Matthew 18:23–35 (ESV):  “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. 24 When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. 26 So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 28 But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ 29 So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. 31 When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. 32 Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. 35 So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
 
Yes, this is a long passage to read today – but what a story it is that Jesus tells. Around this time He had decided to share truths about the kingdom of God through parables. He was concealing truth from those who were looking to exploit it, and revealing truth to those who wanted it.
 
So the parable is a strong message about forgiveness, and it is also a tutorial on how forgiveness is supposed to work. Jesus is so good, He does not want you to miss anything that you need.
 
What is clear is the version of forgiveness that servant possesses and the contrast with the forgiveness he was expected to have. The master (boss) was expecting that the mercy he showed to the servant would enable the servant to show mercy to others. Clearly this is not the case.
 
What I find extremely important in this whole story told by Jesus is the last phrase He speaks… “from the heart.”
 
Forgiveness has to be from the heart. For me, there is only one way to do this. Maybe you know of another way, I don’t. When forgiveness is in the heart of a person it is because they are walking in the blessing of being forgiven.  That equates to gratitude.
 
A person without gratitude is a dangerous person, and here is why. You can be in the most blessed environment, with the most blessed provision, experiencing life with the most blessed people and completely miss the point of the whole thing.

Receiving God’s forgiveness in your heart opens your eyes to how blessed you are. Really, it goes further than simply our eyes, our heart becomes open to the blessing we live in. We become so filled with that blessing that we become changed from a person who walks in the fear of “What is going to happen to me”, to a person who is filled and over flowing with grace.
 
When the gratitude of forgiveness is in us it bubbles up and spills over.
 
What a good boss we have. He looks past the gift to see what the gift does to our heart. He cares for you that much. He is not running a welfare system where He simply wants to meet a need and has no care or concern for the condition of their heart. No, He looks past the gift He gave you to see what the impact of the gift has had on your heart.
 
He is adamant in the parable about this truth. He even eludes to the anger of the boss because the servant couldn’t/wouldn’t walk in the gratitude of what had been given to him.  
 
Why? Because this is the mode of transportation God uses to spread the good news that a gift of this magnitude exists in our broken world. You are His vehicle. You are His handiwork. You are on display and your gratitude is His greatest work.
 
Ephesians 2:4–7 (ESV): But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
 
Father, again we pause to thank You for Jesus. We thank You for the immeasurable gift of grace and mercy extended to us from Your kind heart. We are filled with gratitude today. We ponder this great thing You have done and what awaits us as your trophies of grace. Please fill us to overflowing with the fruit of the Holy Spirit so that we can be witnesses of Your transforming power.
 
Blessings,
Pastor D