A LESSON IN FORGIVENESS
About this same time, Peter asked the question:
"Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?"[[3]]
Perhaps Peter had already been required to settle some difficulty between angry men, or it may be that he had been provoked during a dispute that arose among the disciples as to who was the greatest among them. If some one had taunted him several times about his being the greatest, it is quite probable that his patience was exhausted. At any rate, he wanted to know if there is a limit to the number of times a man should forgive his brother. What a lesson Jesus taught this impetuous apostle when he answered,
"I say not unto thee, until seven times; but until seventy times seven."[[4]]
Then, to make the teaching more impressive, the Lord told them the parable of the unmerciful debtor.
A certain king took account of his servants for those who had collected his revenue, and found that one owed him ten thousand talents or about fifteen million dollars. This debt the servant could not pay, so the king commanded him to be sold, and his wife and children, and all that he had.[[5]]
The servant begged for mercy saying, "Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all."
"Then the Lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt." The master not only had pity for the unfortunate debtor, but freed him from prison, let him keep his wife and children, and cancelled the debt.
The Ungrateful Servant.
But that same servant went out and found one of his fellow-servants who owed him a hundred pence, more than ten hundred thousand times less than the first servant had owed his master.
Seizing the fellow-servant by the throat and choking him, he demanded, "Pay me that thou owest."
The fellow-servant fell down at his feet and begged for mercy, "Have patience with me and I will pay thee all."
But the unforgiving, merciless servant refusing to give pity, "went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt."
So when the Lord heard how the servant whom he had forgiven had treated his fellow-servant, he called that servant back, and said:
"O thou wicked servant! I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me; should not thou also have had compassion on thy fellow-servant, even as I had pity on thee?"
This unforgiving servant was then told to pay the ten thousand talents, and was delivered over to the "tormentors" until it was all paid.
Then concluded the Savior: "So likewise shall my Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses."
Do you think Peter would ever forget that lesson?