Pastors Jim and Marie Watt
(From: MATTHEW #29 - 18:21-35)
B. 18:21-35 ON FORGIVING: PETER AND THE PARABLE
a. 18:21 PETER WONDERS HOW OFTEN TO FORGIVE
TOte pro-selTHON ho PEtros EIpen auTO,
Then came :Peter and said to him,
KUri-e, poSAkis ha-marTEsei eis eME ho a-delPHOS mou, kai aPHEso[863]auTO? HEos hepTAkis?
Lord, how oft shall my :brother sin against me, and I forgive him? until seven times?
b. 18:22 :Jesus says to him, I say not unto you, Until seven times; but, Until seventy times andseven.
LEgei auTOho IeSOUS, Ou LEgosoi, HEos hepTAkis; alLA, HEos heb-do-me-konTAkis hepTA.
c. 18:23 JESUS ILLUSTRATES THIS BY A PARABLE
diA TOUto ho-moiOthe[3666]he ba-siLEIa [932]ton ou-raNON anTHROpo,
Therefore is the kingdom of the heavens likened unto a man,
ba-siLEI, hos eTHEle-sen suNArai LOgon [3056]meTA ton DOUlon [1401]auTOU.
a king, who would make a reckoning with his :bondmen.
d. 18:24 And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought to him, debtor for ten thousand talents.
ar-xaMEnou de auTOU suNAIrein [4868], proSECHtheheis auTO, o-pheiLEtes muRIon taLANton [5007].
e. 18:25 THE LORD IN SEVERE JUSTICE DEMANDS FULL PAYMENT
meEchon-tos de auTOU a-poDOUnai [591],
But inasmuch as he had not with whichto pay,
eKEleu-sen auTON ho KUri-os praTHEnai [4097], kai ten guNAIka, kai ta TEKna,
the lord commanded him to be sold, and his :wife, and :children,
kai PANta HOsa Echei, kai a-po-doTHEnai [591].
and all that he had, and payment to be made.
f. 18:26 THE PLEA OF THE BONDMAN
peSON oun ho DOUlos pro-seKUnei [4352] auTO, LEgon,
The bondman therefore fell down andworshiped him, saying,
Ma-kroTHUme-son [3114] ep' eMOI, kai PANta a-poDOso soi.
Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.
g. 18:27 COMPASSION LEADS THE LORD TO FORGIVE HIM ALL
splagch-nisTHEIS [4697] de, ho KUri-os tou DOUlou eKEInou,
And the lord of that :bondman, moved with compassion,
aPElu-sen [630] auTON, kai to DAni-on [1156] aPHEken [863] auTO.
released him, and forgave him the loan.
h. 18:28 THEN THE FORGIVEN BONDMAN DEMANDS PAYMENT FROM A FELLOW
e-xelTHON de ho DOUlos eKEInos, HEUren HEna ton sunDOUlon [4889] auTOU
But that :bondman went out, and found one of his :fellow-bondmen
hos Ophei-len [3784] auTO he-kaTON deNAri-a: kai kraTEsas [2902] auTON,
who owed him a hundred shillings: and he laid hold on him,
EPni-gen [4155], LEgon, A-POdos [591] EI ti oPHEIleis [3784].
and took himby the throat, saying, Pay if you owe anything.
i. 18:29 THE FELLOW-BONDMAN ALSO ASKS FOR TIME
peSON oun ho SUNdou-los auTOU pa-reKAlei [4228] auTON,
His :fellow-bondman therefore fell down andbesought him,
LEgon, MakroTHUmeson [3114] ep' eMOI, kai a-poDOso [591] soi.
saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay you.
j. 18:30 And he would not: but went andcast him into prison, till he should pay what was due.
ho de ouk Ethe-len: alLA a-pelTHON Eba-len auTON eis phu-laKEN, HEos a-poDOto o-pheiLOme-non.
