When we stand in front of the Judgment Seat of God He will take an account of our life. The only way for us to be forgiven by God will be our ability to forgive even the smallest things that others have done against us. All our begging won’t help if we hold on to what others have done. Only with a clean heart can we approach God for Holy Communion and salvation.
Well, I’m sorry to tell you, this morning’s gospel is another difficult one for our hearts. It’s about forgiveness. It’s about the only kind of forgiveness that God accepts from us. I’m going to work backwards from the end of the reading and then go forward. The last verse we just heard, “So my heavenly Father also will do to you in each and one of you if from your heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses.” Now the story, my brothers and sisters is what happens to those who do not forgive? In the beginning of the story, it says, “The kingdom of heaven is like.” This is one of the parables that Christ gives to us so we can clearly understand how the judgment takes place. And the scenario is the master is settling the accounts with everybody who owes him anything.
And the first servant owes him more than he could ever possibly pay. Thousands and thousands and thousands of talents. More than if he had lived 100 years, he would not have had enough money to pay. And it says that the master ordered that he be sold into slavery with his family. And he begs the master, “Please just give me time and I will repay you.” Now the master, first of all, remember the master is God. The master knows that he will never be able to repay him. He knows that. But because the servant asked him for mercy, the master didn’t just give him time, but forgave it all.
Now I want to pause here to help us understand the word forgiveness. In English, the word forgiveness has two options in the Greek. The Greek word used in this morning’s gospel is αφήνε, which means to let go. It says he let go of the debt. He forgave it as if he no longer possessed it. And that’s an important thing for us to remember as we make our way through the gospel. Now you would think this man avoiding slavery, avoiding prison, saving his family would have been somehow changed in his heart. But he goes outside, he finds one person who owes him according to the gospel, 100 denari. A denari is one day pay.
So here is the comparison. The man who owed the master more than he would ever humanly possibly be able to pay back. And the other, a man who owed merely 100 days pay. And the same man, he says, “Please give me time and I’ll pay you.” “No,” and he threw the man in debtor’s prison. My brothers and sisters, this is not a story of debtor’s prison. This is a story of our hearts. We wake up every morning begging God to forgive us. And then we leave the house and someone who said the slightest thing that was offensive to us 27 years ago, your laughing betrays you because we’ve all done it. We have that one thing in our hearts that we just can’t let go. It was the smallest thing, but we hold onto it and it gnaws at us and it eats us. And we see the person maybe even across the church from us today. And immediately our mind goes to that one small thing.
And this is why my brothers and sisters, this is such a difficult gospel because the master, when he finds out that the man did not forgive, throws him in jail. My brothers and sisters, if we cannot let go of the things people say and do to us about us behind our back, whatever, if we cannot let go of the smallest things, God will not let go of the things that we have against God. That’s the story of judgment. This is why Christ says, “Your heavenly Father will do this if each of you do not forgive in your heart.” Don’t just say ‘okay’ and keep a log. So the next time something comes up, we can add it to the list. You see, this morning’s gospel isn’t about whether we forgive the big things. It’s actually easier to forgive the big things. It’s the small things that we hold onto. Those small offenses that insult.
Well, today is our chance. Today is the chance that God has given us. We have already said, “Lord, have mercy,” I don’t know how many times in the liturgy. And we’re going to say it that many more times. We are here, my brothers and sisters, begging for God, begging God for forgiveness. And in a moment, we’re going to hear the beautiful Cherubic hymn. If you don’t understand what the choir is singing, look in your books. And there’s an important phrase. It says, “Let us lay aside all the cares of life so that we may receive the King of all.” This is our chance to forgive.
So in your hearts, my brothers and sisters, before Holy Communion, I want you to dig deep in your hearts and ask God to replace the anger, the animosity, the vengeance, whatever emotion is there, ask God to replace it with his love and his grace and his mercy. And then with a clean heart, we may come forward and receive God into us. Let’s not let this gospel send us away from Christ just because we prefer to hold on a grudge. Let’s let this gospel call us to something higher, call us to greater love, call us to forgiveness so we can let go, αφήνε, let go of even the smallest to the largest of anything anyone has ever said or done against us. And then come to God. And then come and be forgiven, so God will welcome us in. Glory to God for all things.
