Bible stories: Forgiveness
Once there was a king who had lent a large sum of money to one of his servants. In today’s money lets say it was £50,000. The servant was not able to pay it back. So the king said, “You must be sold to another master along with your wife and children. Your house and all your goods must also be sold to pay for the debt.”
The servant fell at the kings feet and begged him not to sell him or his family. “Please,” he said, “They have done nothing wrong. Just give me time and I will pay back every penny that I owe you.” The king took pity on his servant and said, “Don’t worry I forgive you. We will say no more about it.” The servant was very relieved, but soon got over his fright and went back to his old ways.
There was another servant who owed the first servant a small amount of money lets say £50. The first servant went to the second one and demanded his money back saying, “Give me back the money you owe me now or I will have you thrown in prison.” “Please give me some time and I will pay you back but don’t send me to prison.”
But the servant was hard-hearted and would not give him any time. He had him put in prison. The news of this reached the king. He was very angry. He called the first servant to him. “What is this I hear? What about the mercy I showed you when you could not pay me back? You should have been just as forgiving to the man who owed you money. Now I will punish you as you should have been the first time.”
So the king sold the servant and his wife and children, he sold his house and all this belongings, because the servant had not shown any forgiveness in the way it had been shown to him.
This story shows how Jesus was saying that if we are unkind to other people, we will be judged for it one day. We will be treated as we have treated others. The message of all Jesus’ parables is that God wants us to love others as He loves us.