Hope Forgives

²¹Then Peter came to him and said, “Lord, how many times must I forgive my brother who sins against me? As many as seven times?” ²²Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, I tell you, but seventy-seven times!

²³“For this reason, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴As he began settling his accounts, a man who owed 10,000 talents was brought to him. ²⁵Because he was not able to repay it, the lord ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, children, and whatever he possessed, and repayment to be made. ²⁶Then the slave threw himself to the ground before him, saying, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’ ²⁷The lord had compassion on that slave and released him, and forgave him the debt. ²⁸After he went out, that same slave found one of his fellow slaves who owed him 100 silver coins. So he grabbed him by the throat and started to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ ²⁹Then his fellow slave threw himself down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’ ³⁰But he refused. Instead, he went out and threw him in prison until he repaid the debt. ³¹When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were very upset and went and told their lord everything that had taken place. ³²Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! ³³Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’ ³⁴And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed. ³⁵So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.”