Matthew 18:29
And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.
Matthew 18:29
Here the second servant, having heard the master’s forgiveness, pleads for patience and promises repayment. The language echoes the first servant’s plea, but the reaction of the first servant is cold and transactional. The fellow servant’s plea highlights social solidarity among the lower classes of the time: debt and repayment are daily realities, and mercy should flow within the circle of community. The parallelism intensifies the contrast: one who has received boundless mercy now refuses the same mercy to another.
This verse underlines the theme that mercy is contagious. If mercy stops at receiving, it becomes hollow. The severity of the response to the first servant’s refusal underscores God’s expectation that mercy extend outward, not be hoarded. The moral is stark: righteous living includes the discipline of choosing mercy over vengeance, especially when others are vulnerable.
Think of a time you’ve received grace you didn’t deserve; how did that shape how you treated someone in need? Practice extending a similar mercy: offer a patient hearing, a flexible timeline, or a helping hand to someone who owes you something, whether money, time, or apology. In daily life, this could look like helping a coworker caught in a backlog, postponing repayment when a friend is in crisis, or choosing not to press a grievance when reconciliation would be costly but healing. Mercy is costly, but it preserves relationships.
Cross-References: Matthew 18:23-27; Luke 6:36; Romans 12:17-21; James 2:13; Colossians 3:13