THE PARABLE OF UNGRATEFUL SERVANT

BACKGROUND

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ELEMENTS

GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL DATA

HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL ELEMENTS

There is no precedent in the scriptures of the Bible for a debtor paying debts from prison. However,
there is a very relevant aspect of Roman law that may have been the cultural reference this parable is
built around considering the Judeans of Jesus day were ruled by Rome. In the Roman Constitution
known as the Laws of the 12 Tables (Table III, Laws IV-X), there is a detailed set of laws on debtors that
shows a great deal of similarity to the scenario in the parable. A debtor who does not pay can be taken
to court and put in chains and forced into a number of arrangements whereby they work off the debt
through servitude. Also it states that others can come and pay the debt on their behalf, thus releasing
them from prison. A debt that cannot be paid resulted in slavery to the creditor or sale on the slave
market. Context: Forgiveness
In Matthew, Jesus and his disciples discuss various issues of morality, faith, and the nature of the
forgiveness of sins. It's important to remember that these Jews are living in a time where Jewish law is
absolute and very strict. Atonement for sins is difficult, and only achievable through very specific
actions and rituals. That concept of spiritual forgiveness has impacted their culture beliefs about
forgiveness on a personal level as well.
So, in Matthew 18:21, the disciple Peter comes to Jesus and asks how many times he should forgive
someone: ''how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven
times?''
GRAMMATICAL AND LEXICAL DATA
• King: Refers to someone who is the ruler of a kingdom
• Servant: One who serves
• Talents/Denarii: refers to a kind of money or transactional importance at that time.
• Forgive: to grant relief from payment of
• Compassion: Sympathetic consciousness of others’ distress together along with a desire to
alleviate it
• Mercy: Compassionate treatment of those in distress
• Wicked: Morally very bad
• Misdeed: something that outrages the moral or physical senses.
Jesus begins by saying, in reference to forgiving, "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be
compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves." (Matthew 18:23)This king has one
servant who owes him ten-thousand talents. Since a talent was worth more than 15 years of wages for
an average worker, this many talents would be at least 150,000 years worth of money. Jesus is making
the point that this man owes a lot of money.In order to have this money returned, the king orders that
this man be sold along with his family and everything he owns. The servant pleads with the king, and
the king is merciful. He actually decides to completely forgive this massive debt.This servant then
leaves the king's presence. However, on his way out, the servant meets one of his own slaves who
owes him a hundred denarii. A hundred denarii would be about 100 days worth of debt, which is a
significantly smaller debt than
The king's servant grabs his own servant by the throat and says, "Pay what you owe." (Matthew 18:28)
This second servant pleads with the first, but the first one is unmerciful and unforgiving. He throws his
slave in jail until he can repay the debt, which means that this servant would be in jail forever since a
person cannot make money while in prison and would never be able to repay the debt.
Those witnessing this event were greatly distressed, so they went and told their king what had
happened. The king then requests to see the first servant and says, "You wicked slave! I forgave you all
that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had
mercy on you?" (Matthew 18:32-33)
Then the king, in his anger, had the first servant tortured until he could repay his debt. Like the second
servant who was sent to prison, a person cannot make money while they are being tortured which
means this first servant would be tortured forever.

Memory text
This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive
your brother or sister from your heart
(Matthew 18:35).

MAIN LESSON
The parable begins with Peter asking Jesus, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I
forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus replies by telling Peter that he must forgive not seven
times, but 77 times. The lesson of this parable is clear. As the NAB puts it, the Father’s forgiveness,
which we have already been given, will be withdrawn at the final judgment if we do not imitate this
forgiveness in our relationships with each other.

THIS PARABLE TEACHES FOUR KEY LESSON

1. There is no limit to forgiveness, and we should forgive because we have been forgiven ( 1john
1:9 ; Ephesian 1:7) human are imperfect and will inevitably sin against god law but god love is
so boundless and unconditional that he gave us his only begotten us when we ask for his
forgiveness so we should also forgive others
2 . as we want god to forgive our trespasses completely and give us a clean slate to start all over again
we should forgive others the same way we should forgive so that god will forgive our sin
(matthew6:14-15) we should have humble and repetant heart to ask for forgiveness and also to
forgive
3. Every day in our actions thought we sin our faithful god keeps a record od the number of times we
fall and ask for his forgiveness we should also never keep a record of other people’s sins against us and
forgive them as our creator did we should forgive others as it is in obedience to our lord ( Colossian
3:13 Ephesians 4:32)
4. Many times we wonder why god does not answer our sincere prayers the answer is an unforgiving
heart we should forgive so that out prayers are answered (Mark 11:24-25) god not only not to hold
expect us to forgive those who have wronged us he expects us not hold the person accountable for his
or her sins any longer How can we forgive when we are hurt badly ? Its is against human nature but
we can forgive by faith whether we like it or not we should choose the to forgive it is conscious
dicision of our will regardless of how we feel
ELLEN G WHITE WRITINGS
Peter had come to Christ with the question, "How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive
him? till seven times?" The rabbis limited the exercise of forgiveness to three offenses. Peter, carrying
out, as he supposed, the teaching of Christ, thought to extend it to seven, the number signifying
perfection. But Christ taught that we are never to become weary of forgiving. Not "Until seven times,"
He said, "but, Until seventy times seven."

MAIN CHARACTER
The parable of the unmerciful servant is about a SERVANT whose master ordered him to pay back 10
000 talents of money. The SERVANT could not pay the money and asked his MASTER for mercy. The
master told him he did not have to pay off the debt. Then ANOTHER SERVANT who owed the servant,
who was spared money, was asked by the spared servant to pay him back. He asked the spared
servant for mercy,but was refused. Later, the boss found out about what happened and took the
servant he spared and threw him in jail.

SETTINGS AND AUDIENCE

Matthew's intended audience was Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians who were familiar with
Jewish culture, religious belief and religious practice.

PROPS
Talents – is the central of the parable and represent THE MONEY OF THE PARABLE
Servants – is represent the people of israel and their spiritual responsibilities to god
king – is represent the god the father to forgive our sin and to guide us the spiritual path

PLOT TWIST
In the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, the first servant's huge debt was entirely forgiven; he was
no longer required to repay, until his unforgiving nature was discovered. In contrast, our sin debt was
paid in full by Christ; it's the only basis for God's forgiveness.”

MORAL LESSON
The point of this parable is clear and its demands are urgent: Forgiveness lies at the heart of our faith
in God and our love of one another. It’s that forgiveness, which we receive from God our King in the
person of Jesus, that our King expects from every one of his servants to offer others in our dealings
with one other.

APPLICATION
Therefore, in the Parable of the Unforgiving / Unmerciful / Unjust Servant, Jesus taught his disciples
that forgiveness should be in like proportion to the amount forgiven. The first servant had been
forgiven all; he should have forgiven all. In like manner, a child of God, by faith through Christ, has had
every sin forgiven. Therefore, when someone offends or sins against us, we should be willing to forgive
him or her with a heart of gratitude, for the grace to which we ourselves owe others.
“And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” When praying that essential prayer
element, we’re to emphasize all that we’ll receive in response to the extent of forgiveness we offer
people. Look now and linger on the closing verse of this parable.