Have you ever been slandered, cheated, or in some way abused by someone? What should be your Christian response to such treatment? This month’s parable addresses this precise matter.
Hyperbolic debt
Jesus’ parable is about a servant who owes a king an enormous debt of 10 000 talents. The talent was the largest unit of currency in that day, equivalent to about a month’s wages, and 10 000 was the largest Greek numeral. That is tantamount to owing over 800 years of wages! Yet, the king forgives the servant his debt. The exaggerated debt serves as a necessary contrast to the insignificant debt the servant is owed by another servant, a paltry 100 denarii. Yet, the unforgiving servant physically accosts his fellow servant and even has
