October 6, 2023 • 23 mins
Ever wondered why Jesus asked us to forgive seventy-seven times? Brace yourself for a deep dive into the vast ocean of biblical wisdom as we untangle the complex parable of the unforgiving servant, recounted in Matthew 18. Our conversation will shed light on Peter's insightful interaction with Jesus, the king's boundless mercy, and the servant's massive, unfathomable debt. You'll also understand the profound connection between Jesus' teachings and the concept of repentance.
Moving beyond the scripture, we'll apply the lessons of this parable to our daily lives, emphasizing the power of forgiveness and mercy. Delve into the irony of the forgiven servant's merciless behavior towards his debtor, and the consequences he suffered as a result. Tune in to reflect on our human tendency to sin and the miraculous grace through which we receive forgiveness. Let's together learn to extend the grace we receive to those around us, just as Peter was taught. This episode promises to be not just an intellectual exploration, but a spiritual journey towards understanding and practicing mercy and forgiveness.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome back to the two fish podcast.
My name is Nick, I'm Aaron andthis week we're going to the
book of Matthew and talkingabout the parable of the
unforgiving servant.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
That's right, two fish community.
We are back and we encourageyou to go grab your Bible.
Open up to Matthew 18 andyou'll find where we're headed
in first 21 through 3535.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, definitely a section on forgiveness and I
think I want to say grace, maybea little mercy thrown in there.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
But I think the whole reason that Jesus starts
talking about this parable is aquestion, and we'll get into it.
Actually, let's just get rightto it.
Here we go.
Matthew, chapter 18, verse 21.
Then Peter came up to him andsaid to him Lord, how often will
my brother sin against me and Iforgive him as many as seven
times.
Jesus said to him I do not sayto you seven times, but seven,
(01:06):
but 77 times.
Let's stop right there just fora second.
Like I just think I wonder ifPeter just threw this number out
there.
Lord, I got this guy he keepssending against me.
How many times should I forgivehim?
Like Peter wants a numberbecause obviously there's
probably this situation going on.
He's not happy.
He's like how many more timesdo I need to forgive this guy?
(01:27):
Seven, probably, throughout anumber, yeah, which is?
I mean, that's a big number tome If someone's going to come
against me doing the same thingfor seven times.
I'm like dude.
I would have been like threeForgiven, but we're going
different directions.
But Jesus says no, not seventimes, but 77 times.
(01:48):
But I think Jesus throws outthis number.
He says 77 times.
And that is just to go fromseven to 77 times just seems
unrealistic.
And I think that's what Jesus'spoint is.
Is he saying no, you're goingto continue to forgive and
you're going to continue toforgive and you're going to
continue to do it?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The one thing that my footnote for that section right
there on the I think yoursreads 77 times my footnote reads
, or 70 times seven, which iseven more Right, and I'm still
stuck at maybe three timesExactly.
But once again this points toand I think we often talk about
(02:29):
this like Jesus has a higherstandard for us.
Yeah, and in regards to likeany of the sins, like lust, it's
not.
If you even look at a woman,wrong.
You have sinned and lustedtowards her.
If you think about being angryat somebody you've committed
murder or whatever you know it's.
(02:51):
Once again, he's coming to ahigher standard.
We're going to be held tosomething far greater than what
even perhaps the law ispresented and I can't help but
see that almost foreshadowing.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Jesus has not yet been crucified, he's not been
come back, he's not yetfulfilled all the things, but
he's saying look and he'llexplain this little in this pair
.
I'm not going to go, but howmuch more you're going to need
my, my forgiveness, and I'mgoing to keep pouring it out to
you.
So, moving on, verse 23.
Therefore, the kingdom ofheaven may be compared to a king
(03:27):
who wished to settle accountswith his servants.
When he began to settle, onewas brought to him who owed him
10,000 talents and since hecould not pay, his master
ordered him to be sold, with hiswife and children and all that
he had, and and payment to bemade.
So the servant fell on hisknees, imploring him have
(03:47):
patience with me, I will pay youeverything.
And out of pity for him, themaster of the servant released
him and forgave him the debt.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
My verse 24 reads 10,000 bags of gold.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So it's a lot of.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's a lot of money, right, and what was?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
your footnote.
My footnote says a talent was amonetary unit worth about 20
years' wages for a laborer.
So one talent a talent is 20years' worth of labor and this
guy owes him 10,000 talents.
How did you?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
get that far.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh, the housing crisis they yeah, we'll give you
a house for nothing, it's justthis, and I think Jesus again is
trying to make this point thisis unrealistic.
Yeah, this is probably anunrealistic amount.
Jesus is probably saying theseto his disciples and they're
like what that is.
They can't even imagine that.
10,020 years, it's anunrealistic number.
(04:46):
And, and Jesus says, the masterhad pity and he forgave the
debt and let him go.
He was going to sell his famhimself, his family, his
children, and he was going torecoup some of his loss, which
wouldn't cover the loss to sellthem as slaves.
