Like the debtor in the parable, we can only plead for forgiveness and throw ourselves upon the mercy of God; and when we do that, he, as always, gives us more than we ask for and inevitably more than we deserve: for to those who “truly repent and believe in him” (1) he not only forgives us all we have done amiss, he goes further: he welcomes us as his own sons and daughters.

The servant’s debt is forgiven, and we then take our place as members of his family – but it is always by grace and favour, never by right: never for our own merits but always through his manifold and great mercies.