Sermon – There Is No Limit to Forgiveness (Sirach 27:30–28:7 | Matthew 18:21–35) – September 13, 2026

The main message of today's service readings and the Bible is forgiveness.

The first reading taken from the book of Sirach reads as follows:

Hatred and anger are abhorrent things… Forgive your neighbor for the wrong he has done to you; thus, when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.

This is the main message of today's service.

Resentment and anger are two emotions that destroy and wear down a person from within.

A person who harbors resentment is deprived of the ability to love. Their heart is always closed, and their thoughts are always filled with anger and revenge against the one who harmed them.

We say that harboring resentment slowly and gradually kills the person who harbors it.

This is why forgiveness is important. Forgiveness is the liberation of our soul and heart, so that we are free to love as God desires.

But forgiving is not an easy thing.

In today's Bible, Peter asks Jesus how many times we should forgive.

Jesus replies:

I'll tell you not just seven times, but seventy times seven times.

With this, Jesus wants to express that forgiveness should be constant and not limited to a certain number of acts.

We can see this in the interpretation of Church tradition as well.

Saint John Chrysostom says:

"Therefore, when he says 'seventy times seven,' he isn't setting a specific number to limit forgiveness; it means something continuous and eternal."

Saint Augustine says:

“Forgive as many times as you sin, for Christ encountered thousands of sins and yet forgave them all.”

So there is no limit to forgiveness.

Jesus forgave all sins in his death on the cross. If we want to be forgiven, we too must learn to forgive.

This is what the parable Jesus tells in today's Gospel teaches us.

Jesus tells the story of a servant who had a great debt, but begged his master for forgiveness, and the master forgave him everything.

However, shortly afterward, this same maid encounters a friend who owes her a small sum of money and has him thrown in jail.

What is Jesus trying to teach us with this story?

Jesus wants to remind us of what we pray for every day in the Prayer to Our Heavenly Father:

Forgive us for our sins, just as we forgive those who wrong us.

Because if we ask for forgiveness for our own mistakes but are not ready to forgive others, then we cannot be considered truly repentant.

And thus we commit the greatest sin: pride.

When we judge others from head to toe and say, "I will not forgive this," we forget that God is looking down on us from above and saying , "I forgive . "

We are humble in the presence of the Lord, but often arrogant in the presence of our neighbor.

But if we live by forgiveness, we cannot put ourselves above others, and therefore we must forgive.

This does not mean that sin ceases to be sin or that causing harm is not real.

This means we should be willing to forgive because we are in need of God's forgiveness .

It is not permissible to stand before God and beg , "Oh God, have mercy on me," and then pray for punishment for others.

We either want justice and punishment for everyone—including ourselves—or we want mercy for everyone.

There cannot be two different measures and two different standards: mercy for me, and anger and punishment for others.

However, it is difficult to forget the injustice we suffered and to erase the feeling it left us with.

Therefore, it is important to note that forgiveness exists only in the spiritual world, not in the material world.

When we are wounded, a scar remains inside us. Nature does not forgive, but it leaves traces of what happened.

If someone breaks an object, it's possible to repair it with glue; however, that object will never be the same again.

That's why we feel the pain of an insult.

There is no such thing as recreation in the material world. Forgiveness, however, is the act of rebuilding a relationship between two people that has been broken by an insult.

Forgiveness is a kind of recreation, a return to the original state.

Therefore, forgiveness is a grace we should seek from God, and it is an act of mercy in which we relinquish the desire to take revenge on the person who wronged us and to do them harm.

Forgiveness is something that transcends human nature.

But forgiving is not the same as denying the wrong done.

If someone has genuinely wronged you, you can accept this:

"What this person did was wrong. I was wronged. This hurt me."

However, we should also add this:

“I don’t want to harbor hatred towards this person. I don’t want revenge. I leave justice to God and I pray that this person repents and is saved.”

In summary:

To forgive, with God's grace, is to decide not to wish harm upon the person who wronged me, to refrain from revenge, and to leave justice to God; it is also to strive for that person's repentance and salvation without denying the injustice we suffered or pretending the wound doesn't exist.

And this has an even deeper meaning:

To forgive someone is, in a way, to act in the same way that God has acted towards us.

If we seek mercy and forgiveness from God, we must forgive those who have wronged us.

If we do not forgive, how can we ask God for forgiveness for our sins?

Today, let us seek the intercession of the Virgin Mary so that we may always and wholeheartedly forgive everyone who has wronged us in our lives .