But he was going to recoup someof what he was owed and just
move on from the situation.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, this guy.
This guy was going to giveeverything he loved.
He was going to sell it all inorder to get out of debt with
the king.
Yeah, attempt to get out ofdebt with the king, but I
imagine back then very fewpeople had that kind of money.
Yeah 10,000 times 20 years ofworking.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
working One is your uh well, it's just unrealistic,
yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I think, but again.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think that's Jesus's point.
But the king had pity and heforgave him all, released him
and forgave him of his debt.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I think uh going back to like your foreshadowing that
you talked about Nick on verse,verse 26,.
At this, the servant fell onhis knees before him.
Be patient with me, he beggedand I will pay back everything.
It just reminds me of likerepentance and what we are to do
with God, and I think Jesus ispointing to that here in this, I
(06:06):
would think I I like that, Ilike that.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But let me push back on that a little bit.
He's willing to pay for it.
He says uh, have patience withme and I will pay you everything
.
He's still going to try to payfor that and I think, yes,
repentance, but he still wantsto earn that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
You know what I mean.
The way that reads to me ishe's like please just give me
more time and I will pay you.
Don't sell my family, I will, Iwill pay you, I promise.
Just give me more time, andGod's and.
But the master doesn't say okay, I'll give you another year.
You got another year.
I will postpone this payment.
No, it's not a, I will postponeit.
(06:46):
He says I'm going to forgive itand your slate is going to be
wiped clean.
So I like what you said, therepentance thing.
He got down on his knees andsaid you know, forgive me, but
then he wanted to still earnthat.
And we have an episode from.
I mean, it's probably the veryfirst episode still on there.
We should redo it sometime,because I feel like we've talked
(07:06):
about so much.
I feel like we could add stuffto it.
But Our salvation is not inworks, Right, it's in faith
alone.
Now we need works.
Works goes with it Goes with it.
It's the outward showing of ourfaith.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
But we can't earn salvation.
And this master says no, no, no, you can't do this.
I'm just going to forgive you.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, he still wanted to earn it, which is not what
repentance is Correct and whatGod does for us.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
It's seeing the fault , it's understanding how I've
messed up and I owe you so muchmoney.
Let me give me more time torepay you and the master saying
no, no, no, no, you can't do itRight.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Which is I mean first 27,.
The servants master took pityon him, canceled the debt and
let him go.
Yep, which is what God does forus?
Yeah.
And then he tells us we don'thave to pay him.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It's already been paid.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, we can't pay.
Yeah, he paid it for us.
Yeah, because it can't.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
You're right, you were saying that you can't pay
it, it's impossible to pay forit.
So someone else is going to payit for you.
And that someone was obviouslyJesus, verse 28,.
But when the servant and OK,before we go to 28, the response
of the servant should have beenthank you so much.
And to live out in that, inthat, in that forgiveness, in
(08:30):
that freedom that he was given,to live out that.
I mean, if someone were to cometomorrow and say, hey, your
mortgage is paid off, myattitude is not going to be cool
.
Thanks, bro.
My attitude towards that personis just going to be Thank you,
thank you, thank you.
And every time I see thatperson, thank you.
(08:51):
You know what I mean?
Yeah, because they took a hugeamount of debt from me and I'm
not imagining a little amount ofdebt.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
The mortgage.
That's probably a bad example,but it's a good example.
It's a realistic example, butinstead this man's response was
totally different from that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, verse 28.
But when the servant went out,he found one of his fellow
servants who owed him a hundredsilver coins.
He grabbed him and began tochoke him.
Pay back what you owe me, hedemanded.
So he immediately left asituation where he was forgiven
(09:30):
10,000, 20 years Bags of gold,yeah, and somebody owes him a
mere hundred silver coins.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
My footnote again says a denarius, which is what
mine says.
A denarius was a day's wage fora labor.
So what'd you say?
A hundred?
So a hundred days worth of work, which is still a lot of money.
Yeah, Nowhere near 20 yearsTimes 10,000.
Right?
So just comparing the two, thisis nothing.
(09:58):
This is a couple of penniescompared to a mortgage.
And he's demanding it.
He turns around, leaves in hisfreedom and starts demanding and
choking pennies, choking.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, that's got physical.
Yeah, I'm gonna choke you out.
I need my hundred hundredsilver coins.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So this fellow servant, so his fellow servant,
which means this is probablysomeone that's around him that
knows and that probably Heardand saw of what the king did for
this guy and he fell down.
Have patience with me and Iwill pay you first 30.
He refused and he went and puthim in prison until he could pay
the debt which I'm thinking.
In prison there's probably nota lot of ways to earn money to
(10:42):
pay him back.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
No, there's not even a modern-day prison.
I can't imagine it would havebeen better back then.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, verse 31.
When his fellow servants sawwhat he had taken place, they
were greatly distressed and theywent and reported to their
master all that had taken place.
