SERMON: “Scot free! God does not hold our sins against us”
“Skot” was an early Icelandic and Old Norse word for ‘payment’ or ‘tax’. It was rendered as ‘bescot’ in Middle English, and meant a customary tax paid to a lord, bailiff, or sheriff, and evolved into modern English usage as ‘scot’. Initially ‘scot-free’ meant ‘exempt from tax’; but has since been broadened in contemporary usage to indicate ‘exempt from punishment’: “He got off scot free”[1].
In today’s parable, Jesus tells about a servant who ends up getting off ‘scot free’. This servant is brought before the king, to whom he owed 10,000 talents. To give you an idea of the size of this debt, a denarius was a day’s wage for an average worker. One talent was the equivalent of 6,000 denarii, or 6,000 days wages. So 10,000 talents was the equivalent of 60 million denarii, or 60 million day’s wages. It would take at least 164,383.56 years for an average worker to repay! It’s a debt impossible for any person to be able to work off.
So the king commands that the servant, his wife and children, and all his possessions be sold in order to repay him. In desperation the servant falls on his face before the king and makes the ridiculous claim of being able to repay him. All he can do is beg for the king to show him mercy.
We would expect that the king would at the very least want to retrieve something from this servant—that’s the way of the law and of natural justice. But then there’s an astonishing, bewildering, unexpected twist: the king took pity on him, cancelled the debt entirely and let him go.
This parable offers hope to people struggling with two very different circumstances. The first are those who are burdened with a guilty conscience and an overwhelming sense of shame, tempted to believe that the wrongs they have done are beyond the outstretched arms of the crucified Christ, too big to forgive. Perhaps you know someone who thinks there is no way that God could ever forgive them for what they’ve done. They think if they dared step inside the church the sky would fall on them. They think there is no way God could ever love them. How might we be able to use this parable to help someone in such despair?
Jesus tells this parable to teach us what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. The King in the parable who forgave the great debt represents God. The servant with the unpayable debt represents us, who are spiritually bankrupt before God. We are all born sinful and unclean, in bondage to sin, and cannot free ourselves. In our natural condition, our spiritual poverty before God is so great we have no hope of ever being able to repay it. Our righteousness bank balance is zero. Our purses of holiness are empty.
But God so loves the world that he does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. Even though the servant had a huge debt against the king, the king wiped the debt off. But there was still a cost that had to be paid. Who paid it? The inference is the king bore the cost of that astonishing debt himself!
The king is a picture of God, giving astonishing and lavish forgiveness. God so loved the world that he sent his Son to do for us what we could not do for ourselves, and what the law cannot do for us either. God sent his Son into the world, to save the world, by paying our unpayable debt for us. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the price the Father paid to cancel our debt and pay the cost of it himself. ‘The world’ means that no one is excluded. That doesn’t mean that everyone is saved, but it does mean that everyone’s debt before God is paid for. Paul says in Romans “There is no difference…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:23-24). We are all ransomed by the Lamb—even those who hate him. We see then how recklessly extravagant God is—pouring out his treasure from heaven for even those who would trample it underfoot.
On the Cross Jesus bore the weight of the world’s sin on his shoulders—even those who think God could never love or forgive them. That God could never love a person is a lie of the devil. The Cross shows us that God so loved the world that he sent his own Son to die for it. When he breathed his last, Jesus declared: “It is finished!” There is no work left for us to do to be right with God; no strivings or effort on our part, no sacrifice or offerings because God made the offering, the striving, the sacrifice for us in Christ crucified. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, because our sin was condemned in him.
When we were dead in our sins, God made us alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross” (Colossians 2:13-14). Paul says in 2 Corinthians that “[Jesus] who had no sin became sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (Romans 6:22). John says to all who receive Jesus, to those who believe in his name, he gives the right to be called the children of God” (John 1:12). In Ephesians 2 we hear: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8)—even the faith we have is a gift from God.
This parable also offers hope to people struggling with a second, very different circumstance—those who have been sinned against. Those who carry deep pain and the shame of what other people have done against them.
How might we be able to help those who have been badly hurt? Today’s parable shows us that sin is not trivial. Even though the debt the second servant had against the other—100 denarii—was far less than the debt before the King, it was still a significant amount. A hundred denarii was a hundred days’ wages, the best part of a third of an annual labourer’s salary. We wouldn’t just write that amount off without significant cost to us. Being wronged is always costly, and that’s why forgiveness is so hard! How can we respond with forgiveness when we have been hurt by others?
