The story begins with mathematics. Peter asks Jesus, "Lord, how often should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me?" Seven times? That sounds reasonable, even mathematically merciful.

Jesus responds with a geometrically progressive figure. Forgiveness is limitless. It cannot be tallied. Throw away calculator and slide rule. Stop counting. There are no mathematicians or accountants in the kingdom. In my kingdom there is no forgiving seven times but forgiving seventy times seven times. Seven times here, seven times there, before long we are talking big money.

Compare God's kingdom with a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants, balance the books, set things right. Do justice. A servant owed him ten thousand talents. Don't get out your calculators, I'll tell you how much that is. One talent is the equivalent of fifteen years of labor. The servant owed his master something like $150,000,000. We're talking big money.

When the little wretch couldn't pay, the king ordered him, his wife and children to be sold. Does that seem harsh? But $150 million is a lot of money. Imagine a king giving a servant even $1 million. That would be a very generous king, very generous indeed. But this king has lavished $150 million on just this one servant. What became of all that money? What kind of life would you have to live to blow $150 million?

Don't waste your sympathy on this guy. He blew $150 million. He has nothing to pay back? Nothing? A wife, a couple of kids, a stint in jail, it really isn't so much when compared to $150 million.

You can't blame the king for being angry. If we were talking only, say, $10 million, then perhaps the king could have written it off. But $150 million! It's time for decisive action. He has wasted his master's hard-earned money. Put him and his family in the slammer and let them think it over.

There then follows such a scene. The servant falls down and (literally) "worships" the king. "Have patience with me and I will repay you everything." Who is he kidding? Repay $150 million when he's blown every cent?

In a burst of outlandish pity, the master sets him free and cancels the whole debt, all $150 million of it. Here the story begins to sound improbable. What kind of king is this? A soft-hearted, maybe even soft-headed king, for sure. Write off so great a financial injustice? Perhaps he's a liberal. A member of Amnesty International.

"$150,000,000? Well, it's only money. The poor little servant didn't have all the advantages I have had in life. No one ever taught him how to manage his portfolio. I'll write the whole thing off."

Well, all you bleeding-heart liberals, don't get too excited. The king's generosity is short-lived. On his way out of jail, this servant who has been forgiven a $150 million debt runs into a fellow servant who owes him $1,000. He grabs him by the neck and nearly chokes him, saying, "Pay back what you owe."

"Have patience with me and I will repay you," he pleads. Heard this before? Repay $1,000 when he's only a servant? It's bad to waste $150 million but then it's also bad to waste $1,000, particularly when you've borrowed it from a fellow servant who is no king. Put him in the slammer and let him think it over.