I Corinthians 9:2-12
Matthew 18:23-35
Matthew 18:23-35
Today we
continue celebrating a great feast of the Church, the Feast of the Dormition of
Mary the Thetokos When we think of the
Virgin Mary, we cannot help but marvel at the unique and glorious role that she
plays in our salvation. For the Son of
God to humble Himself to the point of becoming a human being, He had to have a
mother. God entered into creation and
became one of us through her. She was
truly the temple of the Lord in her miraculous pregnancy. And Mary had the astounding role of raising
Jesus Christ, of nursing, loving, and guiding Him as any mother does for a
child. She lived a life of great piety
and purity all her days, and the tradition of the Church teaches that the
Theotokos was a much loved and respected figure in the early Christian
community in the years following Christ’s death, resurrection, and ascension
into heaven.
The icon of the
feast of the Dormition shows that Christ came with the angels to receive Mary’s
soul upon her death. All the other apostles
were present, but St. Thomas did not arrive until three days after her
burial. When the tomb was opened so that
he could see her one last time, Mary’s body was gone. The first one to receive Christ had become
the first one to share in His resurrection, to follow Him body and soul into
eternal life. Through Mary, Christ
descended to earth. And now through
Christ, Mary has ascended to heaven. And
as she said when she appeared to the apostles the evening of that third day,
“Rejoice, I am with you all the days of your lives.”
Our Lady the
Theotokos is herself an icon of our salvation.
She models for us what it means to accept Christ and to love and serve
Him. Her death and ascension are
reminders of our destiny, of our hope, for the fullness of eternal life in the
Kingdom. And now she is with the Lord in
heaven, praying for us—for the Church and the entire world-- interceding with
her Son on our behalf with the boldness of a mother—the same boldness that she
demonstrated in asking Christ’s to help with the shortage of wine at the
wedding in Cana of Galilee. That was His
first miracle in John’s gospel, and He did it upon the request of His mother,
even as He continues now to respond to her prayers.
No, we cannot
fully understand the mystery of the eternal Son of God having a human mother or
of their relationship to one another.
For these amazing truths are part of the great miracle of the
Incarnation: that Christ really did
become one of us in order to make us partakers of the Divine Nature, in order
to bring us into His eternal life. And
Mary the Theotokos is the prime example of one who is truly united with Christ,
who shines with His holiness. Throughout
her life, she led the way in loving and serving Christ; and upon her death, she
led the way into the life of the Kingdom.
If we want to follow her example of
participating so fully in the life of God, we need to take very seriously our
Savior’s parable in today’s gospel reading about the importance of
forgiveness. A servant owed his king
more money that he could possibly earn in his entire life. When he couldn’t pay, the master was ready to
sell him and his entire family in order to cover the debt. But the servant begged for more time to pay,
and the master showed mercy even beyond his request. He actually forgave the debt; the man owed
nothing and he and his family were safe from punishment.
Then that same servant found another
servant who owed him a much smaller sum of money. But that man didn’t have enough, so the first
servant had him put in prison until he could pay the debt. When word of his response reached the king,
he was furious that the man to whom he had shown such tremendous mercy would
not even be patient with his fellow servant.
So the king put the first servant in prison until he could pay all that
he owed. Jesus Christ concluded this
parable with the harsh warning: “So My
heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not
forgive his brother his trespasses.”
The Lord’s point
is that if we are participants in the Divine Nature, if we are truly in Him, we
must forgive and forget; we must show others the same love and mercy that He has
shown to us. Remember what the one who
told us to forgive seventy-times seven said from the cross, “Father, forgive
them for they know not what they do.”
There is no limit to the forgiving love of Jesus Christ. And if we are in Him, there can be no limit to
our forgiveness either. We who want His
mercy must show it to others. Otherwise,
we reject Him and condemn ourselves.
If we are
honest, we will admit that we all have lots of room to grow in forgiving those
who have offended us. Unfortunately, we find
it much easier to judge, hate, and condemn than to love and forgive. For ever since the fall of Adam and Eve, we
have distorted our relationships with one another, allowing fear, judgment, and
insecurity to separate us. Early in the
book of Genesis, their descendent Lamech brags that he will avenge himself
seventy-seven fold. In other words, if
you accidentally bumped into him he would kill you and your entire family. You wouldn’t want to mess with him. Well, our desire for revenge probably doesn’t
go that far. We may not avenge ourselves
seventy-seven fold, but we often find it almost impossible forgive seventy
times seven.
Remember the words
of St. John’s Epistle: “If someone says,
‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar.” It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit in
our hearts and souls that we will find the strength to stop lying in this way,
to treat others as Christ has treated us.
Like any other
area of weakness in the Christian life, the struggle to forgive should begin
with confession, with an honest acknowledgement before God that we hold a
grudge against someone else, that we have not forgiven that person. Even as we ask for God’s forgiveness, we
should ask for His help in being reconciled and forgiving completely whatever
wrong has been done. We must treat them
with mercy and also pray for those who have offended us, asking God’s blessings
on them. And when we are tempted to dwell
on what they have done or to judge them, we must immediately turn our attention
to the Jesus Prayer or at least to something else that distracts us from this
temptation. No, none of this is
easy. None of it is immediate. But if we consistently turn away from unholy
thoughts, they will lose their power over us.
If we get in the habit of not paying attention to them, they will
diminish. And then we will enjoy a new
freedom to forgive our enemies from our hearts, to replace grudges and resentment
with love, to be at peace with them, as much as it depends on us.
We rarely think
of the Theotokos in relation to forgiveness, but have you ever noticed that we
have no record of her judging or
condemning those who murdered her Son?
That’s truly remarkable and a sign of her great holiness. Even as He prayed from the cross for the
Father to forgive them, Mary held no grudge either. Imagine that:
a mother not being consumed with hatred for those who crucified her only
child.
So during this
time of the Dormition, let us look to the Virgin Mary as a living icon of our
salvation, of what it means for a human being to love, obey, and participate in
the life of God. Let us follow her
example of holiness in how we live and die, and especially in how we forgive.
It’s comforting
to know that we do not make up the Christian life as we go along. Instead, we are surrounded by a great cloud
of heavenly witnesses who have paved the way and who cheer us on in our journey
to the Kingdom. First among them is the
Most Holy Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary.
By her prayers and the mercy of her Son, let us follow her into the joy
of life eternal.
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