A HOMILY FOR THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
About the Parable of the Merciful King and the Merciless Debtor
Brothers and sisters,
After His Transfiguration, our Lord Jesus Christ remained for some time in Galilee before leaving for Judea, where He would raise Lazarus from the dead, enter Jerusalem in triumph, and be crucified for our salvation. During those days in Galilee, He answered various questions put to Him by the disciples, among which was this one, asked by the holy chief apostle Peter: Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times?[1]
Wishing to impress as deeply as possible upon Peter and upon all who would become His followers in every generation till the end of time the importance of repeated, unstinting forgiveness, Christ answered, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.[2] Then the Lord told His extremely weighty and ever-memorable story about the merciful King and the merciless debtor, which we heard in today’s Gospel.
In this parable God is portrayed as a king whose servants owed him money. The servants represent all those who have ever lived, for every human being is a sinner and thus a debtor before the Lord. Failing to obey the Lord’s commandments as we should, we all come short of the glory of God.[3] It says that the King would take account of his servants, which means that God demands a full reckoning from every man before all creation at the Last Judgment and also a preliminary account at the Particular Judgment of souls shortly after they depart the body. Again, each of us is the man who owed ten thousand talents: before the abyss of God’s righteousness, our sin constitutes a humanly unpayable sum. A Jewish talent equaled three thousand shekels of the sanctuary, each shekel containing about $5.00 in silver at today’s price. Thus a single talent was equivalent to $15,000 in our present-day money, and ten thousand talents to $150,000,000. This, in a world where labor was extremely cheap. The average daily wage of an unskilled worker was a Roman denarius – called “a penny” in the King James Version of the Bible. A denarius was worth somewhat less than a shekel of the sanctuary. By speaking of ten thousand talents, the Lord’s intent is to convey the idea of an enormous, mind-boggling sum.
According to the Book of Leviticus, the King had every right to sell the insolvent debtor to another master but, moved to compassion by the servant’s pitiable entreaties, he decided to forgive him the entire debt: a wonderful portrayal of God’s boundless compassion towards repentant sinners! But then that servant demanded that another pay him a debt of one hundred denarii. Doubtless this seemed to him a considerable sum (about four month’s wages), but it was as nothing compared with ten thousand talents. Ignoring every plea for mercy, he had his fellow-servant cast into debtor’s prison, as permitted by Roman law and many other forms of law prior to quite modern times. The King’s other servants were embittered when they learned this, and they informed their master of what had happened. Furious with the wicked servant, the King condemned him to torture for his hard-heartedness. The evil servant was to be tortured until he paid everything he owed the King: in other words, he was to be tortured forever, because he could never pay back the enormous sum of ten thousand talents. Similarly, if we refuse to forgive others we shall be cast into eternal hellfire.
Sinners are saved through the mercy of God. Never through their own power or out of their own resources can they satisfy divine justice. But, as Saint Isaac the Syrian teaches, divine love and goodness has supremacy over divine justice. The Lord is eager to forgive our entire debt to Him, provided only that we forgive our own debtors unconditionally. Otherwise, the Lord’s justice comes into play, and unending punishment is our due. Thus the whole meaning of the parable is summed up in its final verse: So likewise shall My heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
Our Lord Jesus Christ told this story to remind us that we sin so gravely before God that we are hopelessly in debt to Him. At the same time, the offences of others against us, while they may seem significant to us, are actually at most like a mere one hundred denarii in comparison with ten thousand talents. The weight of an offence of course increases in accordance with the dignity and importance, not to say the holiness, of the offended. When we sin against God, we sin against the majesty of the Most High, Who is enthroned above the heavens and is King of all creation. We sin most grievously; therefore, our debt is measureless. Nevertheless, the Lord’s compassion is boundless as well. He forgives all our sins, if only we display a loving, brotherly attitude toward our neighbors and pardon them when they displease or grieve us. And so, brothers and sisters, if anyone has offended you, behaved in an unseemly way toward you, aroused your anger, or hurt you, remember the parable of the merciless debtor. Struggle against your feelings of resentment, and do your very best to forgive wholeheartedly. Remember your own infinite, unpayable debt before God, and how trivial by comparison is the debt of your offender, whatever it may be: for what are you in comparison with the most holy Lord of all creation? Fear to nurture rancor in your heart, for true are the words of Scripture: He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy.[4] Amen.
[1] Matt. 18:21
[2] Matt. 18:22
[3] Rom. 5:2
[4]Jam. 2:13