So often Christians use worldly principles for healing hurt: “It’s time to move on”, or “Forgive and forget”. But to ‘move on’ is not the same as forgiving. Forgiving is giving our hurt and shame to God. Moving on is nothing other than still carrying it around with us.
Neither is forgiveness a matter of just forgetting. How can someone who has been wronged, hurt, manipulated or abused so badly simply ‘forget about it’? To suggest to someone that they just ‘forget about it’ risks doing more harm than good. Being sinned against is not just in the realm of our minds but our bodies—when we are hurt badly by others, it impacts our hearts and minds creating anxiety, depression and general upset. We might literally be injured by assault or abuse. All kinds of experiences in everyday life can then trigger painful memories: songs, movies, colours, smells, sounds, textures, places. These triggers are the brain’s way of sending out warning signals trying to protect us from being hurt again. So when people try to put out of mind the wrongs done to them, they may be even more vulnerable than before. And trying to forget about hurt usually means suppressing that hurt deep down, where it only takes root, and grows, causing deep damage, opening the door to the development of depression, anxiety and psychological disorders.
We can’t always just ‘forget about’ the wrongs done to us. And God doesn’t just forget about them either. God is holy and he cannot tolerate sin and evil. To ‘remember’ and ‘forget’ in the bible often refers to action.
In Genesis 8 we hear that God remembered Noah and his family, and the animals on the ark. God hadn’t forgotten Noah like we forget to turn off the sprinkler on the lawn and then suddenly remember we had left it on. That God remembered Noah means that God was faithful to what he had promised and acted according to it. God remembered Noah by causing a wind to make the floodwaters recede so that there would indeed be a new beginning for his creation.
When the Psalmist pleads: Do not remember the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me” (Psalm 25:7) the Psalmist is not asking God ‘just to forget it’. He is saying, Lord, don’t act in accordance with what I deserve. But deal with me according to your great love, and do not hold my sins against me but show me your mercy.
People who are greatly hurt want other people to understand how they feel at an emotional level, so we’ll miss the mark if our first response is answers aimed at a rational level, like telling them to forget about it. If our first response is to recommend they forgive the other, it sounds to the person hurting that we are just punishing them more, by taking the side of the other. To truly help someone will begin by seeing their world from their perspective, not our perspective. We need to step into their shoes, understanding how they feel, even if we think they shouldn’t be feeling that way. As we listen to the layers of their story to get a picture of what they are experiencing, we’re in a better place to be able to offer the hope we may have—that they don’t have to carry this hurt and shame around forever—because there is someone to go to, to offload it to, and that person is Jesus himself.
That’s what forgiveness is—not us dealing with it, but God dealing with it. Giving our hurt to God and waiting for him to make things right, not making things right according to our way, in our time. That is the better way to talk about forgiveness: going to our Heavenly King and asking him to heal our hurts, to soothe what is aching, to mend what is broken, to comfort the turmoil within, and ultimately to make right what is wrong according to his will.
The servant who had been forgiven his unpayable debt didn’t go to the king, but took matters into his own hands—“Pay what you owe!” he maliciously demands. The greatest wrong about this is that he failed to go to the king first—the king whose reservoir of grace in paying the greater debt is large enough to cover all subsequent debts. Instead, the servant who had been forgiven then puts himself in a worse position—making himself accountable to his own standards rather than God’s. Having received mercy himself he withheld it from others—a rejection of God’s own heart. If that is the standard he will live by, the servant puts himself under his own law, and not under grace. That is a sobering warning for us too.
Jesus tells this story to teach us that forgiveness is not something we should limit, restrict or control. God doesn’t only give us a second chance or cast us out after three strikes. He has forgiven us—and continues to forgive us—without conditions. He took on the cost himself, when he gave his one and only Son to redeem the world, not with talents or denarii—not with silver or gold—but with Jesus’ holy, precious blood. This blood has washed away all your sin, and you are forgiven not just twice, or three times, or even seven, but completely, without Tc’s and C’s, or key performance indicators, or contractual fine print. Jesus was crucified for you, and there on the Cross God released you from your debt.
