Sermon 83

SERMO 83

ON THE WORDS OF THE GOSPEL MT 18, 21, 22:
"As many times as my brother sins against me," etc.

The likeness of cruel slaves.

Yesterday, the holy Gospel admonished us not to neglect the sins of our brothers: "If your brother sins against you," it says, "rebuke him between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he disdains you, take with you one or two others, that every word may be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses. But if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the Church. And if he refuses to listen even to the Church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector." Today’s chapter, which follows the one we heard just now, also pertains to this matter. For when the Lord Jesus had said this to Peter, Peter asked the Master how often he should forgive a brother who sins against him and sought to know whether seven times would suffice. The Lord responded to him: "Not seven times, but seventy-seven times." Then he told a very frightening parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a man, a householder, who wished to settle accounts with his servants; among them he found one debtor who owed ten thousand talents. And when he ordered that all he had, and his entire family, and he himself be sold, and the debt be paid, the servant fell on his knees before his lord, asking for a delay and earned forgiveness. For his lord had mercy on him and forgave all his debt. But that servant, once freed from his debt but still a slave to iniquity, went out and found a fellow servant who owed him not ten thousand talents, as his own debt had been, but one hundred denarii. He began to seize him by the throat and said, 'Pay what you owe.' But this fellow servant begged him, just as he had begged his lord: however, he did not find such a fellow servant as his lord had been. Not only did he refuse to forgive the debt, but he did not even grant a delay. He dragged him off, strangled, to be paid, already freed from the lord's debt. This displeased the other servants, and they reported to their lord what had happened. And the lord made that servant come before him and said to him: 'You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me; should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?' And he ordered that all that had been forgiven be required of him."

Every man is a debtor to God; however, he has his brother as a debtor.

Therefore, he proposed this similitude for our instruction and did not want us to perish while admonishing. Thus, he says, your heavenly Father will do to you if each one of you does not forgive his brother from your hearts. Behold, brothers, the matter is clear, a useful admonition; and a very healthy obedience is owed, so that what is commanded be fulfilled. For every man is both a debtor to God and has his brother as a debtor. For who is there that is not a debtor to God, unless there can be found in him no sin? But who is there that has no brother as a debtor, unless no one has sinned against him? Do you think anyone in the human race can be found who is not himself bound by some sin to his brother? Therefore, every man is a debtor, yet also has a debtor himself. That is why God, being just, set a rule for you in your debtor, what He Himself will also do. There are two works of mercy that free us, which the Lord Himself briefly set forth in the Gospel: Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Forgive, and you will be forgiven pertains to forgiveness. Give, and it will be given to you pertains to granting a benefit. He said this concerning forgiveness; you also want to be forgiven for what you sin, and you have another whom you can forgive. Again, regarding granting a benefit; a beggar asks you, and you are a beggar of God. For when we all pray, we are beggars of God: we stand at the door of the great father of the family, or rather we lie prostrate, supplicant and groaning, wanting to receive something; and that something is God Himself. What does a beggar ask of you? Bread. And what do you ask of God, if not Christ, who says: I am the living bread that came down from heaven? Do you want to be forgiven? Forgive: forgive, and you will be forgiven. Do you want to receive? Give, and it will be given to you.

How often one should forgive a brother.

But listen to what might move you in this clear directive. In the forgiveness where pardon is sought and owed by the forgiver, what can move you is what moved Peter. "How often must I forgive?" he said. "Seven times?" "Not enough," said the Lord: "I do not say to you, Seven times; but, seventy-seven times." Now count how many times your brother has sinned against you. If you can reach the seventy-eighth fault to go beyond seventy-seven times, then exact vengeance. Is it really true what He says, and does the matter truly stand such that if he sins seventy-seven times you forgive; but if he sins seventy-eight times, it is already permitted for you not to forgive? I dare, I dare say, that even if he sins seventy-eight times, you should forgive. And if he sins, as I said, seventy-eight times, forgive. And if he sins a hundred times, forgive. And why should I say so many and so many times? Absolutely, as many times as he may sin, forgive. Have I then dared to exceed the measure of my Lord? He fixed the limit of forgiveness at seventy-seven. Shall I presume to overstep this limit? It is not true, I have not dared to say more. I heard my Lord Himself speaking in His Apostle, where no measure and number are prefixed. For he says: Forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as God in Christ forgave you. You heard the pattern. If Christ has forgiven you seventy-seven sins up to this point and no further, set a limit yourself and do not forgive beyond. But if Christ has found thousands of sins and yet forgives them all, do not withhold mercy, but seek the resolution of that number. For the Lord did not say seventy-seven times without reason; since absolutely there is no sin which you ought not to forgive. Behold, that servant whose debtor was found to owe him ten thousand talents. I think indeed that ten thousand talents, as small as the amount might be, represent ten thousand sins. I do not want to say that one talent encompasses all sins. Now, how much did that servant owe him? He owed a hundred denarii. Is this not more than seventy-seven? And yet the Lord was angry because he did not forgive him. For not only are a hundred more than seventy-seven, but a hundred denarii perhaps are a thousand asses. But what is that compared to ten thousand talents?

All debts must be forgiven.

And therefore let us be ready to forgive all offenses that are committed against us, if we desire to be forgiven. For if we consider our own sins, and count what we have done, what we have seen, what we have heard, what we have thought, what innumerable motions; I do not know whether we could sleep without a burden. Therefore, we ask daily, we daily knock at the divine ears by praying, we daily prostrate ourselves and say: Forgive us our debts, as we also forgive our debtors. What are your debts? All, or some part? You will respond, All. Thus also you to your debtor. Therefore, you set this rule, you speak this condition: with this pact and agreement when you pray, you remind, so that you say: Forgive us as we also forgive our debtors.

Notable figure regarding this matter.

