And the next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him, and whatever you spend besides this, I will repay you when I come back here.’”

12, 13. (a) What do we learn about mercy from the parable of the slave who owed his master a large sum of money? (b) What does it mean to forgive our brother “up to seventy-seven times”?

¹² Jesus’ parable of the slave who owed his master, a king, 60,000,000 denarii shows another way to be merciful.

16, 17. (a) What should we learn from Jesus’ illustration of the king and the slaves? (b) After meditating on Jesus’ illustration, what are you determined to do?

¹⁶ Jesus related how a king had forgiven his slave a huge debt of 10,000 talents, or 60,000,000 denarii.

Yet, that slave who was forgiven so much was not willing to forgive the much smaller debt of his fellow slave, 100 denarii.

To emphasize this need, Jesus gave an illustration: The master of a slave canceled his debt of ten thousand talents (60 million denarii).

Later, that slave would not release his fellow slave who owed him 100 denarii.

It was worth 300 denarii, the equivalent of about a year’s wages.

Judas, concealing his thieving motive behind a suggestion of charity for the needy, said: “Why was it this perfumed oil was not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor people?”

And what about the one concerning the king who forgave a slave a debt of 60 million denarii, yet the slave turned around and had thrown into prison a fellow slave who was unable to pay a debt of only 100 denarii?

Unable to pay, the slave begged for mercy, and his master kindly forgave that huge debt of 60,000,000 denarii.

But the slave went off and found another slave who owed him only a hundred denarii.

One slave is brought to him who owes the enormous debt of 60,000,000 denarii (about $50,000,000).

But no sooner has he done so, Jesus continues, than this slave goes and finds a fellow slave who owes him only 100 denarii (about $90).

One of these owed the king 60,000,000 denarii.

But this slave then approached a fellow slave, demanding that he repay a 100-denarii debt.

In this illustration Jesus told of a king to whom one of his slaves owed sixty million denarii.

But this slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him only a hundred denarii (one six-hundred-thousandth as much), and, grabbing him, began to choke him, saying: “Pay back whatever you owe.”