Lesson for September 27, 2020
The Parables of Jesus
Lesson 5
The Forgiving King and His Unforgiving Servant
This parable is found in Matthew 18:21-35, Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven [v]may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. So, the slave fell to the ground and prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’ So, his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. So, when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. Then summoning him, his lord said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.”
This parable was taught by Jesus in answer to a question from Peter regarding the number of times we should forgive others. Peter thought seven times was a good number, but Jesus told him that the number should be seventy times seven, which really meant an unlimited amount of times.
Forgiveness of others is the obvious theme of this parable from Jesus. Forgiveness of sin is also accomplished by the Atonement. The Greek word for forgiveness is “aphiemi” and means “to send away from, to send forth.” In other words, it means deliverance from the penalty of sin and the complete removal of sin. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for ALL sin, pre-salvation and post-salvation (I Corinthians 5:21; I John2:2)
The story is of a wealthy king whose servant owed him a great deal of money. In today’s economy, it would be in the millions. When the king was ready to settle the account with this servant, he was unable to pay the king. Therefore, according to the law of the land the servant and his family were to be sold into slavery and all his goods sold as well in order to repay the king. The servant fell to his face and begged the king for mercy, which the king gave him by forgiving all his debt. This was a beautiful picture of God’s grace in forgiving us of sin debt at salvation and forgiving us for our personal sins when we use the Rebound Technique.
Now that the servant had been forgiven his debt, he went out and found another slave who owed him 100 denarii, which is equivalent to about $2000 in today’s economy. When he found his fellow servant, he became violent and began to choke the man and demand payment. The man begged for mercy like the servant had before the king. But he was unwilling to forgive the debt and had the man throw in prison until such time as he could repay the debt.
When word got back to the king regarding what this servant had done, he summoned him to the king’s court. When he arrived, the king reprimanded him for being wicked, which the same word used for Satan as the evil one. Then the king threw this wicked servant into prison to be tortured until he could repay the king. The lesson that Jesus was teaching is that we are to forgive as God forgives. God forgives in grace and mercy and we are to do the same as often as someone asks for our forgiveness. If we fail to do this, God the Father will discipline us as any good father would do.
The Landowner and the Laborers
This parable is found in Matthew 20:1-16, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so, they went. Again, he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ So, the last shall be first, and the first last.”
The purpose of this parable was to rebuke the disciples because they had been arguing as to which one would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus explained to his disciples in this parable the grace concept of those who are first will be last. This parable focuses on the sovereignty of God with regard to divine production and the rewards a believer will receive as a result. (Matthew 18:1,19:27)
Divine production is divine good works done under the filling and power of God the Holy Spirit. The reward for doing divine good works is given to believers by the Lord Jesus Christ at the Judgment Seat of Christ. The Judgment Seat of Christ is for believers only and takes place sometime shortly after the Rapture of the Church. (I Corinthians 4:5; 15:51-54; I Thessalonians 4:13-18; Philippians 3:21)
Scripture tells us that our Savior has already departed to prepare a dwelling place for us, the Bride of Christ (as we will be called in Heaven). But before the Lord can reveal all that will be ours for the eternal state, we must all be evaluated at the Judgment Seat of Christ and be rewarded for executing the Christian Way of Life. (John 14:1-3; II Corinthians 5:8-10; Romans 14:11-12)
The landowner is Jesus Christ and the laborers are believers in this parable. There are five different groups of believers in this narrative. The landowner hired all five groups to work in his vineyard at different times during the day. The group was hired at 6 a.m., the time when a new day began in the Jewish calendar. They agreed on one denarius for a day’s labor (a day’s wages at that time) and went to work. At 9 a.m. the landowner hired the second group of laborers to work in his vineyard. At 12 p.m. he did the same to the third group and again at 3 p.m. to the fourth group. Finally, he hired the last group at 5 p.m. to work in his vineyard.
At the end of the workday, which was 6 p.m., the landowner had the laborers gathered so he could pay them. First, he paid the laborers who came at 5 p.m. one denarius. Then he continued to pay the laborers from those who began work the latest to those who began first one denarius. So, some laborers worked twelve hours, some nine hours, some 6 hours, some 3 hours and some one hour, but all received the same pay.
Immediately the first group began to complain to the landowner and question him as to why they were being paid the same as those who worked only one hour. The landowner explained to them that one denarius was what they had agreed on when they took the job and what he paid the others was his decision. He also asked them if they were jealous because of his generosity.
The point Jesus was making to His disciples was that rewards are the sovereign will of God and not based on time of service. The application is that it does not matter when you began producing divine good as long as you do produce divine good. How believers are rewarded will be based on the sovereign will of God as He evaluates each believer’s life. The quality of a believer’s life will be much more important than the time a person was a believer. And in eternity we will all share the same happiness of God for all eternity.
The Two Sons
This parable is found in Matthew 21:28-32, But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ And he answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he regretted it and went. The man came to the second and said the same thing; and he answered, ‘I will, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him.
This parable was a lesson to a group of religious Jews who had been challenging His authority from God. The parable is about a father who sent his two sons in into the vineyard to work. The first son refused to agree to go to work but later he changed his mind and went to work in the vineyard. The second son agreed immediately to go to work, but never went. The question Jesus posed to these religious leaders was “which of the two sons did the father’s will?” They answered the first son. The first son was the correct answer and by giving it, these religious leaders condemned themselves.
Jesus explained the parable in verses 31-32. Jesus reminded the religious leaders that John the Baptist had come preaching the Gospel and they had rejected it, but the prostitutes and tax collectors had received it. The tax collectors and prostitutes were represented by the son who refused to go to work but changed his mind and went. They had rejected God even before they heard John the Baptist, but eventually they came to believe his message of salvation. The religious leaders on the other hand claimed to be the servants of God but rejected His Son when they heard the Gospel message about Him. The religious leaders will be those who stand before Jesus Christ and declare that they did wonderful works in His name and Jesus will tell them to depart from Him because He never knew them. (Matthew 7:21-23)
The Landowner
This parable is found in Matthew 21:33-46, “Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. Again, he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, this became the chief corner stone; this came about from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. When they sought to seize Him, they feared the people, because they considered Him to be a prophet.”
Jesus was still speaking to the religious leaders and used this narrative to demonstrate that they were condemned because they rejected Him as their Messiah. Of all the people on the earth at that time, these men should have immediately recognized Jesus as the Messiah, but these men had a problem – they were religious unbelievers pretending to be servants of God. They had, as the nation of Israel, been rejecting God and His Word for centuries. When God sent them a prophet to preach the Gospel they rejected and killed him. It did not matter how many prophets God sent they refused to believe the truth. Then God sent His Son to the nation of Israel and they rejected and killed Him.\
So, Jesus prophesies in verses 43-44 regarding the coming Church Age and the Gentile nations that would replace Israel as God’s client nation (representative) on earth. In 70 A.D. the nation of Israel would be destroyed, and the Jews scattered throughout the world. Verse 44 gives the final doom of these hypocrites and the apostate nation of Israel when Jesus declared that the Stone (Jesus Christ) will crush them (judge them) and scatter them like dust.