“’Be patient with me . . . and I will pay back everything.’ The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.” (Matt. 18:26–27)
Expanded Passage: Matthew 18:26-27
Jake knew he hadn’t studied very well for the test, as he stumbled his way through it. “There’s no way,” he thought, “that I can keep a good grade in the class the way that went.” As it turned out, he wasn’t the only person in the class who wasn’t prepared. When the professor graded the papers, she decided to throw that test grade out of the final grades for the class. Jake and many of his classmates were recipients of grace.
Grace is often defined as unmerited favor. The servant in the parable owed the equivalent of 250,000 years of wages for the average worker! Even if the man had worked the rest of his life to pay it back, it would have been impossible. So, when the king decided to forgive the man’s debt, the magnitude of the forgiveness was unfathomable. In the same way, Jesus died on the cross to forgive your sins and mine, and the magnitude of that forgiveness is even more unfathomable.
The consequence of doing poorly on a test is a bad grade. Scripture says that the consequence of sin in our lives is death. But on the cross, Jesus provided forgiveness through his saving grace. That forgiveness paid the debt for sin once and for all and gave us new life. For this, we can be grateful.
Be grateful today for God’s unfathomable gift of forgiveness.
Branden Petersen is the cofounder/pastor of Resurrection Life NYC in Manhattan with his wife, Jenn. He is also the founder and director of the urban church planting network, Global Cities Network.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
