QUIBBLING OVER $300.00 BLOG – 38
Date: 8/19/2025
By: Jon Burgett
Direct Comments to:
“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” Peter asked Jesus. “Up to seven times?” (Matthew 18:21)
Jesus had been explaining how important it is to approach God’s truth and authority in our lives with the same kind of trust and openness as a little child and how our Father feels about bringing back a sheep that strays. He also explained how to approach a brother or sister in the faith who has hurt you. And that prompted Peter to ask this question: “Lord, how oft shall… I forgive him? seven times?” It sounded like a perfect number to him.
But Jesus, as usual, looked at forgiveness in a completely different way. “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven” (Matt. 18:22).
He then launched into a parable about a king who had a citizen who owed the equivalent of approximately 225 million dollars [based on $30.00/oz of silver]. I have no idea how anyone can get into that kind of debt – maybe he was in charge of a government agency or something – but the balloon payment was coming due, and this man had no way to pay. So he begged for more time. The king knew no amount of time would enable this man to pay his debt, and in an act of mercy, he forgave his servant’s debt entirely (Matt. 18:23-27).
But what did this man do after being forgiven such an enormous amount of money? He approached a fellow citizen who owed him a hundred pence (a.k.a. a denarius), virtually nothing comparable to his debt, grabbed this man by the throat, and demanded he pay him back! (Matt. 18:29)
The man who owed him money begged for more time, but the forgiven servant wouldn’t listen. Back in those days, people who owed money could be thrown into prison until they paid off their debt, which they could never do if they were in jail and unable to work. So this man essentially doomed his fellow citizen to die in prison over a hundred pence. (Matt. 18:30).
[A side note about the math, for any accountants and engineers that might be enquiring. Society in Jesus’ day didn’t have a minimum wage as we think of it, but the custom was to pay a denarius – a silver coin a little larger than a quarter – for a full day’s work. If we think of that coin as being equivalent to minimum wage for a full shift in Ohio today, then 100 of these coins would represent about $300 .00 (based on $30/oz of silver), and 10,000 talents would be equivalent to about $225 million. But the exact numbers aren’t that important – Jesus was using round numbers like 10,000 talents and 100 denarii, so we can get an idea of how ridiculous this unforgiving servant’s behavior was.]
Most of us have read enough parables to understand the king represents God, our Father in Heaven. When the king found out what had happened, he scolded the man whose debt he had forgiven. Then – and this is the sobering part – he revoked his forgiveness and ordered the man who owed 225 million dollars to be punished until he paid it all back! The End (Matt. 18:31-34).
However, that’s not very American!” you may think–and you’re right, it’s not – but God is not an American, is He? The Creator and King of the universe is under no obligation to adhere to our 21st Century American ideas of how justice is defined – we don’t get to tell Him what is right and what is wrong – He tells us–it’s His prerogative to explain that!
One final point – Jesus wasn’t saying you’re supposed to count how many times someone does something to you and keep track of a maximum limit that, upon exceeding, you don’t have to forgive that person anymore! That’s not the point!
The whole purpose of such a large number as seventy times seven is you’re guaranteed to lose count. You won’t know precisely when you hit four-hundred and ninety, and more importantly, Jesus comes out and says you’re supposed to adjust your attitude along the way: “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespasses” Matt. 18:35).
After all, isn’t that the way we want our Father to forgive us? Isn’t that the way we need our Father to forgive us? Remember, “But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt. 6:15).
“Let this mind be in you”, the apostle Paul wrote, “which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:5). I for one am so thankful Jesus has lost count of my sins, and by His power removed them from me as far as East is from West (Psalm 103:12). And as we learn to think more like Christ, we become more forgiving like Him.
That doesn’t make it easy. It’s hard to forgive a debt. But when we remember the $225 million we once owed, $300.00 just doesn’t seem worth “quibbling” over–– does it?.