Then the master summoned himand said to him you wicked
servant.
I forgave you all that debtbecause you pleaded with me, and
should not you have had mercyfor your fellow servant as I had
(11:12):
had mercy on you?
I mean that it's a veryUnderstand, understanding
question.
That's the same one I'd have.
What did you not just rememberwhat I just did for you?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Just to keep reading here in verse 34 in anger, his
master Handed him over to thejailers to be tortured until he
should Pay back all he owed.
Once again, let's go back.
He owed 10,000.
Back to gold, which is 20, 20years of labor times 10,000.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, so this is 200,000 years of wages.
You got to have something tolive on, so you're probably
gonna have to take, and it'sgonna be more than that Because
you got a feature family.
So this is a life, life lifesentence, and now he's doing it
from jail where he probablydoesn't earn a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So the master had mercy on him and he had zero
mercy on his own servant.
He walked out of the kingdomforgiven of all that debt.
White slate's clean, completelyclean.
You can go back to life.
You didn't lose yourpossessions like you got to
(12:23):
imagine.
If guy owed this much debt, hehas a lot Right, because you're
not just gonna get yeah, that'sthat kind of money from the king
Without having what are youbuying?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
What do you need that money for?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
right, you got some status in the community right.
Yeah.
And then he walks out and a guyowes him a hundred silver coins
.
He begins to choke them out,throw them in jail as other
servants report them to themaster, and the master ticked,
ticked.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Do you blame them?
No, no, and I think I wouldhave.
Well, I probably would have thesame exact response as all
these men if I'm being honest.
But I would have the samereaction as this master here.
I would be like you don't getit, you don't get it.
Yeah.
I'd have the response of pleaseforgive me or let me give me
(13:21):
more time.
I Probably also have theresponse, if I'm being honest,
those days where I'm like youowe me some money.
You know what I mean.
I did.
I mowed your yard.
You said you pay me 25 bucks.
You never said another wordabout it and not harbor that in
my heart, thinking to myneighbor you never paid me my 25
bucks chief, I mow your yardagain.
(13:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Would you, would you throw them in jail?
To heaven.
I'd go down, choke them out andsay give me my money for my,
for mowing your yard, oh no, but.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
But honestly, there's been times where I feel that
way.
I'm like you, dirtbag, yeah,you owe me money, but I know
that I've been given money inthe past for things.
Hey, let me help you out.
That's happened for me before,so it's one of those things.
It's like why, why do we holdon to those things?
And I think part of it and thisguy should obviously.
(14:18):
This is a parable.
Jesus is telling a story.
He should have, in the back ofhis mind, said, huh, don't worry
about it.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I've always wondered about the parables.
It's the one thing about theparables I've always wondered is
Somebody in the crowd?
Hmm, was this person?
Yeah, or was going throughalmost the exact same thing,
yeah maybe, like Jesus,exaggerated it yeah right, yeah
but was, oh, was one of thepeople standing there, this guy
(14:52):
and he's Like you ever go tochurch and you're like yeah yeah
, so I was just gonna saypreacher man, why are you
preaching at me?
You're preaching right at meeverything you're saying is me.
Yeah, so I was just gonna saythat and I've always wondered
that with these parables, likeyou're probably right, who Was
he preaching to and who is hewarning?
Warning to you're gonna getthrown in jail and you're gonna
(15:14):
be tortured.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
What you want to do is not the right thing to do,
right?
You need to forgive in thiscircumstance.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think you're probably right.
There's price.
I'm in that crowd that needed tohear that and they probably
went oh you know I Was upset atmy neighbor because he said he
paid me for Moe in his yard andthen he never said another word
(15:37):
about it.
At the end of the day it'snothing off me, I'll just let it
go really it cost me five bucksMoe's yard and he was gonna pay
me 25.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I'm out.
20 bucks.
Yeah, I'm a guest.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You're probably right .
And I think then verse 35 kindof wrapping up what Jesus is
saying here he's back to Peterand the disciples.
So also my heavenly father andthis is where it gets serious my
heavenly father will do toevery one of you if you do not
forgive your brother from yourheart and I think that takes it,
that takes it another level,just like, hey, if you're angry
(16:14):
you might as well be murdering,if you're lost you might as well
commit adultery.
He's saying you can forgive,but if you don't actually mean
it, you're not really doing itright.
He's taking it to another level.
It's not just a service.
Hey, bud, forgive you See.
Ya, it's no, you need to.
It needs to come from the heart.
You need to have a forgivingheart to people.
(16:37):
And man.
Is that hard?
Because there's a lot of timesin our lives where we go through
things and we go no, I I'll sayall right, yeah, it's all good,
we're good, but I'm walkingaway, I'm bitter, I'm angry and
I'm just not going back to thatsituation and really that
(16:58):
forgiveness was just get out ofmy face, right.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
To forgive but not deal with it correct.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Right like it's not true, you're not really
forgiving.
