In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit, I greet you, dear brothers
and sisters, on this 11th Sunday after Pentecost.
Here we are at the end of August. For many weeks,
as you know and as I've been emphasizing, we've
had lessons from the Gospel. Miracles of Christ.
That's what we've been hearing really all summer
long. About faithfulness. About trustworthiness
of Jesus. About our own trust in him. About his
divine power to feed, to heal. To give us sight.
To know him. To know Jesus as the son of God.
So we call him Lord. All these lessons have been
given to us. I'm not going to review all that
today, but today we have this parable. The first
parable we've had since, I think, since Lent.
In fact, somehow or other, the weekly news cycle
was all about forgiveness. Loan forgiveness,
that is. But we're talking about a different
kind of forgiveness today. Anyway, a cancellation
of a debt. I want to talk to you about the condition
of the heart in regard to this parable. The condition
of the heart, which is the center of a human
being, where we find ourselves, where we meet
God, where when a person is baptized and chrismated,
the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in the heart.
It's not a place of feelings. although it's affected
by feelings. It's a place of spiritual understanding.
It's the eye of the soul. I want to talk a little
bit about the heart, very briefly. Many church
teachings, particularly about morality, run against
the grain of modern culture. We know that. This
teaching... that the Lord gives us in this parable
is tacitly kind of admired, but not kept very
well, not even by Christians. And so how can
we stand before the Lord? So the Lord is telling
us what will happen if we can't forgive, not
that he's going to throw us into the hell pit.
No, but we open ourselves up to the anger, the
dysfunction. The sin and the memory that just
doesn't go away. Church members, this is a parable
for us. All of chapter 18 is about life in the
church. How to treat one another. The Lord speaks
of fellow servants and a master. People think
this parable and its teaching The teaching is
not attainable. But it is. When we forgive our
fellow servants, again, Jesus is speaking about
the church, it's forgiveness, as he says, from
the heart. When our Lord says forgive from the
heart, it is because the heart is the place where
divine grace is placed by God. And it flows in
from God and it flows out to others. Love from
God, love for God equals love for others. Just
as we can't say we love God if we don't love
our brother. The heart is to be the throne of
God within us. Know ye not that your body is
the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you.
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own.
This temple of the body holds that which is beyond
understanding, beyond comprehension, the presence
and the love of God. But before that can happen,
however... we experience the heart as a battleground
of spiritual struggle. Those of you that were
here last night heard a little bit about St.
Moses the Black and the battle that he waged
spiritually within him. It's a battleground.
Close examination of the heart reveals what the
prophet Jeremiah observed. Chapter 17. The heart
is not the place that we consult. When we have
to make a decision. The heart is not the place
where if it feels right, I'll do it. This is
what Jeremiah says. The heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately corrupt. Who can understand
it? And Jesus himself says, from within, out
of the heart of a person. Come evil thoughts,
sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting,
wickedness, deceit. Lord, stop. Sensuality, envy,
slander, pride, foolishness. Lord, really. All
these evil things come from within and they defile
a person. So our task is to have the heart cleansed.
That is why we're here. Today. To open ourselves
up to the cleansing of the heart so we can do
what seems totally impossible. We can restore
paradise as I spoke last week. You heard about
the fall. Restore paradise and to be truly the
image of God. And we can only know that by following
Christ because otherwise how can we know what
God's image is? The struggle is more than worth
it because within the heart Out of the heart
will go coveting, wickedness, deceit. Out of
the heart will go desperate corruption, as Jeremiah
says. And into the heart will be planted peace,
love, joy, mercy, long -suffering, gentleness,
faithfulness, self -control. The struggle is
more than worth it. St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote
this, Every blessing that comes from God is then
available to you. You can possess it with a free
spirit. Be your own judge. Cast the saving vote
for yourself. Do you ask God to forgive your
debts? Forgive the debts of others, and God will
cast his favorable ballot. And St. Maximus says,
forgiveness does not mean, well, no, I say, sorry,
St. Maximus says something else. Forgiveness
does not mean trusting those who hurt you. It
does not mean allowing ourselves to ever again
become the victims of someone's abuse or betrayal.
But what it does say, what does do, what Maximus,
the confessor, does say, if you are remembering
that evil against someone, then pray for that
person. And through your prayer, what will happen?
A miracle. You will remove the pain of the remembrance
of the evil that person has done. You will stop
the advance of the passions. You yourself are
the Lord of the judgment concerning your neighbor.
Maybe many of you have heard of that monk in
the monastery. He told his abbot, Father, I can't
say the Lord's Prayer. I can't say, I can't forgive
this person. And the abbot said, okay, here's
what you're going to do. You're going to say
the Lord's Prayer. Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will
be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us
this day our daily bread. And end right there.
Can you really say that? No. Because... then
you open yourself up to condemnation. How marvelous.
How marvelous is this parable. So when the Lord
says, love your enemies, we know it's possible
because it's God's grace that is doing it. When
he says, do good to those who hate you, we know
it's possible for it's God doing it. good through
us when he says pray for those who persecute
you we know from the lives of the saints that
it is possible he commanded these things so we
might be set free from hatred from sadness from
anger and grudges and God will grant us the greatest
possession of all perfect love says St. Maximus,
which is impossible to have except by the one
who loves all equally in imitation of God. How
marvelous. Forgiveness is not just about better
health and life and satisfaction. It's not just
an aid for reducing stress. It is that and fighting
depression. It is about becoming by grace what
God is by nature and restoring true paradise
on the earth. One person at a time. One congregation
at a time. And that's leaven. That's salt. That's
fulfillment of the Lord's precious commandments.
Let's try to keep this parable. Let's think about
it all week and examine in ourselves the grudges
and the lack of forgiveness we have against somebody.
You may not think there is one. But I find as
we look more deeply into our souls and into our
memory, there's always someone that we hold something
against. Forgive them through prayer and you'll
be set free.