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21 Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive a brother? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven! 23 In this way, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a king who wished to settle his accounts with his servants. 24 He began the process, and a servant was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents. 25 Since he had no way to pay, the king ordered that all the man’s property be confiscated and that the man, his wife, and his children be sold into slavery to repay the debt. 26 The servant fell to his knees and begged him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full!’ 27 Moved with compassion, the king released that servant and forgave the debt. 28 However, after that servant left, he came upon a fellow servant who owed him one hundred silver coins. He seized him around the neck, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe!’ 29 The fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back!’ 30 But the first servant refused, and went and had his fellow servant thrown into a debtors’ prison until he should pay. 31 When the other servants found out about this, they were deeply disturbed and went to make known to the king what had happened. 32 The king summoned that servant and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 33 Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow servant, as I showed mercy to you?’ 34 And the furious king handed him over to the jailers, until he should pay back the whole debt. 35 This is how my heavenly Father will deal with you, if you do not forgive each of your brothers from the heart.”

Comments

When Peter asks Jesus about the how often he must be willing to forgive, Jesus responds with a story about a servant who refuses to forgive a fellow servant a small debt, despite having been forgiven an enormous debt by the king. (A talent was the largest unit of monetary worth in the ancient world, equal to the value of roughly sixty pounds of silver, which in the modern US would be worth around $30,000. So the servant owed the king the equivalent of three hundred million dollars, a vast amount.) Jesus demands his disciples forgive each other just as God has forgiven them.

It should be observed that forgiveness is a Christian imperative, but forgiveness can take time, and it is not the same as ignoring another person’s misdeeds, enabling them, or protecting them from the consequences of their actions (cf. 18.15-17).