In the collect today we pray that God keep the Church, His household, in continual Godliness, that He protect it from adversity and that it may serve him though good works. We are born into this divine household, the Church, through Baptism, and Holy Communion is the gathering of the family at the Father's table. We profess in the Creed that we believe this body to which we belong to be HOLY. but it is not we, its members who make it holy, but Christ who loves it and gave himself for it, purifying it, that makes it holy. The Church is holy because God himself washed it in his own blood. And as members of the Church, because of what we each have promised and because of what we each believe, we are to become holy ourselves. We have been made holy through the Grace of God, but we become holier through right belief, and right behaviour. We believe that Jesus is the Son of God, so we should model our lives and actions after his. The Christian life is modeled after the life of Christ, and through this continual modeling we will come to be like Christ.

           Today's Gospel lesson reminds us of one of the fundamentals of this Christ-like life: forgiveness. A king decides to call in some of the debts owed him. One of his subjects owes him ten thousand talents,- a great deal of money. A talent in the first century was about fifteen years wages for a laborer, so in today's currency we are talking about at least a couple of million dollars. The king says "Pay me back", the man is unable to, and pleads his case so well that the king feels pity for him and writes off the debt entirely. The man then goes out and tries to collect a debt owed him, fifty pence, or denarii, equivalent to about five thousand dollars today. Unable to pay, the debtor is thrown into prison. When the King hears about what has happened, he reinstates the first debt and imprisons the man until he can pay his loan back.

           The interpretation is clear. The king is God. We owe him an immeasurable amount; an amount we can never repay. But, being merciful, He forgives us everything. However, we must forgive others just as completely if we ever hope to avail ourselves of this divine forgiveness. WE must forgive not just the three times called for in the Old Law, nor the seven times that Peter suggested would be an adequate improvement on that, but seventy times seven, that is, without ending.

           We have no right to God's forgiveness, yet if we sincerely ask Him for it we receive it, not because we are entitled, but because he is merciful. And we must do the same. We pray "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." All our outrageous, immeasurable sins against God are forgiven by God only if we forgive all those minor, petty sins that others commit against us. If we cannot forgive one another, the forgiveness we seek from God will be of no benefit to us.

           Henry Ward Beecher said " ‘I can forgive, but I cannot forget’ is only another way of saying ‘I will not forgive’. Forgiveness ought to be like a cancelled note which is torn in two and burned up, so that it never can be shown again." somebody else said “Old hurts are like dirt roads. The more they are traveled, the deeper the ruts become”. It's often difficult to forgive, and the longer we refuse to forgive the more difficult it becomes. But forgive we must. George Herbert said "He that cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass if he would ever reach heaven; for everyone has need to be forgiven."

           Daily we pray that God will forgive us our sins. Let us today pray to God for the strength and courage to forgive each other, even as Christ forgave those who crucified him, and THEN ask him to forgive us, knowing that as we do so in faith he will give us the grace to do both.

           And now to Father Son and Holy Spirit be all power and glory now and for ever, Amen