Forgiveness Sunday

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!

On February 18, Forgiveness Sunday, the beginning of Great Lent, the Epistle reading is Rom. 13:11 - 14:4, and the Gospel reading is Mat. 6:14-21.

We call it "Forgiveness Sunday" and it's a very special, moving service of mutual forgiveness. But every Sunday – in fact, every day – should be Forgiveness Day. In today's Epistle, we read in Rom. 14:1-3 – "Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let not him who does not eat judge him who eats, for God has received him." As we enter Great Lent, keep in mind that it's not a game of spiritual one-up-man-ship. Some can fast, others just can't. St. Paul says here that he who eats only vegetables is weak in the faith: we fast to strengthen our weak faith, not to show how spiritually strong we already are. Nor should our Evangelical friends who eat meat during Lent look down on those of us who fast – that's not receiving the weaker brother. Each of us – Orthodox, Catholic or Evangelical – will answer to his own Master, Christ, not to us (v. 4).

Our Gospel reading this Sunday begins with - "For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses" (Mat. 6:14-15). How often do we unthinkingly rattle off the words in the Lord's Prayer in Mat. 6:9 – "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors"? Forgive and accept those brothers and sisters in the faith who do secondary things differently! Fasting isn't the main thing, nor are our beloved ethnic foods and customs. Folk dances, fish fries or halushki never got anyone into or kept anyone out of heaven. This is Forgiveness Sunday, so let's forgive and accept one another!

Mutual forgiveness implies repentance – "metanoia" – a change of heart and direction. That is what Lent is all about. So let's go a bit further in today's Gospel text: the Lord gives instructions on how to fast – "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly" (vv. 16-18). The Jews put ashes on their heads when fasting, but put oil on their heads for joyous occasions (NIVSB), so put on a happy face when you fast. Do you tell others about your fasting? Stop it! Doing that loses all the benefit of fasting! As Christ said in v. 5, "And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward." Do you fill your belly with tasty "fasting foods"? Cut it out! That's fake fasting: real fasting is simple and spare eating.

What to the Church Fathers say about it? St. John Chrysostom wrote – "What good is it if we abstain from eating birds and fish, but bite and devour our brothers?" (OSB note). Blessed Augustine said – "Pride can appear not only in the pomp of worldly wealth but even in the garment of sackcloth, where it is all the more dangerous because it is a deception under the pretense of service to God" (ACCS).

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This leads us to the next thought, about false wealth and true treasures – "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust corrupt and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (vv. 19-21). "Moth and rust" represent all agents and processes that destroy worldly possessions (NIVSB). So you bought Bitcoin as it went up to $20,000? Now it's down to $6,000 and you've lost your shirt. You grew your business and built yourself a million-dollar mansion, did you? One night your soul will be required of you, and the tax man will take most of that, thank you. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mat. 5:3). Which are you: poor materially but striving for more wealth, or truly poor in spirit? The Greek word for "treasure" is "thisauros" (KJV+) from which we get "thesaurus" – a thick volume containing a treasury of fancy synonyms you can use to sound like you're well-educated: could this be another earthly treasure we are not to seek?

Trusting in worldly goods is useless, as James writes (ch. 5:2-3) – "Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasures for the last days" (NOAB). The "last days" are the Last Judgment, when all worldly wealth and status will go up in smoke. Again, Chrysostom writes – "The love of money wounds the center of your vitality, your soul, your very life, and may overthrow your salvation. In relation to God's providence, all things about which we are anxious will pass away" (ACCS). Our very salvation is at stake: serve God or mammon, you can't serve both.

Finally, Blessed Augustine writes – "How can a heart be clean while it is wallowing in the mud? On the other hand, if it be fastened upon heaven it will be clean, for whatever is heavenly is unpolluted. A thing becomes defiled if it is mixed with a baser substance, even though that other substance be not vile in its own nature. Gold, for example, is debased by pure silver if mixed with it. So also is our mind defiled by a desire for the things of earth, although the earth itself is pure in its own class and in its own order" (ACCS). The soul was made for higher things than earthly treasures: keep it undefiled!

In conclusion, 1) forgive, don't judge or hold a grudge; 2) fast plainly and without show; 3) speak and live simply, don't strive for earthly treasure or status. Do all this to inherit the Kingdom of God.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is in our midst! He is and ever shall be!

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Sources:
ACCS = Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scriptures, on this passage (e-Sword add-in)
KJV+ = King James Version with Strong's Dictionaries and Concordance (e-Sword)
OSB = Orthodox Study Bible (used throughout except where otherwise noted)
NIVSB = New International Version Study Bible
NOAB = New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha