Settling Accounts

Matthew 18:23 - Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.


Jesus is continuing his discussion of forgiveness. Therefore signals this. He compares Peter's hypothetical situation to both the kingdom of heaven through its similarities to a king wishing to settle accounts with his servants. How do these situations compare? Who is the king? Well, clearly the king is God, right? We're talking about heaven, after all. Who are the servants, then? That would be us. Clearly, the premise of the parable to follow is based on the implicit assumption that we owe something to God. And this something has to do with forgiveness.

What do we owe to God? It is still unclear, yet we are indebted to God somehow. Now, what would servants owe their master or their master owe their servant? As we'll see it is money. Depending on your view of God, this is a good and loving situation or a bad and horrifying situation. I'll explain in the following posts just what I mean.
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