The high price tag of forgiveness.
by R. Herbert
It might seem strange to talk of putting a price on forgiveness, yet that is exactly what Jesus did in His parable of the unmerciful servant (Matthew 18:21-35). Here Jesus painted a detailed word picture of a king’s servant who owed the ruler ten thousand talents (v. 24).
A talent was not a unit of currency but of weight. The New International Version translates this word as “ten thousand bags of gold.” But it is far more likely that silver would have been the precious metal involved in the transaction, as even ten thousand talents of silver would represent an almost unimaginably large amount. In fact, ten thousand talents of silver would have been too large for a normal servant’s personal debt. The word servant Matthew uses in this passage could refer to a king’s high-ranking employee who controlled massive amounts of money as part of his work.
By contrast, the second servant in the parable who owed the king’s servant money was doubtless a far less powerful individual. He had borrowed “a hundred silver coins” (v. 28, “one hundred denarii,” NKJV; “a hundred pence,” KJV). We read that the servant who owed a huge amount that was forgiven was himself unwilling to forgive the individual who owed him a much smaller debt.
Debts and talents
For a true sense of the relative amounts Jesus spoke of, we turn to the parable of the men working in the vineyard (20:1-16). Here Matthew tells us that an acceptable rate of pay for a laboring man was one denarius per day (v. 2, et al.). So the debt of the minor servant who owed the king’s servant one hundred denarii was equal to a hundred days’ pay — some four months of wages calculated on a regular workweek and certainly not a small amount.
But for a sense of the debt that the king’s servant was responsible for, we must realize that a talent was equal to approximately six thousand denarii in value. So that debt equaled ten thousand times approximately six thousand days’ pay for an average laborer. That is some sixty million days, or about one hundred sixty-six thousand years’ pay at three hundred workdays per year, based on talents of silver and not gold. Of course, if the talents were of gold, the amount would be far greater still!
Either way, the price of forgiveness given by the king to his servant was an astronomically high one. According to the ancient historian Josephus, by comparison, the combined annual tribute that Judea and other surrounding areas paid to Rome at about this time was only six hundred talents. Still, the amount Jesus mentioned is not an impossible one, as the servant of the king could have been a treasurer or the governor of a whole country. Also, the loan may not have been a personal one but money the servant was responsible for. Nevertheless, the amount remains far beyond any possibility of being repaid.
Digging deeper
It is easy to think that this parable was simply teaching that our neighbor’s spiritual debts to us are far less than what we owe God as a debt of forgiveness. While this is true, the parable has greater depth than that.
Clearly, the king in the parable represents God, and the king’s servant represents us as debtors to God because of our sin. The minor servant represents those who are “indebted” to us through sins against us. But we should remember that the amount owed by the minor servant (a hundred days’ pay) was not trivial. The parable admits that those who sin against us may indeed sin to a substantial degree, leaving us significantly hurt.
Christ was not downplaying the debts, or sins, of others against us, but the parable puts that hurt in perspective. It shows that the high debt we have incurred through our own cumulative sins far outweighs whatever sin may have been committed against us — no matter how bad it was. Christ’s story shows a ratio of almost one million to one, meaning that the sins of others against us are about one millionth of our own sins against God. That is why Jesus ended His parable by saying that the unmerciful servant was severely punished by the king. He also said, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (18:35).
Ultimately, however, Jesus’ parable is not about numbers or balance sheets. Its primary message is that we ought to forgive as our King has forgiven us. And we should not forget the context in which the parable was given. Matthew makes it clear that Jesus was responding to
Peter’s question of how many times we should forgive those who sin against us. “Up to seven times?” Peter asked.
“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king . . .’” (vv. 21-23, emphasis added). According to Jesus’ answer to the question, the forgiveness given to us is extravagant both in amount and in repetition. Finally, it is extravagant in terms of our attitude required in giving forgiveness. True forgiveness, Jesus tells us, is so extravagant that it cannot be repaid. It is so extensive that it does not run out in our lifetime. And it is so truly meant from the heart that no price can really be placed on it.
