WEEKLY
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An
international Sunday school lesson commentary
For
Sunday July 1, 2018
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THE
PARABLE OF THE UNFORGIVING SERVANT
(Forgive
others as GOD forgives us)
(Matthew
18:21-35)
In
the first century it was Rabbinic teaching that a person should grant “forgiveness”
up to “three times”, for offenses that have been perpetrated upon them by
others. Here in Matthew 18:21, Peter thought himself to be very generous when
he suggests to JESUS, “seven times”, as an answer to his own question of, “LORD,
how often should I forgive someone who sins against me?
One can imagine how shocked Peter was when
JESUS, a Rabbi HIMSELF, suggests the unheard number of, “70 times 7”, as being
the proper amount of times to forgive a person for a single offense, if necessary.
He felt for sure that, in his answer to his own question, he was extending
grace plenty enough by “doubling” the suggested Rabbinic amount of “three times”,
and then “adding one more for good measure”.
However, in this passage, JESUS buttresses
HIS own answer with an astounding parable that I will now attempt to put into
perspective. Here JESUS relates the story of a servant who owes his king, by
today’s American equivalency, “12 million dollars”. The king calls his servant
in and demands immediate full payment of his debt. Naturally the servant couldn’t
pay back such a large amount of debt, and so the master suggested that he sell
off all of his assets, including his wife and children, in order to satisfy the
debt.
The servant pleaded and begged with his king
to give him more time and he will eventually get him paid in full. Incredibly, the
king felt such deep pity for his servant, that he actually forgave his debt in
full, leaving him owing nothing but “a debt of gratitude”. Now, for any person,
rich or poor, this would be considered as the ultimate blessing, and should have
inspired any normal person, Christian or not, to want to extend that same kind
of grace to someone else.
However, in perhaps one of the most astounding
turnabouts in the pages of biblical literature, the servant who had just been
forgiven millions of dollars in debt, leaves the presence of his merciful king,
and tracks down a fellow-servant who owes him the equivalence of less than 3000
dollars by today’s American standard. He, quite literally, grabs his
fellow-servant by the throat, and demands instant payment of what he owed him. The
fellow-servant fell to his knees begging for more time to pay off his debt, but
the once “forgiven servant” would not grant it. Instead, he had his
fellow-servant arrested and thrown in jail until his debt was fully paid.
Some of the several servants, who witnessed
the man’s actions, and who knew of the king’s mercy towards him, immediately
went to the king and reported to him what had happened. The king, who became
very irate after hearing the report, called the forgiven servant back into his
presence, and revoked the previous mercy that he had shown him. The king then
threw the servant into jail, pending payment of his entire debt of 12 million
of dollars to him.
JESUS states that this kind of action will
be exacted upon anyone who denies mercy and forgiveness to their fellowman. GOD
renders mercy and forgiveness to all of us, and HE expects us to emulate HIS
behavior toward our fellowman, while we are here on earth.
Just like the debt that had been amassed by
the poor unforgiving servant in this passage, the debt that we owe to GOD the
FATHER, JESUS CHRIST, and the HOLY SPIRIT, is indeed, “an unpayable one”. However,
when make the decision to follow CHRIST JESUS and get on, and stay on “the
lighted path to salvation” that HE has already blazed through this dark world
for us, we, like JESUS, and through the power, teaching, and guidance of the HOLY
SPIRIT, can overcome this world, just as HE did.
The “SPIRIT”, and the “Bride” (the true Christian
Church members), say come. However, satan, through the lure of his “sin nature”
says the same. The HOLY of GOD will always try to lead us toward CHRIST JESUS.
However, the acquired sin nature in us will always try to tug us back towards
the world. The battle that goes inside of each of us, between “the reason to do
right” (the HOLY SPIRIT), and “the passion to want to do wrong” (sin nature),
stays with us, long after we accept the “free gift” of salvation. However,
through our new found strength in CHRIST JESUS, we can eventually overcome the “gravitational
pull” of this world, and find ourselves in “the ultimate happy ending”, that
has been prepared for us by GOD, since the foundation of this world.
A Sunday school lesson
by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY
D. ALEXANDER- Official Website
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