Forgiven People Forgive

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 as I had on you?' -Matthew 18:32-33 (NIV)

I'll never forget the first time that it happened. I was in the Drive-Thru line at a McDonald's in Columbia. When I got to the window to pay for my food, I was told that my debt had been forgiven. Okay, so she didn't say it just like that, but she did tell me that the person in front of me had paid for my meal. I asked the drive-thru worker, "What's the catch?" and she said, "Just pay it forward."

Since that day, I occasionally pick up the tab for someone else's meal. Having been on the receiving end of having one's debt forgiven in that way, I'm more intentional about forgiving the debts of others in that way.

In the suggested scripture readings this morning, Jesus tells the story of a king who wants to settle accounts with his servants. One servant owes a lot of money to the king and begs the king to be patient with him. The king goes beyond patience and actually forgives (cancels) the entire debt.

The servant whose debt has been canceled then runs into someone that owes him money, not nearly as much as he owed the king. This person begs the servant for patience in repaying the debt just like the servant had requested from the king. The servant, however, was unwilling to show patience or grace.

The king finds out about the servant's unwillingness to cancel the debt of another person even after having had a huge debt of his own canceled. The king is so angry that he throws the once debt-forgiven servant into jail and requires that he pay back his entire debt to the king before being released. We're not told this specifically in the text but the servant's debt is so large, he most likely did not live long enough to repay it.

What I take away from this story is that forgiven people are called to forgive. When someone pays your tab at McDonald's, then out of gratitude you should want to pick up the tab of someone else. But it's more than that! When you have experienced the forgiveness of Jesus (and you have experienced it whether you realize it or not), especially when you don't deserve it (and if you're anything like me you don't deserve it), then you should be more inclined to forgive others (whether they deserve it or not).

May God grant you the grace to experience and extend forgiveness today.




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If you're interested in reading through the Bible in a year, tomorrow's suggested readings are Matthew 20-22. Sunday's readings are Matthew 23-25. I hope to be back on Monday with a devotional from Psalm 125 and/or Matthew 26-27.