In this daily Bible reading Jesus tells the parable of a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. One slave owed the king 10,000 talents. The slave could not pay such a large amount of money, so the king intended to sell the slave and the slave’s family to settle the debt. The slave fell down before the king and begged for mercy. The king had compassion for the slave and forgave his debt.
Later, the slave confronted another slave who owed him 100 denarii and demanded repayment. The slave who owed him could not repay and begged for more time. The slave refused to be merciful and had the slave who owed him money put into prison. When the king heard of this matter, he was quite angry and turned the first slave over to the torturers until his 10,000 talents were repaid.
Jesus said to His disciples that God will be merciful toward us and forgive us our sins if we are willing to also forgive those who have sinned against us. The key, I believe is our willingness to forgive.
God will forgive us if we repent of our sins and beg for His forgiveness. I believe that repentance is essential to forgiveness. I do not believe that we are called to forgive others unless they are sorry and ask for our forgiveness. Then, indeed, we are called to forgive them.