The preacher will not find it difficult for their audience to understand and accept the moral logic of the parable of the unforgiving debtor. Drawing attention to the imbalance of the debts forgiven intensifies the message. Unforgiveness is so utterly alien to the Christian because it requires a forgetfulness or unappreciation of the debts God has forgiven us and the life he promises us. Unforgiveness then, requires a level of functional atheism that so directly imperils the soul that we can understand why Jesus warns his disciples that unless they forgive, they will be damned.
On the other hand, remembrance of the depth of our forgiveness leads us to love those who have wronged us. In this way, the believer imitates God and so their sanctification is furthered. Wrongs done to us, and the debts they incur, become opportunities to fill them up with God’s love, forgiving as he forgave us.
