Matthew 18:32-35
Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
Those who are forgiven know the freedom and glory of such a gracious act. If you have ever found yourself in the wrong traffic lane and someone actually slows down and waves you into the proper lane, you know the joy of grace If you have ever done something to hurt someone and they simply looked at you and spoke words of grace through a forgiving spirit, you know the joy of forgiveness. In the above passage, Matthew is recalling a truth taught by Jesus through a parable in regard to the joy of forgiving and the failure of one forgiven to forgive others. The parable is simple: A "lord" brings those in debt to him into his world and demands payment. When a man, who owed much, can't pay, he lays down in front of the man and tells him that he can't pay the very large debt. The "lord" is so taken aback by the "servants" pleading for mercy, the lord grants him complete and utter forgiveness of his debt. What joy the servant must have had. He must have gone his way leaping and shouting in joy. Imagine if all your debts for homes, cars, credit cards, etc. were instantly forgiven. Imagine!! Yet, the servant is not nearly as gracious to others. This "forgiven and joyous" servant goes out and a man who owed him pennies on the dollar compared to the debt he just had forgiven meets him. The forgiven servant demands payment for this small amount. However, the man cannot pay him and begs for forgiveness and more time to pay the debt. This man doesn't even say he WON'T pay it, but ask for time so that he CAN eventually pay it. Yet, this servant has no grace and, legally, has the man placed into the prison system (this is highly counter intuitive as in the prison the man will never make any money to pay the debt). When the gracious lord, who originally forgave the servant hears of this act he brings the servant back in and states the above words we have recorded in Matthew's account of this teaching of Jesus. Do we get the point? How can we, who have been forgiven of all our debt of sin, hold a grudge and not forgive someone who has only sinned against us in a minor manner. We repeatedly have sinned against God. Most men or women, when they "sin" against us and hurt us, do so infrequently, or, perhaps, even one time. Although we have been forgiven by God's grace we don't use that grace poured out into our hearts to flow freely from our hearts. What Jesus is saying is that "if" we truly have been forgiven and are in receipt of His grace and IT IS REAL in our lives, we would, in turn, easily forgive others, despite their debt to us. Jesus is not talking about money here. He is talking about injury and pain caused in relationships. We have injured and caused pain to our Father (Paul tells us that our sin can "grieve" the Holy Spirit). When we repeatedly come and ask forgiveness God graciously, based upon His grace, and then can't or won't forgive others, we don't have grace in our lives. Jesus is not telling us we "earn" our grace by being gracious to others. Jesus is telling us that the proof of grace in our lives is demonstrated by the fruit of grace in our lives. The truth is those who are "of" grace will be a people who "show" grace.
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