What then does seventy-seven mean? Listen, brothers, to a great mystery, an admirable sacrament. When the Lord was baptized, the holy evangelist Luke recalled his generations there: in what order, in what lineage, by what descent it came to the generation in which Christ was born. Matthew began from Abraham and came down to Joseph in descending order. But Luke, numbering in ascending order, began to count from the baptism of Christ. Why did one descend and the other ascend? Because Matthew commended the generation of Christ, by which He descended to us; therefore, he began to count descending when Christ was born. Luke, however, began to number at the baptism of Christ, as that is the beginning of ascension: he began to count ascending and completed the generations at seventy-seven. From whom did he count? Pay attention to whom. He began to count from Christ up to Adam himself, who first sinned and generated us with the obligation of sin. He reached up to Adam, and seventy-seven generations were counted: that is, from Christ up to Adam, which we said are seventy-seven; and from Adam to Christ seventy-seven. Therefore, if no generation is omitted, no sin is overlooked where it ought not to be forgiven. For this reason, he enumerated seventy-seven generations, commending the number the Lord mentioned in the forgiveness of sins; since he began to count from baptism, where all sins are forgiven.

Decalogue, another figure of the same.

And in this, brothers, accept still a greater sacrament. In the number seventy-seven exists the mystery of the forgiveness of sins. So many generations are found from Christ to Adam. Then, ask more diligently the secret of this number itself, and seek its hidden places: knock more diligently, so that it may be opened to you. Justice consists in the law of God: this is true. For the law is entrusted in the Ten Commandments. Therefore, he owed ten thousand talents. This is that memorable Decalogue written by the finger of God, handed down to the people through Moses, the servant of God. Therefore, he owed ten thousand talents: it signifies all sins, because of the number of the law. He also owed a hundred denarii: not less from the same number. For even a hundred times a hundred makes ten thousand; and ten times ten, a hundred. Both the ten thousand talents, and the ten times ten. For the legitimate number has not been deviated from, in which you will find both sins in both. Each debtor, and each crying for pardon and obtaining it: but that bad servant, ungrateful servant, wicked, refused to pay back what he received, refused to grant what was given to him unworthy.

In the seventy-seventh number, all sins prefigured.

Therefore, see, brothers: everyone who begins from Baptism, goes forth free, ten thousand talents having been forgiven him; and when he goes out, he is to find his fellow servant as his debtor. Therefore, observe the sin itself: because the number eleven is the transgression of the law. For the law is ten, the sin is eleven. For the law through ten, the sin through eleven. Why the sin through eleven? Because it is the transgression of the ten, so that you come to eleven. However, in the law, the measure is fixed: but transgression is sin. Now when you transgress the ten, you come to eleven. So great is the mystery that was figured, when it was commanded that the tabernacle be made. Many numbers were said there, in great sacrament. Among other things, goat hair curtains were ordered to be made, not ten, but eleven: because through goat hair the confession of sins is shown. What more do you seek? Do you want to know that all sins are contained in this number seventy-seven? Sevenfold is usually counted as total: because time rolls around in seven days, and with the sevenfold completed, it returns again to the beginning, so that the same form is rolled. Through such revolutions of form, the ages pass: yet the number seven is not departed from. For He said all sins, when He said seventy times seven: because that eleven multiplied by seven, becomes seventy-seven. Therefore, He wished all sins to be forgiven, who signified them by the number seventy-seven. Let no one hold against himself by not forgiving, lest he be held against when he prays. For God says, Forgive, and it will be forgiven you. But I first forgave: do you at least forgive later. For if you do not forgive, I will recall you; and whatever I had forgiven you, I will replicate to you. For Truth does not lie; nor does Christ deceive or be deceived, who added, saying: So also will your Father who is in heaven do to you. You find a Father, imitate the Father. For if you do not wish to imitate Him, you plan to be disinherited: He will therefore do to you, He says, your heavenly Father, if you do not forgive each one your brothers from your hearts. Do not say in your tongue, I forgive, but delay in your heart. For God shows you punishment by threatening vengeance. God knows where you say. A man heard your voice: God looks at your conscience. If you say, I forgive; forgive. It is better when you cry out with your mouth, and forgive in your heart, than to be kind with your mouth, cruel in your heart.

Forgiveness must be granted in such a way that discipline is not neglected.

Now therefore, undisciplined children plead, and do not want to be flogged, who thus prescribe to us when we wish to give discipline: I have sinned, forgive me. Behold, I have forgiven, and again he sins. Forgive: I have forgiven. He sins a third time. Forgive: I have forgiven a third time. Now let him be flogged the fourth time. And he replies: Have I wearied you seventy times seven? If by this prescription the severity of discipline falls asleep, when the discipline is suppressed, impunity encourages wickedness. What then must be done? Let us correct with words, and if necessary, also with blows: but let us forgive the offense, let us cast the fault out of our hearts. For this reason the Lord added: from your hearts, so that if discipline is imposed through love, leniency does not depart from the heart. For what is as kind as a doctor bearing an instrument? He cries while being cut, and is cut: he cries while being burned, and is burned. This is not cruelty; far be it that the severity of the doctor be called cruelty. He is severe on the wound so that the man may be healed: because if the wound is patted, the man is lost. Thus, therefore, I have warned in this way, my brothers, that we love our brothers who have sinned in every way, that we do not let love for them depart from our hearts, and that we give discipline when necessary: lest through the relaxation of discipline wickedness increases, and we begin to be accused on account of God; because it has been recounted to us: Rebuke those who sin before all, so that others may fear. Certainly, if anyone distinguishes the times, which alone is true, and resolves the question, it is true. If the sin is secret, rebuke in secret. If the sin is public and open, rebuke publicly: so that the sinner may be corrected, and the others may fear.