Let’s not overlook the fact that in the parable in Matthew 18 Jesus uses to underscore that our willingness to forgive should not have hard limits—not seven times, but 77 times, Jesus says—the story centers on money that a servant owed to a king.
In the parable, the hired servant asks the king who he works for to give him more time to pay a large debt he owes. The king shows empathy for the servant’s predicament and decides to instead forgive the debt altogether. But then that same servant, when dealing with a fellow servant who owes him a small amount of money, refuses to extend that same forgiveness, instead assaulting the person and having him thrown in jail until the debt is paid in full. The king learns of this, summons the servant whose debt he had forgiven, and says that because of his refusal to pay his debt forgiveness forward, he now will have to suffer the penalty of torture and prison, and pay his debt in full.
The kingdom of heaven may be compared to this, Jesus says. It operates on a foundation of forgiveness as a concrete demonstration of the limitless nature of God’s love. It allows for people to have a clean slate to start anew, to do and be better without being weighed down by the past. And in practice it doesn’t stop at lifting from people the guilt, shame, or sorrow of past harms done. It can also apply to lifting financial or other burdens that would otherwise keep people impoverished.