Christian Math - Fr. Gregory - August 23, 2020

Today on the eleventh Sunday of Matthew the Gospel lesson comes to us from Matthew 18:23-35 and it accounts for us the parable of the “Unforgiving Servant”. Peter asks Jesus how many times should he forgive others who sin against him, and using human calculations Peter says; up to seven times? Jesus' answer to Peter is Christian Math and He says seven times seventy, indicating forgiving others an infinite number of times. In this parable a king has compassion on his servant and forgives him a debt he could never repay. This servant quickly forgets the compassion shown to him and is not transformed by his encounter with the king. He is missing gratitude which leaves his heart cold and he does not forgive a fellow servant whose debt to him is incomparable to the debt he has been forgiven. Father Gregory shares with us that even though God has given us, His ungrateful servants, an infinite number of works and gifts, He bestows yet an even greater gift on us; forgiveness. We as Orthodox Christians should never be asking questions like Peter out of obligation, but instead we should practice philotimo, earnestly desiring to repay any small kindness with even more kindness from our hearts.