Kingdom of the forgiven and the forgiving. Sermon on the 11th Sunday after Pentecost (Math.18, 23-35)

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit!

Dear brothers and sisters!

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew. Let us attend.

God’s Kingdom is the Kingdom of love. One who has no love, cannot enter into God’s Kingdom. In God’s Kingdom there are only those, who have received God’s mercy and who themselves, following God’s example, have wholeheartedly forgiven their own debtors.

In today’s parable we are told about the tzar and his debtor, to whom the tzar (king) forgives all his debts, but who, in turn, would not forgive the smallest debt to another man – his friend. The principal theme of this parable is the following: we must strive to be as merciful as our Lord; at the same time, we should rely on God’s mercy, while remembering God’s justice.

God has revealed Himself as He always is in essence — as Love. He has shown Himself as Our All-Forgiving, Merciful friend and Helper. In today’s Gospel parable we are shown as one man does not wish to follow God’s example in relation to another man – his previous friend and debtor. The man, forgiven by God, has awfully distorted the Holy Image in himself and – by the cruel sense and perverted understanding of “fairness” – first destroyed his friendship and then caused his own death. God, upon seeing this man’s non-forgiveness, instantly removed His mercifulness to him and gave him in exchange the same justice, as that man had given to his debtor.

One, who does not forgive, testifies that there is no love in him; such person ends up staying in a dungeon (or the hell of darkness) until he repays his debt – in other words – forever, as he has no possibility to repay… Even his family suffers because of him: his wife and children are sold into slavery. These words «his master commanded that he be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had – and that payment be made» (Math. 18, 25) contain indirect instruction towards unhappiness, falling on the children’s heads because of parents’ “debts”, in other words – parents’ sins.

In this parable Christ points out at the greatness of our mutual debts and God’s merciful forgiveness. Unmeasurable amount of talents mean more than a hundred ‘dinarii’ multiplied a million times. The situation described in today’s parable is similar to that when a man, having received a house as a gift, squalls to snatch away one dollar from a beggar. On the other hand, the debt of one hundred ‘dinarii’ is also money… The injury of offense, caused by our close ones, can often be very bitter. We all owe each other something…

It is easier to forgive when a person knows that s/he is also forgiven by her/his debtors. Each one of us remembers the childhood years: how wonderful and easy we felt and how light and clean our heart became, when, unexpectedly, the adults forgave us a certain misdemeanor, when we should have been justly punished for our actions, but either the adults did not notice or they did not want to notice… The hope of being forgiven accompanies us all our life. No person wishes to voluntarily and consciously refuse the mercy of being forgiven, and to declare to God straight forwardly and decisively: «Render to me, Lord, according to my deeds, judge me according to your just law! » Vice versa, we, following the psalmist, are ready to sing to our Heavenly Judge, Who cannot be bribed: «Turn away Thy face from my sins!» (Psalm 50, 11) “Do not look, Lord, upon my sin, I did not intend to do that!”.

All people wish fairness, demand a precise and fair judgment, seek for an impartial judge, but only for others, for all remaining, for the guilty. When it concerns us, then we suddenly wish the principal of fairness to be changed to that of mercy. There is nothing surprising about that. The beginning and context of our prayer is: “Lord, have mercy!”- «Have mercy rather than punish me!»

The Apostles at their first council (when they were creating the rules, by which the new Christians, who had been just converted and turned away from idolatry, had to live) formulated an important principle that was replacing many detailed writings from the Commandments of Moses, which is: «Do not do unto others, that which you do not wish to be done unto you!» (Acts 15, 29). There is no simpler and more understandable Commandment than this!

Jesus Christ, while dying on the cross, gave to all of us a great lesson, the lesson of forgiveness: «Father, forgive them…» in these words we find the fullness of the “Good News”, proof of the truthfulness of the Gospel. Without forgiveness we can neither understand Christ’s Gospel, nor fulfill its instructions properly. Without forgiveness no one can call himself a Christian. As we treat our neighbor – so God will treat us in return. Let us also forgive, while we still have time! Amen.

Holy Ascension Russo-Greek Catholic Orthodox Church of Skaro. September 4, 2016