Conditional Forgiveness: Matthew 18:15-35
Focus Passage: Matthew 18:15-35 (NCV)
When teaching the disciples the importance of forgiving each other, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive, and the answer Jesus gives surprises the whole group. Jesus then follows up this response with a parable about a servant who was forgiven an impossible-to-repay debt.
However, while it isn’t stated in the terms of this servant’s forgiveness, Jesus’ parable continues by showing how this servant chooses to not extend forgiveness towards a fellow servant who owed a very payable debt. The other servants see what happened and report the details back to the master/king. The parable ends with the original servant’s debt being reinstated and him being locked up until he repay the impossible-to-repay debt – or in other words, this servant would be locked up for the rest of his life.
Jesus finishes the parable with a one-sentence explanation: “This king did what my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (v. 35)
This parable is probably one of Jesus’ most challenging parables because the implication is clear:If we don’t forgive each other after learning how God has forgiven us, God will cancel the forgiveness He extended towards us and we will be left with an impossible-to-repay debt.
Because of this, we can conclude that while God offers forgiveness freely through Jesus, the forgiveness we are given comes with a condition: we must extend this forgiveness towards each other. Nothing we can do will ever come close to repaying God for His generosity, but we can show God we are grateful for what He has given to us by extending forgiveness towards each other. This will look different for each person and each situation, but at its heart, we are called to forgive like God forgave – which means that we forgive those who may even still be actively hurting us and there is no indication that will ever change.
Jesus entered a world that was hostile to God and His message and He was killed by humanity. When we forgive like God forgave, we must acknowledge that many times we will be called to forgive people who don’t deserve to be forgiven – and we can trust that God will sort out those who truly deserve forgiveness from those whose forgiven status will be cancelled because they lived an unforgiving life.
Forgiveness means we don’t hold a grudge and we don’t seek or expect the other person to pay back the debt we feel they owe. Forgiveness does not mean we blindly stay in a place where are being abused or hurt. Reconciliation is where we bridge and heal broken relationships, and while this concept is closely related to forgiveness, nothing in Jesus’ parable or teaching says that we must always reconcile a broken relationship when we forgive the person who hurt us.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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