I teach a class called the Dynamics of Christian Living. One day a student asked, “Would it be possible to flunk this class and still go to heaven?” Another student reversed the question and asked, “Would it be possible to get an A in this class and go the other place?”

I had opportunity to ponder those questions one day when word came about a student who had taken my class and had gotten an A. Later this student went to live with some of my parishioners, but he didn’t seem to think it was necessary to pay his rent. Then, when my church members decided that it was time for the student to move to other accommodations, the student took several expensive items from the house and moved to another state.

When I heard the story, I was so upset about it that I asked the people what they were doing to bring the student to justice. They said, “Nothing. What can you do when someone has moved out of state?” And I thought, Maybe I could write to this student and tell him that unless he makes. this right, I am changing his grade from an A to an F. Maybe that would help!

There’s a story Jesus told about the kingdom that is similar to this episode. It is found in Matthew 18:23-35.

“Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

“But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

“So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, 0 thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormenters, till he should pay all that was due unto him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”

Is the King Trustworthy?

Would you be willing to trust this king? Do you think he is a good king? You may say, It depends on who you are in the story. All right, who are you in the story?

If you are the one who went to the king and told on the unforgiving servant, then you’re a man of action like the king. He took care of the problem right away.

If you are the man who owed the hundred pence, you like the king. You’re glad to see your tormenter behind bars. You think the king is fair and just.

But if you are the one who owed the ten thousand talents and had thought you had escaped prison, you probably are not too happy with the king, isn’t that right?

And then Jesus says, “This is the way My Father is going to treat you.” Sounds like a pretty severe God, complete with hell and brimstone, doesn’t it? Would you like to be delivered to the tormenters by such a king?

This is a hard parable. The meaning is not on the surface. But as we attempt to grapple with it, let’s back up two verses to what came just before. Peter and Jesus were talking. “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? till seven times?”

Do you like Peter? He was always out in front, opening his mouth before he knew what he was going to say! He thought he had come up with a good idea here. The Pharisees limited forgiveness to three times-sort of a forgiveness ball game, three strikes and you’re out. Peter had doubled their number, and then added one for good measure, making seven, the perfect number.

And he was all ready for Jesus to respond, “Why bless you, Peter, what a beautiful thought!”

Instead, Jesus suggested he multiply seven by 70! Obviously He was recommending unlimited forgiveness. Then He tells the story of a man who owes the equivalent of \(20 million. He's forgiven, but refuses to forgive another man who owes him about \)30. So the king throws him into prison, and Jesus says, “This is the way My Father is.”

Seems incongruous, doesn’t it? But let’s examine it more closely and try to find the truth Jesus was presenting. The drama of this story really comes in three parts. Let’s look at each part separately.

Part I-The $20 Million Debt

This man owes $20 million, and it says he has not wherewith to pay. Well of course! How many of us, if we owed that kind of money, could pay? But the man doesn’t realize his desperate condition. It says he falls down before the king crying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.”

Now either he is a fool, or he is trying to con the king. He pretends to worship the king, but in reality, he’s worshiping himself. He thinks that somehow he’s big enough to pay his debt. And in this parable, which is really a parable about salvation, the man realizes neither the enormity of his debt nor his helplessness to pay it.

Are you in debt? Oh, we’re not talking about the house payment and the car payment and the gas and electricity and tuition for the kids in school. The apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 1, “I am debtor.” He was talking about the debt we owe to Jesus, the debt we can never repay.

When we come before the King, how foolish we would be to say, “Have patience with me, and I will pay.” We can’t pay. We’re in debt to Jesus, and we don’t have even one dime to put toward our account.

But the man in the parable is offered forgiveness for his debt. It says that the king forgave him. But there’s something important that we need to begin noticing here. Forgiveness is a two-way street. If you are forgiven, you have to accept the forgiveness that has been offered. The offer of forgiveness is not enough.

There have been times in the history of our legal system when someone was awarded a pardon but refused to accept it. The first time it happened, it took some discussion and consideration before we knew how to handle it. What if someone doesn’t accept the pardon? And the conclusion was reached that if a pardon is refused, then the person isn’t pardoned after all. It’s as simple as that!

How do we know the man did not accept the pardon? Because of his reaction! How would you react, if someone were to come to you today and say, “All of your debts are canceled as of right now. You don’t owe anything anymore.” Would you walk away without even saying thank you? The evidence in the story is that the man didn’t even do that. He just walked away.

Part II–The $30 Debt

The first thing the \(20 million debtor did, instead of falling at the feet of the king in gratitude and love, was to go out and nail one of his fellowservants, who owed him a paltry \)30. He threatened him, and even when his fellowservant offered the same plea he had just made before the king, his heart was not softened. He had him cast into prison.

Why did he do this? Maybe he was simply greedy, and although he was glad to have the weight of the $20 million off his back, he thought this would be a good chance to get some pocket money to celebrate with! But there’s another possibility. If he has in reality not accepted the king’s offer of pardon, then perhaps he was intending to recoup his resources and pay the king what he owed. Maybe he didn’t like charity. Maybe he was determined not to be indebted to the king. Maybe he didn’t want to live with the sense of obligation that the forgiveness might give him.

This man had a long, hard winter ahead if he was going to return the \(20 million, \)30 at a time! The ratio of the debts was a million and a half to one. So he had a lot of hard labor ahead of him. But whatever his motive, one fact is clear. He did not treat his fellowservant as he had been treated by the king.

Part III–He’s in the Jail House Now!

