Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

This depiction of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant on a stained glass window in Scots' Church, Melbourne shows the initial forgiving of the debt, and the final punishment of the unforgiving servant.

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant, Ungrateful Servant, Unmerciful Servant, or Wicked Servant (not to be confused with the parable of the Two Debtors) is a parable about forgiveness told by Jesus in the New Testament, and found in Matthew Matthew 18:21–35.

Narrative

The parable is told as an answer to a question by Peter about forgiveness:

Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven."

"Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt."

"But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, 'Pay what you owe.' So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you.' He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt."

"When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

— Matthew 18:21-35, English Standard Version

This depiction by Domenico Fetti (c. 1620) shows the unforgiving servant choking the other debtor.

The lines before the parable itself are similar to Luke Luke 17:3–4

The talent in this parable was worth about 6,000 denarii, so that one debt is 600,000 times as large as the other. More significantly, 10,000 (a myriad) was the highest Greek numeral, and a talent the largest unit of currency, so that 10,000 talents was the largest easily described debt (for comparison, the combined annual tribute of Judea, Samaria, and Idumea around this time was only 600 talents, and one denarius was a day's wages, so that 10,000 talents would be about 200,000 years' wages). The setting is the court of some king in another country, where the "servants" could rank as highly as provincial governors.

Interpretation

This parable makes a number of points:

• God's forgiveness of sin is of enormous magnitude, like the 10,000 talents.
• This enormous degree of forgiveness should be the model for the way that Christians forgive others.
• An unforgiving nature is offensive to God.
• Forgiveness must be genuine.

Depictions

There have been numerous depictions of this parable in art, including:

• Domenico Fetti, Parable of the Wicked Servant (c. 1620), Gemäldegalerie, Berlin
• Willem Drost, The Unmerciful Servant (1655), Wallace Collection, London
• John Everett Millais, The Unmerciful Servant (1864), Tate Collection

External links

• Biblical Art on the WWW: The Unmerciful Servant
• Parable Explained - BibleTools.org
• Parable of the Tortured Debtor - The Brick Testament