Yeah, it's just, it's just ashow, and I've been there for
sure.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, oh we all have.
If we have a two fish, we havesomebody in the two fish
community.
That's never been there.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Email said we're looking for gas.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
To fish podcast or Gmailcom.
No, we want to hear you, Um,but yeah and and this is how my
heavenly father will treat you.
Thank you for watching.
I hope you enjoyed the video.
See you next time.
Bye, each of you, unless youforgive your brother or sister
from your own heart.
Yeah, he's going to throw us injail and torture us.
You can't throw us in jail andtorture us.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I was thinking of something else.
No, he's going to allow us tonot be with him.
We're in, you know, readrevelation but there's going to
be a whole lot of torturing inhell.
I I'm reflecting on this, erin,I were just talking today and I
was asked to give a talk ongrace.
And this is one of those thingsand I believe I believe grace.
(18:08):
I believe in grace, god's gracetowards us.
I'll tie this in here in asecond, but I believe in it.
I believe we need to give graceand forgive people.
I I know in my life I haveneeded a lot of grace from
people and I appreciate thatgrace that I've been given.
But at the end of the day, Idon't understand God's grace for
(18:29):
us.
I do not understand, and thisparable he's giving is
unrealistic.
You look at all those numbers.
It's unrealistic.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Hey, you can't even live that long.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You can't.
And he's saying I'm going toforgive you and that's that
you're forgiven.
And so to me, this, thisoriginal servant, does not
deserve that.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
He's clearly doesn't deserve it, and he made he made
some bad business plans andobviously they caught up to him,
right yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And there are consequences to our center,
consequences to the things we do.
But God says I forgive you, I'mgoing to show you grace because
you deserve what he gets at theend here is torture, and
deserve that, but I'm going towithhold that and I'm going to
let you go.
That's a good master.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
(19:23):
He doesn't deserve that andclearly he.
Clearly he doesn't, because heleaves that meeting and
immediately goes and demandssomething of someone else the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He was just forgiven, so clearly he doesn't deserve
it on a much lesser scale andthe difference then.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Now he's talking about forgiveness, god, god's,
jesus, teaching aboutforgiveness here and how we need
to forgive each other, but thedifference between this master
then and Jesus.
At the end of the day, god says, man, you screwed up, but I
forgive you again, yeah, I'mgoing to forgive you again.
And how many times we get thathuge forgiveness of those huge
(20:01):
things, that man God forgive me,I screwed up.
And a little while later we'reback to doing the same thing and
then we realize it.
And I think that's thedifference is we can, we need to
continue to have thatrepentance part that we were
talking about?
No, definitely.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Cause yeah, no, it's yeah, I mean you.
You nailed it there.
The thing that was coming on mymind was the whole don't worry
about it, don't worry about thespec in your friends.
I yeah we even got a logsticking out of yours and that,
like that, just came to mindwith this story and and that the
idea of grace and, um, I sit inthe same boat.
(20:42):
Like I don't, I don't get grace, like I get grace but I don't,
I can't.
The concept is difficult.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Concept the understanding, especially me.
Why me God, I don't deservethis.
Yeah, I may center, we all are.
I am good and then I'm bad, andthen I'm good and I'm bad.
And like we constantly sin,sometimes not even realizing it.
You know what I mean.
I mean through our day and hecontinues to give us that grace
(21:11):
and continue to say I got you.
Just doesn't make sense.
And Peter, I imagine Peter sathere and he said you gotta be
kidding me.
You gotta be kidding me 77times, or seven times 70.
No way I'm doing that.
You know, john is so annoyingover here.
There's no way I'm forgivingJohn that many times.
Or John, there's no way I'mdoing it.
(21:36):
And Jesus is like man, justwait, just wait until you
realize what I'm gonna do foryou.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And he's sitting there going.
You know how many times I'mgonna forgive you, peter.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Cause he knows what's coming from.
Peter, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
You're gonna deny me three times In one night.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
In one night Like and I'm gonna forgive you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And I'm still gonna make you the rock.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah.
I imagine that this is probablyone of those things that popped
in his mind.
Peter, after all that he's likeman.
I complained about forgivingJohn for the stupid things that
he does and I denied my saviorthree times in one night and he
forgave me and he's rebuildingsomething with me.
(22:24):
I imagine these.
I mean, I think of things thatwere said five years ago.
Conversations were popping inmy mind.
It's like I wish I wouldn'thave said that.
Like that I kind of came back abit man, yeah, yeah.
I imagine there's so many ofthese Peters like I was kind of
a Peter.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yeah, I love it.
Now, that's such a such a goodparable and such a good, good
reminder of one we need toforgive one one another and the
grace we need to have for eachother and just the amount of I
(23:02):
think the word is grace thatwe're going to receive from God
and the forgiveness of our sinsthat Jesus paid for us.
So I think this week, the thingto really reflect on is to move
forward and not try not to makeso many stupid decisions, right
?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah, and when you do understand, you've been
forgiven.