k. 18:31 FELLOW-BONDMEN REPORT THIS INJUSTICE TO THE LORD
iDONtes oun hoi SUNdou-loi auTOU ta geNOme-na e-luPEthe-san [3076] SPHOdra [4970],
His :fellow-bondmen therefore saw what was done andwere exceeding sorry,
kai elTHONtes di-eSAphe-san [1235] to kuRIo he-auTON PANta ta geNOme-na.
and came andtold to their :lord all that was done.
l. 18:32-33 THE LORD ANGRILY REBUKES THE UNMERCIFUL SERVANT
TOte pro-ska-leSAme-nos [4341] auTON ho KUri-os auTOU, LEgei auTO, DOUle po-neRE [4190],
Then his :lord called him to him, andsays to him, Wicked servant,
PAsan ten o-pheiLEN [3782] eKEInen aPHE-KA [863] soi, ePEI pa-reKAleSAS [3870] me:
I forgave you all that :debt, since you besought me:
ouk Edei kai se e-leEsai [1653] ton SUNdouLON sou, hos ka' 'GO se eLEe-sa [1653]?
33should not you also have had mercy on your :fellow-bondman, as I had mercy on you?
m. 18:34 ORIGINAL SENTENCE IS NOW CARRIED OUT
kai or-gisTHEIS [3710] ho KUri-os auTOU, paREdoken [3860] auTON tois ba-sa-niSTAIS [930],
And his :lord was angry, anddelivered him to the tormentors,
HEos hou a-poDO [591] pan to o-pheiLOme-non [3784].
till he should pay all that was due.
n. 18:35 JESUS APPLIES THIS LESSON TO GOD AND TO US
HOUtos kai ho paTER mou ho ouRAni-os poiEsei [4160] huMIN,
Thus also shall my :heavenly :Father do to you,
eAN me aPHEte [863] HEka-stos to a-delPHO auTOU aPO ton kar-diON [2588] huMON.
if you forgive not each his :brother from your :hearts.
NOTE: Peter's question to Jesus brings out some clear insights on the thinking of our Heavenly Father. Itbehooves us wellto give careful attention to this insight.
Forgivenessis such a key necessity in the lives of all of us who profess to be in God's Kingdom. We need to remember that in the Lord's Prayer of Matthew 6:5-15, the only oneof the 7 petitions Jesus taught us as disciples to pray that is repeated, is the one on forgiveness. He says in 6:12, “And forgive us ourdebts, As we also have forgiven our debtors.”Then to mark and emphasize the importance of this 5threquest, at the end He says, “For if you forgive not :men their :trespasses, neither will your :Father forgive your:trespasses.”
There is another thought in our Lord's Prayer for us as disciples. The disciples in Luke's gospel ask Jesus to teach them to pray as John the Baptist taught his disciples to pray. So we have before us a 7-point prayer for us as disciples. Jesus said, PrayYOU therefore thus, which is a commandin the imperative mood. But then, each of the 7 requests in our Lord's Prayer to us are alsocommands in the Imperative Mood except for one, making them doublecommands! The one on forgiveness is one of the six. The one exception is, “And bring us not into temptation.”This is in the subjunctive mood which leads to the following thought: “Father, it it be possible to bring us into the image of Your Son Jesus without undue temptation and testing, please let us not be like Job, and have to go like him through such a time.”However, the next point of our Lord's prayer returnsto a command in the Imperative Mood. “But Father, if the only way You can lead us to be conformed to the image of Your Son is through testing, so let it be done. However, in the midst of such testing, deliver usfrom the evil one, Satan, so that like with Job, the enemy will nothave eventual advantage over us!”
Now - back to Jesus' parable to Peter on forgiving up to 77 times in a day - not just 7! If wereceive such generous forgiveness from our Heavenly Father on behalf of our sins - how much more should we forgive our fellow-believers when they sin against us, yet ask for forgiveness. And even more - we should have forgiveness in our heart toward them, even beforethey ask for our forgiveness! J.A.W.