Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt. "The servant fell on his knees before him. 'Be patient with me,' he begged, 'and I will pay back everything.' The servant's master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. (Matthew 18:23-27)

This is the first half of the parable. Tomorrow we will attend to the second half.

Jesus tells us the reign of God is extravagantly generous.

The ruler wants to sunerio logos. Settle accounts is accurate and may best fit the context. But logos is the same Greek that opens John's gospel as, "In the beginning was the word."

Logos is - more commonly - meant as fundamental reality or the organizing principle of the universe. The ruler wants to lift up, elevate, apply logos.

In doing this the ruler finds he is owed a considerable debt. Certainly this is what the ruler would find with me. The ruler has every right to require me to repay.

But when I ask for patience and promise I will repay the debt, the ruler responds by simply canceling all I owe.