Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
According to Matthew 18:21–35 it is important to forgive others as we are forgiven by God, as illustrated by the negative example of the unforgiving servant.The setting is the court of some king in another country, where the "servants" could rank as highly as provincial governors.However, there is a very relevant aspect of Roman law that may have been the cultural reference this parable is built around considering the Judeans of Jesus day were ruled by Rome.A debtor who does not pay can be taken to court and put in chains and forced into a number of arrangements whereby they work off the debt through servitude.Lapide notes that under Roman civil law, which the Jews of Christ's time were subject, debtors sometimes were delivered by their creditors to tormentors, who put them in prison, and scourged them.[5][6] There have been numerous depictions of this parable in art, including: In Stephen King’s novel Misery, a former nurse and serial killer named Annie Wilkes kindnaps an author named Paul Sheldon and keeps him locked in a room to write novels for her.
stained glass windowScots' Church, Melbourneparable of the Two Debtorsparable of JesusGospel of MatthewDomenico FettiforgivenessJan van HemessentalentdenariimyriadCornelius a LapideSyriac textRoman civil lawConstantine the GreatRemigiusJohn ChrysostomEuthymius the GreatTheophylact of OhridJohn McEvillySt. JamesJames 2:13Gemäldegalerie, BerlinClaude VignonMusée des Beaux-Arts de ToursWillem DrostWallace CollectionJohn Everett MillaisStephen KingAnnie WilkesPaul SheldonFive Discourses of MatthewLife of Jesus in the New TestamentMinistry of JesusWas soll ich aus dir machen, Ephraim, BWV 89Lapide, CorneliusMacEvilly, Rev. JohnOutlineList of topicsChronologyJesus's lifeAnnunciationNativityVirgin birthDate of birthFlight into EgyptInfancyChrist ChildUnknown yearsBaptismTemptationApostlesSelectingGreat CommissionMinistryDisciplesSermon on the MountBeatitudesPrayersLord's PrayerParablesMiraclesTransfigurationHomelessnessGreat CommandmentOlivet DiscourseAnointingPassioninstrumentsEntry into JerusalemLast SupperFarewell DiscourseAgony in the GardenBetrayalArrestCrucifixionSayings on the crossInstrument usedTrue CrossBurialResurrectionAscensionNew TestamentGospelsMatthewGospel harmonyOral gospel traditionsHistorical background of the New TestamentNew Testament places associated with JesusNames and titles of Jesus in the New TestamentHistoricityHistorical JesusQuest for the historical JesusSourcesJosephusTacitusMara bar SerapionChrist myth theoryDepictionsBibliographyLife of Christ in artLife of Christ MuseumStatuesChristianityChrist1st centuryChristologyIncarnationPre-existenceRelicsSecond ComingSession of ChristSon of GodCosmic ChristIn other faithsJesuismIn comparative mythologyJudaismIn the TalmudAhmadiyyaManichaeismJesus the SplendourMandaeismMaster JesusGenealogiesJoseph