God is merciful. Mercy naturally expresses God's nature. It is not merely an action that God chooses to take. Mercy expresses who and what God is. It is a window into God's being. The just God is also the merciful God. Justice does not exclude mercy. The all powerful God is the merciful God. Power does not override or overshadow mercy. The perfect God in whom evil is totally absent is merciful to imperfect people in whom evil is always present. Perfect purity and righteousness do not exclude mercy.
God who is totally free of evil finds it natural to be merciful. Expressing mercy is not a struggle for God. Humanity who is never free of evil struggles to be merciful. We who cannot eliminate evil within us regard mercy as "unnatural."
The Christian's debt to God's mercy exceeds calculation. God ransomed us from evil because He is merciful. God atoned for our sins with the blood of Jesus because He is merciful. God forgives us because He is merciful. God gives us new life in Christ because He is merciful. Hope, peace, strength, contentment, and resurrection are available to us in Christ because God is merciful. Without mercy, none of these are available to any of us.
He or she who serves the merciful God becomes God's agent of mercy. The Christian who refuses to be merciful cannot serve or represent the God of mercy.
Developing a desire to be merciful and the ability to express mercy is an enormous challenge. Every Christian wants to receive God's mercy. Yet, we commonly struggle to be merciful. We wish to extend mercy (1) to those who do not need it or (2) to those we think deserve it. Mercy is extended to those in great need. Those in the great need of mercy do not deserve mercy. Mercy is something we wish to receive from God in greater quantity than we wish to extend to people. You can forgive people who hurt you unjustly. Only the person who hurts you needs your forgiveness. Our readiness to forgive depends on our awareness of our forgiveness.
Matthew 18:21-35
Should I forgive a brother who sins against me seven times? From the human perspective, Peter's answer was quite generous. Few are so forgiving that they extend sincere forgiveness even three or four times.
Jesus stated that forgiveness should not be limited to seven times. He declared that forgiveness should be extended seventy times seven. Jesus was not indicating that a generous limit be placed on forgiveness. We cannot imagine extending sincere forgiveness four hundred and ninety times to the same person who treated us unjustly. Jesus' response indicates that forgiveness should occur without limits or restraints.
This king settled his financial accounts with his slaves. This was not an unusual occurrence. There are other parables in which servants or slaves gave an accounting (the parable of the talents in Matthew 25:14-30; the parable of the minas or pounds in Luke 19:11-27; the parable of the irresponsible steward in Luke 16:1-9). Such an accounting is used to describe the final judgment when everyone gives an accounting before God. The accounting that served as the basis of the parable was a common happening in their world.
This slave owed the king ten thousand talents. In this reference each talent was a large sum of money in silver. In Jesus' day the purchasing power of that sum would exceed the amount of ten million dollars today. A slave could not expect to accumulate that amount of money in an entire lifetime. The king realized there was no possibility that the slave could repay the debt. He decided to minimize his loss as best he could. He would recover something (though it would not begin to equal the indebtedness).
The king decided to reduce his loss by selling the slave and his family. The slave likely begged and pleaded with the king not to pursue this course of action because it meant that his family would be destroyed. Likely the king could make more money if he sold the family members individually. It was easier to sell an individual slave than a whole family of slaves. The offending slave would be sold to a new master who likely would know why he was sold. It was unlikely that the new master would trust the newly acquired slave. Also this slave likely would lose his wife and children. He was in a desperate situation.
He fell before the king in a prostrated position. He lay down in front of the king in an humble position to show respect and ask for mercy. He begged the king to be patient with him. He promised the impossible--he promised to repay the full amount of the debt.
The king felt compassion for the slave. Incredible! Their lives had nothing in common! Selling this slave who owed him an impossible debt would not even be an inconvenience to the king. Yet, the king considered what the man would lose, and he felt for him. He saw the slave as a person, not as a mere possession.
The king released him. He could have placed him in jail for mismanaging his funds.
The king forgave the debt. That means that the slave owed him nothing. It was as though the slave never had the debt.
The released slave seized the slave who owed him money and began to choke him. He had no feeling for the man. His behavior was aggressive and threatening. Instead of talking to the man, he acted in a manner to create fear.
"Pay me what you owe me." His manner of approach and his aggressive behavior certainly suggest, "Pay me what you owe me right now!" All that mattered was the money.
The slave who owed him money fell before him (did not run to escape the anger and potential harm) and pleaded with him to be patient. He promised that he would repay the debt.
The actions and behavior of each slave were virtually identical when each was asked to repay his debt. Both humbled themselves and showed respect, both made a similar plea, both asked for patience, and both gave the same promise.
The released slave had the slave who owed him money "thrown" in prison.
He was to be held in prison until the entire debt was repaid. He would not be available to his family. That would handicap a "family effort" in seeking to earn the money to repay the debt. He was not free to work, therefore he would be unable to do anything to make the money that could repay the debt.
They were deeply grieved by the actions of the released slave.
They informed the king about the behavior of the released slave.
He summoned the released slave to reappear before him. The king declared him to be a wicked slave.
The king reminded that slave that he had erased the slave's entire debt just because the slave begged him for patience.
The king said that the slave should have shown the same mercy to his fellow slave that he received. The fact that the king had been a man of mercy to him should have made the slave a man of mercy to his fellow slave.
This time the king "was moved with anger." His anger determined his course of action.
The king treated this slave in the same way that this slave treated his fellow slave. There was one exception. The king increased the misery of the consequences. He placed the slave in prison to be tortured.
This slave was to stay in prison and be tortured until he repaid the entire ten thousand talents.
There was no possibility that his family could acquire that amount of money to repay the debt. Even were he free, there was no way that he could earn that amount of money to repay his debt. That meant that he would spend the rest of his life in prison being tortured.
Jesus said if we do not forgive from the heart that the heavenly Father will react to us in the same manner that the king reacted to the unmerciful slave. Jesus did not say that it was sufficient to go through the motions. He did not say it was enough to control our behavior. He said that we must forgive from the heart. We must imitate God. Our forgiveness must be genuine and sincere.
The principle: forgive in the awareness of how much forgiveness you receive. This is sobering because of the consequences attached to refusing to forgive. All our relationships would be completely transformed if we forgave from the heart in the full awareness of the forgiveness we received and continue to receive.
Link to Student Guide Quarter 2, Lesson 7