So when people do stupid thingsto you, man, just think twice
and forgive them.
Yeah, and don't get into thatover your head.
Don't owe someone 200,000 yearsworth of money.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Thank you to Fish Community for joining us.
We look forward to diving intothe Bible with you next week.
Welcome back to the two fish podcast.
My name is Nick, I'm Aaron andthis week we're going to the
book of Matthew and talkingabout the parable of the
unforgiving servant.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
That's right, two fish community.
We are back and we encourageyou to go grab your Bible.
Open up to Matthew 18 andyou'll find where we're headed
in first 21 through 3535.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, definitely a section on forgiveness and I
think I want to say grace, maybea little mercy thrown in there.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
But I think the whole reason that Jesus starts
talking about this parable is aquestion, and we'll get into it.
Actually, let's just get rightto it.
Here we go.
Matthew, chapter 18, verse 21.
Then Peter came up to him andsaid to him Lord, how often will
my brother sin against me and Iforgive him as many as seven
times.
Jesus said to him I do not sayto you seven times, but seven,
(01:06):
but 77 times.
Let's stop right there just fora second.
Like I just think I wonder ifPeter just threw this number out
there.
Lord, I got this guy he keepssending against me.
How many times should I forgivehim?
Like Peter wants a numberbecause obviously there's
probably this situation going on.
He's not happy.
He's like how many more timesdo I need to forgive this guy?
(01:27):
Seven, probably, throughout anumber, yeah, which is?
I mean, that's a big number tome If someone's going to come
against me doing the same thingfor seven times.
I'm like dude.
I would have been like threeForgiven, but we're going
different directions.
But Jesus says no, not seventimes, but 77 times.
(01:48):
But I think Jesus throws outthis number.
He says 77 times.
And that is just to go fromseven to 77 times just seems
unrealistic.
And I think that's what Jesus'spoint is.
Is he saying no, you're goingto continue to forgive and
you're going to continue toforgive and you're going to
continue to do it?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
The one thing that my footnote for that section right
there on the I think yoursreads 77 times my footnote reads
, or 70 times seven, which iseven more Right, and I'm still
stuck at maybe three timesExactly.
But once again this points toand I think we often talk about
(02:29):
this like Jesus has a higherstandard for us.
Yeah, and in regards to likeany of the sins, like lust, it's
not.
If you even look at a woman,wrong.
You have sinned and lustedtowards her.
If you think about being angryat somebody you've committed
murder or whatever you know it's.
(02:51):
Once again, he's coming to ahigher standard.
We're going to be held tosomething far greater than what
even perhaps the law ispresented and I can't help but
see that almost foreshadowing.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Jesus has not yet been crucified, he's not been
come back, he's not yetfulfilled all the things, but
he's saying look and he'llexplain this little in this pair
.
I'm not going to go, but howmuch more you're going to need
my, my forgiveness, and I'mgoing to keep pouring it out to
you.
So, moving on, verse 23.
Therefore, the kingdom ofheaven may be compared to a king
(03:27):
who wished to settle accountswith his servants.
When he began to settle, onewas brought to him who owed him
10,000 talents and since hecould not pay, his master
ordered him to be sold, with hiswife and children and all that
he had, and and payment to bemade.
So the servant fell on hisknees, imploring him have
(03:47):
patience with me, I will pay youeverything.
And out of pity for him, themaster of the servant released
him and forgave him the debt.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
My verse 24 reads 10,000 bags of gold.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
So it's a lot of.
That's a lot of money.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
It's a lot of money, right, and what was?
Speaker 1 (04:07):
your footnote.
My footnote says a talent was amonetary unit worth about 20
years' wages for a laborer.
So one talent a talent is 20years' worth of labor and this
guy owes him 10,000 talents.
How did you?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
get that far.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Oh, the housing crisis they yeah, we'll give you
a house for nothing, it's justthis, and I think Jesus again is
trying to make this point thisis unrealistic.
Yeah, this is probably anunrealistic amount.
Jesus is probably saying theseto his disciples and they're
like what that is.
They can't even imagine that.
10,020 years, it's anunrealistic number.
(04:46):
And, and Jesus says, the masterhad pity and he forgave the
debt and let him go.
He was going to sell his famhimself, his family, his
children, and he was going torecoup some of his loss, which
wouldn't cover the loss to sellthem as slaves.
But he was going to recoup someof what he was owed and just
move on from the situation.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, this guy.
This guy was going to giveeverything he loved.
He was going to sell it all inorder to get out of debt with
the king.
Yeah, attempt to get out ofdebt with the king, but I
imagine back then very fewpeople had that kind of money.
Yeah 10,000 times 20 years ofworking.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
working One is your uh well, it's just unrealistic,
yeah, and.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I think, but again.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I think that's Jesus's point.
But the king had pity and heforgave him all, released him
and forgave him of his debt.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
I think uh going back to like your foreshadowing that
you talked about Nick on verse,verse 26,.
