Gospel [Matt. 18:23-35 (§77)]
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Dear father, brothers and sisters:
In today’s Resurrectional Gospel we leave the miracles, exorcisms and healings, the signs and wonders which we have encountered in our readings these past few weeks and today are given one of the starkest and most striking parables of the whole Gospel. Our parable was prompted, by Peter’s question to the Lord a few verses earlier where he asks – ‘Lord how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive me, till seven times?’. Let us interpret this powerful parable with the help of St Theophylact, the 11th century Bishop of Ochrid.
Our Gospel reading today starts in this way-
Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.
There are several parables where the Lord is depicted as a King and this one is no exception, St Theophylact in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew makes a clear comparison between the King and the Lord.
The Word is likened to a man who was a king, that is, He Who became incarnate for our sake and appeared in the likeness of men, and He settles accounts with His servants as a Good Judge.
And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.
Then, in the parable, we are introduced to a servant who owes 10, 000 talents. 10, 000 talents sounds a lot of money, but how much exactly is this in today’s money? Talent comes from the Greek word tálanton, and in New Testament times was a large monetary measurement equal to 6,000 drachmas or denarii, the Greek and Roman silver coins. It was the largest unit of currency at that time. The denarius was a standard silver Roman coin and equal to a day’s wages. So, if one denarius was what a man like the ungrateful servant could earn in a day, he would need to work 6,000 days to earn one talent. Ten thousand talents would equal 60 million denarii or 60 million days of work. Although my maths is ropey, I make that about 164 years of continuous labour. Thus this debt that the King’s servant owed was not just a large amount of money, it was an utterly unattainable sum of money which would be impossible for him to pay.
In his commentary, St Theophylact, takes a more spiritual interpretation of this passage and first relates it back to us as the readers and hearers of this parable. Again, it is important that we see that the purpose of Christ’s parables was not to entertain us, but rather to help us reflect back on ourselves: to put ourselves in the parable, that it might in this way transform us through this reading or hearing. Thus leaving aside the wicked servant for a moment and his vast debt –
It is we ourselves who owe ten thousand talents, receiving benefaction every day yet giving back nothing good to God in return.
St Theophylact also gives a more spiritual interpretation and perceives that the servant who is the debtor can also be interpreted as the soul. The King, our Lord, threatens to sell the servant along with his wife and children for the sake of the salvation of the servant – the soul. As St Theophylact says –
See how the woman, which is the flesh, and the children, which is the doing of evil, have been given over to affliction that the spirit might be saved’
The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.
Then we see that the King’s harshness has had the desired effect – as the servant bows down and worships the King, God Incarnate. St Theophylact also draws attention to the plentitude of divine mercy and Goodnesss. The servant did not even presume that such a debt could be written off, just forgotten and so asks for more time.
In His love for man God forgave the debt entirely although the servant was not asking for complete forgiveness of the debt, but for an extension of time in which to repay it. Learn, therefore, that God gives more than we ask for.
We can also see the wisdom of the Divine plan, the way in which God can use threats out of intimate concern for our salvation.
The command for the servant to be sold, God did not speak out of severity, but to terrify the servant in order to induce him to fix all his hope on entreaty and supplication.
But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.
One would expect that after being saved from slavery and complete destitution, that this experience might cause a radical change in the life of this man. That he would be forever grateful to his Master and conscious of how merciful he has been to him and what a new start, a new lease of life he has been given. But, in that all too human, all too flawed and sinful way, our unloosed servant doesn’t manifest this change of heart, but instead acts as if he had never been a debtor himself.
In his commentary St Theophylact focuses on the way in which the servant withdraws from the presence of God, and it is after He withdraws that we see the start of this very negative and sinful tendency within him.
The one who lacks compassion is not the one who remains in God, but rather he who departs from God and is a stranger to Him. So great was the servant’s inhumanity that, although he had been forgiven the greater amount (ten thousand talents), he could not at all forgive the smallest amount (a hundred pence), nor grant a postponement.
Although the servant had been granted mercy, we can see that he is merciless. Look at the violence with which he grabs his fellow servant by the throat, something the King never did. Look how soon as well he succumbs to this, just moments after he had been released and freed. See how even the fact that his fellow servant uses the very same words – ‘have patience with me’ still this does not remind him of his own former debt and the mercy that was shown to him.
So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.
St Theophylact provides a beautiful gloss here that the fellow servants are, in fact,
the angels, who are shown here to be haters of evil and lovers of good.
Think also, brothers and sisters, how much our Guardian Angels must weep everyday over our sins and over our selfishness. Think how many spiritual tears have been shed from their eyes over our stubborn refusal to live out the Baptismal promises each of us have made to Christ.
Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
The master in his love for mankind takes issue with the servant, to show that it is not the master, but the savagery and the ingratitude of the servant that has revoked the gift.
Again, the servant could hardly complain about the justice of the King’s sentence here. He had been in debt, and had been shown enormous mercy yet when he encounters one who is indebted to him, there is no reciprocity, there is no love, no empathy. Such injustice cannot go unpunished but cries out to God.
So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.
St Theophylact spots an interesting detail buried in this last line of our Gospel reading –
He did not say ‘your Father’, but ‘My Father’. For such as these are unworthy to have God as their Father … Understand then, what a great evil is remembrance of wrongs, since it revokes the gift of God.
Let us all note here how we risk revoking God’s gracious Gift of adopting us as sons if we do not forgive our brother or sister their sins against us. Let us remember those words Lord’s Prayer which we repeat every day and at every divine service: ‘And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors’. Sometimes we can become overpowered by the sins and offences, the debts of our brother.
Dear ones, although maybe everyone of us here in this church today has a small list of people who we are struggling to forgive and maybe who haven’t repented for their misdemeanors against us, let us seek to forgive them for Christ’s sake, remembering just how many sins we have been forgiven by the Lord ourselves. In the sober words of Elder Ephrem of Arizona, of blessed memory – “If you cannot forgive – forget heaven”. It is that simple.
Amen.