Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, Octoechos Tone 2; The Return of the Relics of the Holy Apostle Bartholomew (829-42); Holy Apostle Titus
Read
1 Corinthians 9:2-12; Matthew 18:23-35
This parable is our Lord’s direct response to Peter asking how often he needed to forgive others. Many rabbis of the times suggested that the maximum times one need to forgive the same offence was three times. Fr. Lawrence Farley suggests that this may be an interpretation by the rabbis on Amos 1:3f whereby Israel was forgiven three times. Peter seems to have doubled that and done even better by adding one. It suggests that Peter’s approach to forgiveness is how he looks good doing it seven times rather than the expected three times. The parable makes it clear that we are to forgive others every time. Why? Because we have been forgiven an inestimable amount, we can (and must) forgive all the time because what we forgive is so small in comparison (the parable compares what would be billions of dollars to a few thousand dollars).
Forgiveness is just like love—it’s not about me, it’s about the other. And we know that forgiving and loving can be hard at times. It can’t be just words. It must come from the heart. Let’s ask the Lord to purify our hearts of all passions (and cooperate with His grace in having this done) so that we can forgive as we have been forgiven by Him!