“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’” Matthew 18:32-33
Canceled Debt
Jesus once told a story about a servant who owed a king an enormous amount of money. The debt was so large that the servant could never repay it. When the king demanded payment, the servant fell to his knees and begged for more time.
Then the king did something surprising. He did not give the servant more time. He canceled the debt completely. The servant walked away owing nothing.
Soon afterward, that same servant found another man who owed him a much smaller amount. Instead of showing mercy, he grabbed the man and demanded his money. When the man could not pay, the servant had him thrown into prison.
When the king heard what happened, he was furious. The servant had received incredible mercy, but he refused to show mercy to someone else.
Jesus told this story to teach us about forgiveness. When someone hurts us, it can be difficult to forgive. The pain may be real. The offense may be serious. Forgiveness does not mean pretending that what happened was okay.
But Jesus wants us to remember how much God has forgiven us. Every time we disobey God, we add to a debt we could never repay. We fail to love God as we should. We fail to love other people as we should. We think, say, and do things that go against what God wants.
But God does not tell us to work harder until we have paid him back. Jesus paid our debt for us. On the cross, Jesus took the punishment our sins deserved. Because of what Jesus did, God forgives us completely. Our debt is canceled.
That changes the way we look at people who sin against us. We do not forgive because their sin was small. We forgive because God’s mercy toward us is so great. The more we remember how much we have been forgiven, the more ready we will be to forgive others.
Prayer:
Merciful Father, thank you for canceling my debt through Jesus. Help me remember your mercy and show that same mercy to others. Amen.
