August 16th, 2026: on the Unforgiving Debtor, Matthew 18

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and

of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Glory to Jesus Christ.

Glory to God. We are in a very festive time in

the church with the peace of Dormition, Friday

night, and yesterday, this summer Pascha, and

the baptism of these precious men and women,

their own Pascha. What a feast. Glory to Jesus

Christ. So at the end, a procession at the end

of the liturgy seems appropriate. If you're sorrowing,

if you're at difficulty, if you're anxious or

disappointed, turn your mind away from those

intrusive thoughts or those thoughts for a few

moments today. You're members of the church.

The body of Christ. Did you hear the reading

from the epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians?

It's amazing. Listen, Jesus, the Son of God,

his divine word, is the image of the invisible

God. It's true. Atheists will tell you, you can't

see God. And we will say, that's true. But Jesus

Christ, the word of God, took flesh and has revealed

him to us. He stood with his feet on the ground.

He was nailed to a cross through his hands and

his feet. And he rose from the dead bodily. So

we have this icon that we can see as validation

and confirmation of his incarnation. And it's

also up there on the other side of that arch.

He is the image of the invisible God. St. Paul

goes on to say, the firstborn over all creation.

For by him, all things, put that in your mind,

all things, not some things, not things you like,

all things were created that are in heaven, the

invisible, and on earth, visible and invisible.

Were the thrones or dominions, these are angelic

powers, were principalities of Jesus that we

have been baptized into that has delivered us

from the power of darkness and conveyed us to

the kingdom of the Son of his love in whom we

have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness

of sins. It is he, Jesus Christ. That has loved

us before we loved him. That has forgiven us

before we ever had a thought of doing anything

good at all. He has come close to us. He has

gathered us together. And we see his holy face

in these wonderful icons depicted here. And it

is he who loves us. Right now, lay aside all

earthly cares. What a joy to witness the Pascha

of these six people. I congratulate their godparents

because these are wonderful people. They will

be easy godchildren because they love God so

much. They have died to sin. They have died to

death. That's what it means to go into that water.

They have died with Christ, and they have risen

with Christ, and as St. Paul said, and you heard

it, they have been delivered from the power of

darkness and conveyed into the kingdom of the

Son of his love, in whom they and we have redemption

through his blood, the forgiveness of sins. It

is about forgiveness. Brothers and sisters newly

illumined, you are so grateful to God. For this

gift of being set right with God. Whatever sins

you had, they have been washed clean. Some people,

I've met such people. What do I have sin against

God? What does God care about that? I have nothing

to apologize to God for. And I would say to them,

what about your neighbor? What about your neighbor?

In Matthew 18, the selection we've read, I've

read, the Lord Jesus Christ is teaching about

how those in the church are to act and to live.

That whole chapter is about that. I suggest we

study it. So St. Peter, after hearing Jesus talk

about behavior of his disciples, latches on to

the last thing Jesus talked about. He comes to

Jesus asking for some clarification about forgiving

others. And he asks if seven times to do that

is sufficient. Because seven is this scriptural

number. It's this fullness. Seven days of creation

and all that. Seems fair. It seems quite generous.

And then, you know, Jesus says to him, not a

math problem, 70 times seven, but a number. That

signifies perfection. Won't go into that now.

Perfection from the man of Bethlehem. And Peter's

reaction. Well it's not recorded. But imagine.

His reaction. Skeptical about many things Jesus

taught him. So the Lord teaches a parable which

we just heard. About a man who owes what's called

10 ,000. 10 ,000 talents. A talent is this weight

of gold or money or some such thing. It's not

a sum, 10 ,000. Anybody could ever, ever, ever

pay back. Not even Bill Gates could pay that

back. What we're talking about here is what?

We're talking about our experience of God's love.

Our experience of forgiveness. In baptism. Our

experience of God's remission. Taking away our

sins. In our confession. Our experience of being

set right with God. That's what we're talking

about. We're talking about this 10 ,000. Our

value before Christ. Let's say 10 ,000 lifetimes

of wages. That is what you and I are worth to

God. Beyond calculation. Every soul. Every single

person is worth more, say the saints, than the

entire universe. Will you treat yourself with

that kind of care, with that kind of love and

compassion that you know God has for you, and

having received this forgiveness and baptism,

received his compassion, will you be able to

extend that to others? That's the meaning of

this parable today. It's completely upon us developing

a spirit of compassion, a merciful heart towards

people in our lives. Some of us tally up offenses.

We tally up slights, faults. We remember the

shortcomings of other people. How many times

have I heard, Father, I can't forgive. And I

always ask, well, what does forgiveness look

like to you? Well, forgiveness looks like to

that person usually that everything is going

to be okay. And that person is going to be accountable

to me for what they did. And then I can let it

go. But that's not forgiveness. Forgiveness is

holding the money bag of $10 ,000 and saying,

fine, you don't owe me a thing. Forgiveness is

standing before the throne of God at the last

judgment, says Metropolitan Anthony Bloom, and

saying to that person that's next to you that

you probably hate, or at least are apathetic

about, and have something against. It's saying,

Lord, I have nothing against that person. And

yes, you have suffered, maybe not with the shedding

of blood, says St. Paul, but you have suffered.

and you have carried that weight. And it is not

right. And it will not go right. And it will

not be restored between you and he or her. But

you say, I have nothing against that person.

Why? Because God has given me everything. Everything.

St. Joseph the Hesychast, who reposed... In 1959,

today we keep his memory, he died actually on

Dormition, and he told his brotherhood there

on Mount Athos that he would be departing this

life, and the Theotokos was calling him. He said

that weeks before, and sure enough, he left this

life on the Feast of Dormition. He wrote this

in a letter to a nun who was having trouble...

A nun having trouble forgiving. It's not just

us. Nuns have some trouble too. He said, we're

all human. Born of dust. We have all sinned.

We are clay. Remember Adam being fashioned? We

are clay. We are ignorant. Clay robs clay. Clay

insults clay. Clay slanders Clay. Clay is haughty

against Clay. Clay gets rich with Clay. Clay

rules over Clay. Clay beats Clay. Clay imprisons

Clay. And in general, Clay considers itself wiser,

stronger, richer, nobler, and more honorable

than Clay. Amassing wealth in his stupidity and

ignorance of his own existence, he does not care

about whence and where he is. how he was born,

what his purpose is, where he will end up, and

what is to come after this. All of us who remain

unrepentant suffer here as well in the other

life. This is not God in his anger. Please understand,

God does not change into a fickle, angry God

because you've insulted your brother or sister.

or won't forgive one that insulted you. God is

always love and compassion. We suffer because

our conscience, that's why. He says all of us

who remain unrepentant suffer here as well as

the other life. Therefore, anyone who can see

better and is slightly less dark in their spiritual

life must forgive and sympathize with his neighbor,

his brother, his sister of like soul. and troubles.

For this reason, he says, my beloved sister,

soul of my soul, set aside your rights and wills.

Blessed are the right, as not in the beatitudes,

for the sake of my immense love towards you.

To our Lord and Master, the one who gave us this

commandment, may he have pity on each of us as

we glorify him. Amen.