At this, the servant fell onhis knees before him.
Be patient with me, he beggedand I will pay back everything.
It just reminds me of likerepentance and what we are to do
with God, and I think Jesus ispointing to that here in this, I
(06:06):
would think I I like that, Ilike that.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
But let me push back on that a little bit.
He's willing to pay for it.
He says uh, have patience withme and I will pay you everything
.
He's still going to try to payfor that and I think, yes,
repentance, but he still wantsto earn that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
You know what I mean.
The way that reads to me ishe's like please just give me
more time and I will pay you.
Don't sell my family, I will, Iwill pay you, I promise.
Just give me more time, andGod's and.
But the master doesn't say okay, I'll give you another year.
You got another year.
I will postpone this payment.
No, it's not a, I will postponeit.
(06:46):
He says I'm going to forgive itand your slate is going to be
wiped clean.
So I like what you said, therepentance thing.
He got down on his knees andsaid you know, forgive me, but
then he wanted to still earnthat.
And we have an episode from.
I mean, it's probably the veryfirst episode still on there.
We should redo it sometime,because I feel like we've talked
(07:06):
about so much.
I feel like we could add stuffto it.
But Our salvation is not inworks, Right, it's in faith
alone.
Now we need works.
Works goes with it Goes with it.
It's the outward showing of ourfaith.
Speaker 2 (07:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:24):
But we can't earn salvation.
And this master says no, no, no, you can't do this.
I'm just going to forgive you.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Yeah, he still wanted to earn it, which is not what
repentance is Correct and whatGod does for us.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
It's seeing the fault , it's understanding how I've
messed up and I owe you so muchmoney.
Let me give me more time torepay you and the master saying
no, no, no, no, you can't do itRight.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
Which is I mean first 27,.
The servants master took pityon him, canceled the debt and
let him go.
Yep, which is what God does forus?
Yeah.
And then he tells us we don'thave to pay him.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
It's already been paid.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah, we can't pay.
Yeah, he paid it for us.
Yeah, because it can't.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
You're right, you were saying that you can't pay
it, it's impossible to pay forit.
So someone else is going to payit for you.
And that someone was obviouslyJesus, verse 28,.
But when the servant and OK,before we go to 28, the response
of the servant should have beenthank you so much.
And to live out in that, inthat, in that forgiveness, in
(08:30):
that freedom that he was given,to live out that.
I mean, if someone were to cometomorrow and say, hey, your
mortgage is paid off, myattitude is not going to be cool
.
Thanks, bro.
My attitude towards that personis just going to be Thank you,
thank you, thank you.
And every time I see thatperson, thank you.
(08:51):
You know what I mean?
Yeah, because they took a hugeamount of debt from me and I'm
not imagining a little amount ofdebt.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
The mortgage.
That's probably a bad example,but it's a good example.
It's a realistic example, butinstead this man's response was
totally different from that.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Yeah, verse 28.
But when the servant went out,he found one of his fellow
servants who owed him a hundredsilver coins.
He grabbed him and began tochoke him.
Pay back what you owe me, hedemanded.
So he immediately left asituation where he was forgiven
(09:30):
10,000, 20 years Bags of gold,yeah, and somebody owes him a
mere hundred silver coins.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
My footnote again says a denarius, which is what
mine says.
A denarius was a day's wage fora labor.
So what'd you say?
A hundred?
So a hundred days worth of work, which is still a lot of money.
Yeah, Nowhere near 20 yearsTimes 10,000.
Right?
So just comparing the two, thisis nothing.
(09:58):
This is a couple of penniescompared to a mortgage.
And he's demanding it.
He turns around, leaves in hisfreedom and starts demanding and
choking pennies, choking.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
Yeah, that's got physical.
Yeah, I'm gonna choke you out.
I need my hundred hundredsilver coins.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
So this fellow servant, so his fellow servant,
which means this is probablysomeone that's around him that
knows and that probably Heardand saw of what the king did for
this guy and he fell down.
Have patience with me and Iwill pay you first 30.
He refused and he went and puthim in prison until he could pay
the debt which I'm thinking.
In prison there's probably nota lot of ways to earn money to
(10:42):
pay him back.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
No, there's not even a modern-day prison.
I can't imagine it would havebeen better back then.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, verse 31.
When his fellow servants sawwhat he had taken place, they
were greatly distressed and theywent and reported to their
master all that had taken place.
Then the master summoned himand said to him you wicked
servant.
I forgave you all that debtbecause you pleaded with me, and
should not you have had mercyfor your fellow servant as I had
(11:12):
had mercy on you?
I mean that it's a veryUnderstand, understanding
question.
That's the same one I'd have.
What did you not just rememberwhat I just did for you?
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Just to keep reading here in verse 34 in anger, his
master Handed him over to thejailers to be tortured until he
should Pay back all he owed.
Once again, let's go back.
He owed 10,000.
