The Paradox of Genre

Sometimes, for example, in the parables, those formulas will be intentionally violated to sort of shock the reader and sometimes that shock can be comedic. So when Jesus says there was a man who owed 10,000 talents, it's immediately comedic, but then he goes on and pushes the joke a little bit more. And so that is a case where the parable starts out comedically, but ends tragically with the man eventually being cast into outer darkness because of his unwillingness to accept the forgiveness that was offered to him.