“Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted
to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle
accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.” Matthew 18:23-24
As the Lord often did, he tells a parable to teach us a timeless truth. This particular story teaches us about mercy and forgiveness.
The kingdom of heaven The Lord begins his story the same way
he introduced the first beatitude. Remember the Jews were looking
for the Messiah to establish an earthly, physical kingdom. The Sermon on the Mount is designed to show them and us that the Lord’s kingdom is first a spiritual kingdom lived out of a person’s heart. By using this phrase He shows Peter and us one of the characteristics that is exhibited by the citizens of His kingdom.
Is like a certain king The Lord shows us that His kingdom as a ruler. In case they wondered if anyone cared since the kingdom is spiritual, the Lord makes it clear there is a ruler who is in charge.
Who wanted to settle accounts In this kingdom There is accountability for the servants of the king. The Lord does not tell us much about their duties for they would be many and varied but He does tell us there is a day of reckoning despite what the duties were. Thus he convenes a time and place to learn how they have been faithful in the duties He gave them
With his servants We learn from the Lord’s story that this accountability is for his servants. He calls no one else to the meeting – just his servants.
When he had begun to settle accounts The Lords desire is put into place. The day of answering for what one has done arrives.
One was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents One by one the king’s servant appear before him. The word “one” indicates this is an individual, not a group activity. The word “brought” was highly significant. It is used of the wise men who when the come to meet Jesus bring Him gifts. The king was expecting the servant to bring him the fruits of his labor. Instead he brings a deficit – a huge deficit. The Lord says the amount owed is ten thousand talents. The Lord uses this term to convey an impossibly large amount that could never be repaid by a servant. He does not tell us what the talents are made of so we can only look at the amount of time to repay this debt. One person calculated that one talent is equal to 6,000 denarii, which would take an ordinary laborer 6,000 days (16 years) to earn. If that is converted into US dollars and an average day’s wages is assumed to be 100 dollars, one talent would be $600,000. Ten thousand talents, equivalent to about 60,000,000 denarii, which would be about
160,000 years’ wages. In other words the debt this servant accrued is completely unpayable under all circumstances.
What can we learn? As we read this story we are stunned by one thing the Lord says. It does not surprise us that there are servants in the kingdom or that there is a day of accountability. What we are shocked at is there is a servant that is in the kingdom that has accrued such a horrendous debt. We realize that is the Lord telling us what the sin in our life before we are saved looks like to God. Imagine that we sin every second of every day before salvation (by failing to love God with all our heart, mind and soul. That’s three sins every second not including every other sin that we do or fail to do. The sin debt we owe God is staggering and yet we do not
realize its magnitude. The Lord gives us a glimpse our debt as He starts His parable.