In the Bible’s Matthew chapter 18, Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive a brother who sins against him, “up to seven times?” Jesus responds not seven times, but 70 times seven. Jesus is not suggesting that we can stop forgiving people after 490 sins, but that forgiveness is a discipline we must learn to practice without limit because our Father in heaven does not place limits on how many times he forgives us.
In the parable that follows this exchange between Jesus and Peter we have an example of a man who was forgiven an insurmountable debt of 10,000 talents. A talent is a measure of weight so it depends on whether the debt was in gold or silver. He either owed more than $11 billion or $160 million. A talent was also equivalent to 20 years of wages for a common laborer.
However we calculate it, we know he has a debt that is impossible to pay, but his master forgives his enormous debt. At the conclusion of the parable…
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