Hey, Carpool Crew. I am really glad you are here today. This is Episode 3 in our series based on a story that Jesus told called The Unforgiving Servant. We are hearing the same story again and again, but each time from a different point of view. In Episode 1, we heard from the servant who was forgiven a huge debt. In Episode 2, we heard from the fellow servant who was not forgiven and was thrown into prison. Today, we are hearing the story from the king's point of view. That matters, because the king sees the whole picture. Here is how it looked from where I stood. I was the king. That meant I had authority, but it also meant I had responsibility. In Bible times, a king was expected to keep order. A king was expected to protect people from being treated cruelly. A king was expected to judge fairly. So when a servant was brought before me who owed an enormous amount of money, I knew this was serious. Jesus tells us the amount was ten thousand talents. Here is what that means. One talent was worth about twenty years of work. Ten thousand talents was more money than one person could earn in many lifetimes. This servant did not make a small mistake. He was buried in debt. I had the right to punish him. In fact, everyone watching would have expected me to punish him. They would have expected prison. They would have expected consequences. But when the servant fell down and begged, something happened inside me. Jesus uses the word compassion. That means I felt it deeply. Not just in my head. In my heart. I saw how afraid he was. I saw how trapped he was. I saw that there was no way out for him. So I did something unexpected. I forgave the entire debt. Not part of it. Not most of it. All of it. That decision mattered. In that moment, I was not just forgiving money. I was giving him his life back. He walked away free. No payment plan. No reminder hanging over his head. And the story could have ended there. But it didn't. Later, I received another report. Other servants came to me and told me what had happened next. They told me that the same servant I had forgiven had grabbed another servant and demanded payment. They told me he had refused to forgive a much smaller debt. They told me he had thrown the other servant into prison. When I heard that, something changed. I was no longer feeling compassion. I was feeling anger. But not anger about money. Anger about hypocrisy. Hypocrisy means saying one thing but doing another. I had forgiven him everything. And he had forgiven nothing. This mattered deeply to me as a king. Because mercy is not meant to stop with one person. Mercy is meant to move. If forgiveness is given but never shared, it has been misunderstood. So I called the servant back. And when he stood in front of me again, I reminded him of what had happened. I reminded him that he had begged for mercy. I reminded him that I had forgiven everything. And then I asked him a simple question. 'Shouldn't you also have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?' That question is the heart of this story. Forgiveness is not just something you receive. It is something that should change you. When someone understands forgiveness, it shows up in how they treat other people. As king, I had to act. Not because I was cruel. But because justice matters. I handed him over to punishment. That part of the story is serious, and it is meant to be. Jesus was not trying to scare kids. He was showing how important forgiveness is to God. God cares deeply about mercy. Not fake mercy. Not pretend mercy. Real mercy that changes behavior. Here is what this means for kids. God forgives us because he loves us. But God also wants that forgiveness to change how we treat others. When we forgive, we are acting like God. When we refuse to forgive, we are acting like we never understood forgiveness in the first place. Think about this. If you are forgiven for breaking something, but then you refuse to forgive someone else for a small mistake, something is wrong. Not with the other person. With your heart. That is what the king saw. That is why the king acted. Before we go, let's slow down and remember what mattered today. We heard from the king, the one who forgave a debt no one could repay. But when he learned that forgiveness had not been passed on, he acted. Not because he was cruel. But because forgiveness matters. But the king was not the only one paying attention. Other servants saw what happened too. They noticed the kindness. They noticed the cruelty. In the next episode, we are going to hear from the other servants. The ones who watched everything. The ones who knew something was wrong. The ones who decided to speak up. Remember, no matter where you are or how you are listening, God loves you.
