The Unforgiving Servant
Read the parable
- Matthew 18:21-35 Primary account
Context
Jesus told this parable in answer to Peter's question, "Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?" Rabbinic teaching commonly suggested forgiving three times; Peter thought seven generous. The sums are deliberately absurd: ten thousand talents was a sum beyond any private fortune — vastly more than the annual tax revenue of the whole region — while a hundred pence (denarii) was about three months' wages for a laborer, real money but microscopic by comparison.
Meaning
Jesus answers Peter with "seventy times seven" — forgiveness beyond counting — and grounds it in the gospel itself. The servant forgiven an unpayable debt who then throttles a fellow servant over a small one has not understood what mercy he received. Those truly forgiven by God will forgive others; a settled refusal to forgive reveals a heart that has never grasped or received God's forgiveness, and the parable ends with a sober warning of judgment for such a heart. Forgiven people forgive — from the heart.
Go deeper
Two free lessons walk through the parables as a whole: The Parables of Jesus and Interpreting the Parables.