortures us. We may think we’re exacting punishment on others, but we are the ones who suffer the most.
Someone once said unforgiveness is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. You may think your grudge is hurting that person who wronged you, but you are the one who has lost freedom in your soul. You are handing yourself over to be tormented. They will live on in your mind as you repeatedly rehash what they did to you.
Jesus has a better way to live. He tells us to “forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:35).
We can’t control how people treat us, but we can control how we respond to them. Forgiveness is not a validation of wrong behaviour but a godly decision to stay free from torment. By God’s grace, you are permanently unlinking from the injury they caused you because you have cancelled the debt and let it go.
Prayer: Father, help me to be merciful in my life and allow forgiveness to flow through me to those who have wronged me. I don’t want to be only a receiver of forgiveness and not a giver of forgiveness. Thank You for freedom from torment in my soul as I forgive others in my life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Reflection: Sometimes, we go back to old habits of how we handled offences before we met Christ. We hold onto things that people do and remember them for too long. We hold them in a mental jail with a sentence hanging over their head. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if there are people in jail in your head who need to be forgiven and freed. You will be the one who is ultimately set free.
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