Back to gold, which is 20, 20years of labor times 10,000.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, so this is 200,000 years of wages.
You got to have something tolive on, so you're probably
gonna have to take, and it'sgonna be more than that Because
you got a feature family.
So this is a life, life lifesentence, and now he's doing it
from jail where he probablydoesn't earn a lot.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
So the master had mercy on him and he had zero
mercy on his own servant.
He walked out of the kingdomforgiven of all that debt.
White slate's clean, completelyclean.
You can go back to life.
You didn't lose yourpossessions like you got to
(12:23):
imagine.
If guy owed this much debt, hehas a lot Right, because you're
not just gonna get yeah, that'sthat kind of money from the king
Without having what are youbuying?
Speaker 1 (12:36):
What do you need that money for?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
right, you got some status in the community right.
Yeah.
And then he walks out and a guyowes him a hundred silver coins
.
He begins to choke them out,throw them in jail as other
servants report them to themaster, and the master ticked,
ticked.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Do you blame them?
No, no, and I think I wouldhave.
Well, I probably would have thesame exact response as all
these men if I'm being honest.
But I would have the samereaction as this master here.
I would be like you don't getit, you don't get it.
Yeah.
I'd have the response of pleaseforgive me or let me give me
(13:21):
more time.
I Probably also have theresponse, if I'm being honest,
those days where I'm like youowe me some money.
You know what I mean.
I did.
I mowed your yard.
You said you pay me 25 bucks.
You never said another wordabout it and not harbor that in
my heart, thinking to myneighbor you never paid me my 25
bucks chief, I mow your yardagain.
(13:43):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Would you, would you throw them in jail?
To heaven.
I'd go down, choke them out andsay give me my money for my,
for mowing your yard, oh no, but.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
But honestly, there's been times where I feel that
way.
I'm like you, dirtbag, yeah,you owe me money, but I know
that I've been given money inthe past for things.
Hey, let me help you out.
That's happened for me before,so it's one of those things.
It's like why, why do we holdon to those things?
And I think part of it and thisguy should obviously.
(14:18):
This is a parable.
Jesus is telling a story.
He should have, in the back ofhis mind, said, huh, don't worry
about it.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
I've always wondered about the parables.
It's the one thing about theparables I've always wondered is
Somebody in the crowd?
Hmm, was this person?
Yeah, or was going throughalmost the exact same thing,
yeah maybe, like Jesus,exaggerated it yeah right, yeah
but was, oh, was one of thepeople standing there, this guy
(14:52):
and he's Like you ever go tochurch and you're like yeah yeah
, so I was just gonna saypreacher man, why are you
preaching at me?
You're preaching right at meeverything you're saying is me.
Yeah, so I was just gonna saythat and I've always wondered
that with these parables, likeyou're probably right, who Was
he preaching to and who is hewarning?
Warning to you're gonna getthrown in jail and you're gonna
(15:14):
be tortured.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
What you want to do is not the right thing to do,
right?
You need to forgive in thiscircumstance.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
I think you're probably right.
There's price.
I'm in that crowd that needed tohear that and they probably
went oh you know I Was upset atmy neighbor because he said he
paid me for Moe in his yard andthen he never said another word
(15:37):
about it.
At the end of the day it'snothing off me, I'll just let it
go really it cost me five bucksMoe's yard and he was gonna pay
me 25.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I'm out.
20 bucks.
Yeah, I'm a guest.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
You're probably right .
And I think then verse 35 kindof wrapping up what Jesus is
saying here he's back to Peterand the disciples.
So also my heavenly father andthis is where it gets serious my
heavenly father will do toevery one of you if you do not
forgive your brother from yourheart and I think that takes it,
that takes it another level,just like, hey, if you're angry
(16:14):
you might as well be murdering,if you're lost you might as well
commit adultery.
He's saying you can forgive,but if you don't actually mean
it, you're not really doing itright.
He's taking it to another level.
It's not just a service.
Hey, bud, forgive you See.
Ya, it's no, you need to.
It needs to come from the heart.
You need to have a forgivingheart to people.
(16:37):
And man.
Is that hard?
Because there's a lot of timesin our lives where we go through
things and we go no, I I'll sayall right, yeah, it's all good,
we're good, but I'm walkingaway, I'm bitter, I'm angry and
I'm just not going back to thatsituation and really that
(16:58):
forgiveness was just get out ofmy face, right.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
To forgive but not deal with it correct.
Speaker 1 (17:06):
Right like it's not true, you're not really
forgiving.
Yeah, it's just, it's just ashow, and I've been there for
sure.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yeah, oh we all have.
If we have a two fish, we havesomebody in the two fish
community.
That's never been there.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Email said we're looking for gas.
Speaker 2 (17:27):
To fish podcast or Gmailcom.
No, we want to hear you, Um,but yeah and and this is how my
heavenly father will treat you.
Thank you for watching.
I hope you enjoyed the video.
See you next time.
Bye, each of you, unless youforgive your brother or sister
from your own heart.
