People are watching and people talk

(These messages from this passage on forgiveness are not for those outside the Church. It is for the body of Christ. It is not to say that we must not follow the justice of our legal system for we must. It is for the body of Christ, the Church and how we treat each other.)

There was no conscience, zero self-awareness, no acknowledgment of his own conduct, he was blinded to his own sin.

The mercy that was originally given was not passed on and people saw and they talk.

“When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened.” (Matthew 18 v 31)

The ‘other servants’ believed if your debts were forgiven that you should forgive your debtors also, it may have been a cultural rule.

They were outraged. They were ‘deeply grieved’ (NASB) and ‘greatly distressed’ (ESV).

So they reported him because people are watching and people talk.

“Who did? Which person reported me? Who threw me under the bus? Give me their name!” It’s not in the script but the spirit of it is and I have heard these questions numerous of times.

There are 2 stories in this story of Jesus. The story of mercy and the story of justice. The unmerciful servant is in both. When the heart is damaged the person receives the benefits of mercy and forgiveness but isn’t changed by it. They carry the spirit of entitlement rooted in their hearts and demand everything due to them and even what isn’t due but they believe it is! Justice demands details, contexts, agendas and quotations and who said what and who to. The problem with this kind of justice is we forget that there is a fellow servant (the second servant) suffering and hurting having been thrown into prison. The unmerciful want justice when it suits them. They are more important than the trail of hurt people behind them.

But people are watching and people talk.