Essay on The Parable of the Unforgiving Slave: The Forgiveness

Jesus was with His disciple when Peter His favorite disciple asked a question about the number of times a person needed to forgive their offenders. The gospel was written by apostle Mathews who was called Levi due to his jobs as a tax collector before joining the ministry of Jesus. In response, Jesus gave the parable of unforgiving official and the unmerciful servant found in (King James version, Mathew 18:21-35). In the parable, Jesus revealed a servant who owed his master a lot of money but pleaded with him, and he was forgiven (Mathew 18:27). On the other hand, he went to a man who owed him money but could not forgive him even after pleading for his patience (Farnes 30). He set the debtor to jail; the master was told what had happened and decided to judge the unmerciful servant who was sent to prison.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The parable shows the unmerciful servant torturing his debtor, an act which was illegal in Israel which allows us to think the event might have taken place in a gentile region (De Boer 26). The Jewish laws forbid the selling of slaves, the unforgiving official threatened to sell the unmerciful servants children and his wife to recover his money (King James version, Mathew 18:25 and Snodgrass 67). Such acts are not seeing in nowadays since governments have regulations for debt management and recovery. However, the imprisoning of debtors is also done nowadays when they fail to pay what they owe.

Jesus wanted the original audience of this parable to understand that they should forgive other people if they expect to be forgiven by God (Glancy 67). He wanted to show them that a harsh punishment awaits those who did not show mercy to those who offended them. He also wanted to show that people should not oppress their slaves. The ancient culture recognized that an individual is enslaved to those they owe. The slavery only ends once the debt has been cleared. This situation gave the ultimate authority to the master to do whatever he pleased with the slave. The parable was set to reveal the evils that were being experienced during the time of Jesus on earth. The parable showed the cultural differences between the Gentiles and the Jews and their impacts on social welfares. The large amount that the unmerciful servant owed and could not pay but had to be forgiven to be free shows how we cannot pay for our many sins and only Gods forgiveness can free us (De Boer 214). He emphasized that forgiveness was only deserved by those who forgive other without conditions.

Forgiveness is pardoning those people who do not deserve our mercy. The unmerciful servant did not deserve to forgive but was forgiving, but he failed to do the same when it was his chance to forgive. For instance, in nations like Bosnia and South Africa where a massive human right violation has been experienced, there is no way to solve the problem, but through reconciliation and forgiveness. Forgiveness removes the feeling of vigilance and is a form of justice on its own (Little 65). The parable emphasizes on forgiveness which is a prerequisite for peaceful co-existence. The parable is important in addressing the current global cultural mixtures that require tolerance for co-existence.

The parable applies to both my religious and contemporary life. The parable makes me aware that God forgives us and expects us to forgive other people. The seventy time seven Jesus was showing that we should forgive others as much as we can. Failure to forgive others will land us into punishment from God. In my contemporary life, since I encounter with people from different background with different opinions, I am expected to pardon them whenever they offend me. Forgiveness allows people to enjoy peaceful moments in life.

Globally the wealthy people take advantage of the poor people in the society to enrich themselves by enslaving them. The rich lends money to the needy and demands high interests which keep them forever in their debts. The parable recognized that the unmerciful servant had a massive debt, but instead of torturing him, the master decided to free him by forgiving the debt. The parable provides the best example of how the poor should be treated. There are civil and regional wars experienced across the world. The parable reveals that instead of paying back evil with evil, forgiveness can restore the required peace and stability. In the parable, the master could have jailed the servants family until he had paid the debt. Instead, he chose to avoid all sorts of oppression and humiliation by pardoning his full debt unconditionally.

In conclusion, the parable was meant to show that forgiveness is a virtue that all people should embraces, as shown in the parable. Oppression of the poor in society by the rich should be stopped and through forgiveness a harmonious society can be created. Tolerance towards other people in the society should be promoted.

Work cited

De Boer, Martinus C. "Ten Thousand Talents? Matthew's Interpretation and Redaction of the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matt 18: 23-35)." The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 50.2 (1988): 214-232.

Farnes, Alan Taylor. "The Parable of the Unforgiving Slave (Matthew 18: 2335): Matthews Financial Redaction." Studia Antiqua 11.1 (2016): 3.

Glancy, Jennifer A. "Slaves and slavery in the Matthean parables." Journal of Biblical Literature 119.1 (2000): 67-90.

Little, David. "A different kind of justice: Dealing with human rights violations in transitional societies." Ethics & International Affairs 13 (1999): 65-80.

Snodgrass, Klyne. Stories with intent: A comprehensive guide to the parables of Jesus. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2008.

The Holy Bible, King James version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan House, 1978. Print.