The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant (Matthew 18:21–35)

The texts below are quoted verbatim from public-domain English translations; nothing is paraphrased.

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St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew, Homily 61 (on Matthew 18:21–35) Source: trans. in the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, Vol. 10. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf110/npnf110.iii.LVIII.html

On "seventy times seven" as a number without limit:

What then saith Christ, the good God, who is loving towards man? "I say not unto thee, until seven times, but, until seventy times seven," not setting a number here, but what is infinite and perpetual and forever... So that He hath not limited the forgiveness by a number, but hath declared that it is to be perpetual and forever.

On the distance between the two debts:

Seest thou how great the difference between sins against man and against God? As great as between ten thousand talents, and a hundred pence, or rather even much more. And this arises both from the difference of the persons, and the constant succession of our sins. For when a man looks at us, we stand off and shrink from sinning: but when God sees us every day, we do not forbear.

On why the king first threatened to sell him:

"He commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and his children." Wherefore, I pray thee? Not of cruelty, nor of inhumanity (for the loss came back again upon himself, for she too was a slave), but of unspeakable tenderness. For it is His purpose to alarm him by this threat, that He might bring him to supplication, not that he should be sold.

On the gift that exceeded the request:

Seest thou again surpassing benevolence? The servant asked only for delay and putting off the time, but He gave more than he asked, remission and forgiveness of the entire debt. For it had been his will to give it even from the first, but he did not desire the gift to be his only, but also to come of this man's entreaty, that he might not go away uncrowned.

On revenge as a wound to oneself:

Let us hearken also, the merciless, and the cruel, for not to others are we cruel, but to ourselves. When then thou art minded to be revengeful, consider that against thyself art thou revengeful, not against another; that thou art binding up thine own sins, not thy neighbors.

On why the Lord says "my Father," not "your Father," at the close:

He saith not "your Father," but "my Father." For it is not meet for God to be called the Father of such a one, who is so wicked and malicious.

On the two things the parable requires:

Two things therefore doth He here require, both to condemn ourselves for our sins, and to forgive others; and the former for the sake of the latter, that this may become more easy (for he who considers his own sins is more indulgent to his fellow-servant); and not merely to forgive with the lips, but from the heart.

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Origen (c. 185–254)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain.

On the King's reckoning as the judgment of our whole life:

The King takes account of our whole life then, when "we must all be presented before the judgment-seat of Christ." ... For God, when He will scrutinize the minds of all, will by some undescribable power cause every thing that every man has done to pass speedily before the mind of each.

On the difference between the two who fell down:

The servant who owed many talents fell down, and worshipped the king; he who owed the hundred denarii falling down, did not worship, but besought his fellow servant, saying, "Have patience." But the ungrateful servant did not even respect the very words which had saved himself.

On the lesson of clemency:

He seeks to instruct us, that we should be ready to shew clemency to those who have done us harm, especially if they offer amends, and plead to have forgiveness.

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Blessed Augustine of Hippo (354–430)

Sermon 83, as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain. Full text: https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena1.ii.xviii.html

On forgiving without counting:

I am bold to say, that if he shall sin seventy-eight times, thou shouldest forgive him; yea, and if a hundred; and how oft soever he sin against thee, forgive him. For if Christ found a thousand sins, yet forgave them all, do not you withdraw your forgiveness.

On the ten thousand talents as the whole reach of the Law:

Therefore let us say, that because the Law is set forth in ten precepts, the ten thousand talents which he owed denote all sins which can be done under the Law.

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St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain.

On why the Lord teaches by parable:

For it is customary with the Syrians, especially they of Palestine, to add a parable to what they speak; that what their hearers might not retain simply, and in itself, the instance and similitude may be the means of retaining.

Against reading the great debtor as the devil:

But how the Lord remits to the devil ten thousand talents, and how he would not remit ten denarii to us his fellow servants, of this there is no ecclesiastical interpretation, nor is it to be admitted by thoughtful men.

On the condition under which our greater sins are remitted:

If any one of you shall have committed an adultery, a homicide, or a sacrilege, these greater sins of ten thousand talents shall be remitted when you beg for it, if you also shall remit lesser offences to those that trespass against you.

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Remigius of Auxerre (c. 841–908)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841. Public domain.

On who the servants are:

By the servants of this King are signified all mankind whom He has created for His own praise, and to whom He gave the law of nature; He takes account with them, when He would look into each man's manners, life, and deeds, that He may render to each according to that He has done.

On the debtor who has nothing with which to pay:

Man who sinned of his own will and choice, has no power to rise again by his own endeavour, and has not wherewith to pay, because he finds nothing in himself by which he may loose himself from his sins.