The Kingdom of Heaven is Like…a King Settling Accounts

Matthew 18:23 “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. 24 As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. 25 Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. 26 “The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ 27 The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. 28 “But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. 29 “His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’ 30 “But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. 31 When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened. 32 “Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. 33 Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ 34 In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. 35 “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

People don’t get mercy these days.  All you have to do is watch the nightly news and you see the wicked servant wanting his pound of flesh. Retribution. Revenge.  Justice on their terms.  People ripping each other apart because they don’t understand the Kingdom idea of mercy.

Or maybe they don’t want to understand.

Mercy is a Kingdom idea.  We might refer to heaven as Club Mercy because it will belong to those who showed mercy to others.  They didn’t dwell in the flesh or in selfishness, greed, hatred or even envy of their fellow man.  They didn’t resent another’s privilege or feel as though they were gypped in life. When they were wronged, they turned the other cheek.  When they were insulted, they remembered the insults they hurled at their fellow man not realizing it was Jesus who felt every one of them.  When someone asked for forgiveness, they granted it–not because it was easy–but because it was the only right response of those who have been forgiven.

Eternal residents of Club Mercy have this in common: All of them know that any debt they may be owed by their fellow man is nothing compared to what has been forgiven them by the King of Kings.

Jesus is not some nicey-nice whitewashed pansy when He says,

This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”  

He didn’t say that to a “good and faithful servant” who had shown mercy to others, but to a WICKED one who refused to be merciful.  Where are you today?  Do you know the meaning of mercy?