Yeah, he's going to throw us injail and torture us.
You can't throw us in jail andtorture us.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
I was thinking of something else.
No, he's going to allow us tonot be with him.
We're in, you know, readrevelation but there's going to
be a whole lot of torturing inhell.
I I'm reflecting on this, erin,I were just talking today and I
was asked to give a talk ongrace.
And this is one of those thingsand I believe I believe grace.
(18:08):
I believe in grace, god's gracetowards us.
I'll tie this in here in asecond, but I believe in it.
I believe we need to give graceand forgive people.
I I know in my life I haveneeded a lot of grace from
people and I appreciate thatgrace that I've been given.
But at the end of the day, Idon't understand God's grace for
(18:29):
us.
I do not understand, and thisparable he's giving is
unrealistic.
You look at all those numbers.
It's unrealistic.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
Hey, you can't even live that long.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
You can't.
And he's saying I'm going toforgive you and that's that
you're forgiven.
And so to me, this, thisoriginal servant, does not
deserve that.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
He's clearly doesn't deserve it, and he made he made
some bad business plans andobviously they caught up to him,
right yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
And there are consequences to our center,
consequences to the things we do.
But God says I forgive you, I'mgoing to show you grace because
you deserve what he gets at theend here is torture, and
deserve that, but I'm going towithhold that and I'm going to
let you go.
That's a good master.
It doesn't make any sense to me.
(19:23):
He doesn't deserve that andclearly he.
Clearly he doesn't, because heleaves that meeting and
immediately goes and demandssomething of someone else the
same thing.
Speaker 2 (19:33):
He was just forgiven, so clearly he doesn't deserve
it on a much lesser scale andthe difference then.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Now he's talking about forgiveness, god, god's,
jesus, teaching aboutforgiveness here and how we need
to forgive each other, but thedifference between this master
then and Jesus.
At the end of the day, god says, man, you screwed up, but I
forgive you again, yeah, I'mgoing to forgive you again.
And how many times we get thathuge forgiveness of those huge
(20:01):
things, that man God forgive me,I screwed up.
And a little while later we'reback to doing the same thing and
then we realize it.
And I think that's thedifference is we can, we need to
continue to have thatrepentance part that we were
talking about?
No, definitely.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
Cause yeah, no, it's yeah, I mean you.
You nailed it there.
The thing that was coming on mymind was the whole don't worry
about it, don't worry about thespec in your friends.
I yeah we even got a logsticking out of yours and that,
like that, just came to mindwith this story and and that the
idea of grace and, um, I sit inthe same boat.
(20:42):
Like I don't, I don't get grace, like I get grace but I don't,
I can't.
The concept is difficult.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
Concept the understanding, especially me.
Why me God, I don't deservethis.
Yeah, I may center, we all are.
I am good and then I'm bad, andthen I'm good and I'm bad.
And like we constantly sin,sometimes not even realizing it.
You know what I mean.
I mean through our day and hecontinues to give us that grace
(21:11):
and continue to say I got you.
Just doesn't make sense.
And Peter, I imagine Peter sathere and he said you gotta be
kidding me.
You gotta be kidding me 77times, or seven times 70.
No way I'm doing that.
You know, john is so annoyingover here.
There's no way I'm forgivingJohn that many times.
Or John, there's no way I'mdoing it.
(21:36):
And Jesus is like man, justwait, just wait until you
realize what I'm gonna do foryou.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
And he's sitting there going.
You know how many times I'mgonna forgive you, peter.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Cause he knows what's coming from.
Peter, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
You're gonna deny me three times In one night.
Speaker 1 (21:55):
In one night Like and I'm gonna forgive you.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And I'm still gonna make you the rock.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah, yeah.
I imagine that this is probablyone of those things that popped
in his mind.
Peter, after all that he's likeman.
I complained about forgivingJohn for the stupid things that
he does and I denied my saviorthree times in one night and he
forgave me and he's rebuildingsomething with me.
(22:24):
I imagine these.
I mean, I think of things thatwere said five years ago.
Conversations were popping inmy mind.
It's like I wish I wouldn'thave said that.
Like that I kind of came back abit man, yeah, yeah.
I imagine there's so many ofthese Peters like I was kind of
a Peter.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Yeah, I love it.
Now, that's such a such a goodparable and such a good, good
reminder of one we need toforgive one one another and the
grace we need to have for eachother and just the amount of I
(23:02):
think the word is grace thatwe're going to receive from God
and the forgiveness of our sinsthat Jesus paid for us.
So I think this week, the thingto really reflect on is to move
forward and not try not to makeso many stupid decisions, right
?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah, and when you do understand, you've been
forgiven.
So when people do stupid thingsto you, man, just think twice
and forgive them.
Yeah, and don't get into thatover your head.
Don't owe someone 200,000 yearsworth of money.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Thank you to Fish Community for joining us.
We look forward to diving intothe Bible with you next week.
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