There seems to be a code in most schools, and perhaps in most of the world as well, that it is not too cool to snitch on someone else. Young people have a particularly strong code of ethics that you don’t tell, you don’t squeal, you don’t fink, or whatever the current term for it is. They have all kinds of labels for it. But none of them are complimentary! It is considered an almost unforgivable sin to tattle.

But either the code of ethics in the court of this king was different, or perhaps there are some things that are so blatant, so bad, that you can’t help but go and tell. So some of the servants told the king what has happened, and the king was wroth.

The king called the first man back into his presence. He sentenced him to prison and delivered him to the tormenters until he should pay his debt.

There are those today who don’t want a God who gets angry. But this king was wroth. They don’t want a God who is active in judgment. But this king sent his servant to prison, to the tormenters. He didn’t just allow him to experience the results of his wrongdoing. He moved in and brought the results to bear.

And it says he was to stay in the prison until he had paid all his debt. That was going to take awhile, wasn’t it? What a strange story!

Contrast Between the Two Kingdoms

One thing we can learn from this story is that there are two kingdoms, the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of this world. And their method of operation is strikingly different. In the kingdom of this world, you get what you earn, and you earn what you get. You work your way. We don’t know a whole lot about forgiveness and gifts and mercy in this kingdom in which we live.

People have struggled with this difference. And when they understand that the kingdom of heaven is on the gift system and that merit and earning and wages and credit are not a part of that kingdom, they find it hard to grasp.

But in the kingdom of heaven, we are freely forgiven, and, in turn we are to freely forgive. There is no forgiveness available for the one who is unforgiving toward others. But that brings us to a problem. Is it our willingness to forgive that causes God to forgive us? The Lord’s prayer says, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” It doesn’t say, Forgive us because we forgive.” Can there be a difference?

Does that help your understanding of this story? Or do you have trouble understanding the difference between because and as?

Let’s look at two possible solutions. You may decide for yourself which category you think this man belongs in, but there seems to be two possibilities to account for someone who has been forgiven to now be unforgiving.

The first, as we have already mentioned, is to never accept forgiveness in the first place. Forgiveness always requires two parties. If there has been a break in our relationship, either between us and someone else, or between us and God, both must become willing for reconciliation to take place. Otherwise there will be no reconciliation.

Have you ever, in your human relationships, found yourself estranged from someone you loved? Have you offered forgiveness and had it refused? When that happens, even if you were in the right, the relationship dies unless the offer of forgiveness is accepted.

When Jesus died on the cross, He made it possible for forgiveness to be offered to everybody–regardless of who you are or what you have done or where you come from. Because of Jesus, you can be forgiven. It doesn’t matter whether you owe \(20 million or only \)30. Forgiveness is offered freely to every person.

But as beautiful as that is, it isn’t worth a dime for me unless I am willing to accept it. So if I have not accepted the forgiveness the King has extended, then the time of judgment and the going to prison is inevitable.

I don’t believe this man ever accepted the forgiveness of the king. There was no evidence of appreciation, there is evidence he was still intent on repayment, and there is evidence he didn’t know what forgiveness was all about by the way he treated his fellowservant.

Is it possible to accept of God’s forgiveness and then turn around and be unforgiving to another? Of course it is. And if that is possible, then what is the solution? Are we supposed to try hard to forgive others, so that God can forgive us?

Examining this parable from another aspect, it indicates that it is possible for one to be truly forgiven, and yet end up not forgiving his brother. And here’s how that can happen. A person may have once received forgiveness, but subsequently his unmerciful spirit shows that he now rejects God’s pardoning love. He has now separated himself from God and is in the same condition as before he was forgiven. If all that was needed was to once accept God’s forgiveness and then automatically, forever after, you would be a forgiving person, there would be no need for the warning inherent in this story, as well as in the Lord’s prayer.

We might call this the “so long as” principle. So long as we are connected to God and depending on Him, sin has no power over us. It makes no difference what sin you are talking about. As soon as we separate from God and His control, we are in the same condition as before. The religion of Christ is based on relationship, never behavior. When we come to Christ in the first place, He forgives our sins. And all of our bad behavior is forgotten. But if we choose to separate from Christ, all of our good behavior is of no value! Ezekiel 3:20 talks about that.

The simple truth is that if we are connected to Christ and under His control, we will be forgiving towards others. And if we break from that dependence, we will not be forgiving. The unforgiving spirit is not the cause; it is the result of having separated from God.

This is inherent in the passage. Notice, it is not enough to act as if you are forgiving. What does it say? It says, This is what my Father will do to you, “if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother.” Matthew 18:35. Emphasis supplied.

The only way we can forgive from the heart is if we have had our hearts broken and subdued by the Spirit of God. It’s not something we can work on ourselves. It’s not something we offer to God–rather it is something He offers to us. And it is ours so long as we accept it.

But the King Was Wroth

Are you still nervous about the angry King? Just remember–it doesn’t say at whom he was wroth. It just says he was wroth–presumably at His unforgiving servant. But there is another way to look at the King’s wrath. God has always been wroth at sin. He hates it, doesn’t He? He is always wroth at the deception in His universe that would lead His own creation to separate from Him and die. Don’t you want God to be angry at that?

But you can still see a God who chokes with tears as He considers one who has walked away from Him. He is eternally committed to allowing us to choose freely. But the pain that comes to His great heart of love, when we choose against Him, we will never be able to understand. God’s heart is broken anew each time He offers reconciliation and pardon, and one of His children refuses to accept His forgiveness.

We cannot pay the debt we owe to Him. We cannot pay one penny of it. All we can do is to go to His feet and say, “Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe.” And the debt of love that we owe is as big as all eternity.