So we pass to the second part of the parable. As the forgiven governor swung buoyantly out of the palace courtyard, he came face to face with some minor official from his own province who happened to owe him 100 denarii, the equivalent of 100 days’ pay.

Seizing the man by the throat and shaking him he demanded immediate payment. The wretched man fell to his knees and pleaded in the same words which the governor himself had been using so short a while before, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you” (NRSV, Matthew 18: 29).

This pointed reminder of his own recent forgiveness, however, failed to soften the governor’s heart, for, refusing even the request for time to pay (which was well within the official’s power), let alone cancelling the debt itself, he threw him into prison till all should be settled.