Jesus invites you to come to his holy Table again today, to meet with him who has swallowed up chaos with peace, bitterness with joy, brokenness with mending, condemnation with grace, death with life, and darkness with the light of God’s glory. His precious blood is the healing balm for you when others have hurt you and sinned against you. Jesus embraces the most horrific abuse with his own on the Cross, and covers over our shame to conceal it with his garment of righteousness.
At his holy Table you meet with him who has pardoned your unpayable debt before the Father. Jesus’ body and blood that he gives you again today is your Heavenly Father’s own sermon to you from him—you are dearly loved by him. You are completely forgiven by him. You have got off, scot free. Amen.
Pastor Tim Ebbs
St Paul’s Lutheran Church, Glenelg
Ordinary Time, 2025
Application points: how could this parable help you respond to someone who feels like God would never forgive them for what they’ve done?
Note: this is not intended to be an exhaustive list or a perfect step-by-step instruction of how to get results, but just ideas and suggestions as a guide only that needs to be adapted to each context
Pray for an opportunity to share your faith and tell this parable with someone who needs to hear it!
Study this parable and know it. You won’t be able to help someone else engage with the Good News of this parable if you don’t know it and how it applies to you yourself!
Work on building positive relationships with those around you—those you are friends with, your neighbours, work colleagues, the retail attendant who you recognize serves you regularly. Ask them how they are. Be intentional about showing care and concern for them. This kind of relationship building takes years, but it is worth it!
Keep praying!
Look for openings to share the practical aspects of your faith when the opportunity presents itself—for example, when those you talk with ask if you have a busy week, tell them what you’ll be doing in your volunteering capacity at St Paul’s. If they ask if you’re doing anything on the weekend, tell them that you’ll be going to church, and explain where St Paul’s (or whatever your local congregation) is.
Invite them to come with you to one of the activities of the congregation. Note: one of the main reasons people feel uncomfortable in coming to worship on Sundays is that it is a completely foreign environment to them, in which they know no one else. We would feel the same about going to a new facility on our own for the first time without anyone with us!
Of course, invite them to come with you to worship, but inviting them to come to one of the activities of the congregation (e.g Music nite, Latte Ladies, Wednesday community meal) might be a more appropriate first step of connecting with a church for them, where the goal is to meet some more people from the congregation without the added pressure of navigating through an entire worship service.
If they share a difficult situation in their life with you, welcome this! Be patient and non-judgmental with them. Give them permission to share further with you, if they are comfortable doing so.
If the person bears some kind of great guilt and/or shame, it is crucial that you validate what they feel! To not do so would make you just another person in their life they feel they cannot trust. They may likely assert that God would never forgive them for what they’ve done (this would most likely come to the surface somewhere between points 6-8 above). They may feel ‘unclean’ because of the great shame they try to hide. They may likely express deep hurt and anger. At this point, seek to reflect back to them what they feel! (“I’m so sorry to hear what has happened and that you feel like that…”). Avoid moralizing (“You should forgive and forget…you shouldn’t feel that way…you just need to…”).
Many people in these circumstances have a mental image of the church only heaping more condemnation and judgment upon them, and the thought of coming is unbearable.
Ask if you may share the hope you have—that we have a God who has paid our debt for us (“God would never forgive me”) or we have a God to whom we can go to give the burden of our grief, shame, hurt and anger. (For those who are ashamed and hurt)
- Jesus told a story about that once—about a servant who had an unpayable debt. It was the equivalent of 60 million days wages!
- The king cancelled the debt completely. He absorbed the cost of the debt himself.
- This is a story about God and you too. We have an unpayable debt of sin before God.
- But God did not spare his own Son Jesus, but gave his own life up for us all on the Cross. Jesus was crucified, and his shed blood is the price to ransom us and restore us to God. Our Heavenly Father has paid the price of our debt of sin before him, paying it with his own Son’s death.
- Jesus is our King we can go to when others have debts against us—when they hurt us and sin against us. Jesus embraces the most horrific abuse with his own on the Cross, and covers over our shame to conceal it with his garment of righteousness.
[1] W. V. Dunlap, W: ‘Semantic egnimas: What is the origin of the phrase ‘scot free’? Guardian.co.uk https://www.theguardian.com/notesandqueries/query/0,5753,-2732,00.html Last accessed 16 August 2025 20:26pm.
