John Calvin Commentary Matthew 18:25

"But forasmuch as he had not [wherewith] to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made." — Matthew 18:25 (ASV)

His master ordered him to be sold.

It would be an idle exercise of ingenuity to examine every minute clause here. For God does not always display severity at first, until we, constrained to pray, implore pardon, but rather meets us with undeserved goodness.

But Christ only shows what will become of us if God were to treat us with the utmost severity; and again, if He should choose to demand from us what we owe, how necessary it is for us to turn to prayer, because this is the only refuge that remains for transgressors.

We must also pay attention to the wide difference in the sums; for, since one talent is worth more than a hundred pence, what proportion will a hundred pence bear to ten thousand talents?