38. Долг

It happens in the world that one borrows a little money or some other thing from another, and what is borrowed is called a debt, and the one who took it is called a debtor. And the more he takes, the more he multiplies his debt and owes more to the lender. Likewise, any person, when he ruins God’s commandment and sins before God, falls into debt to God and becomes a debtor to Him. And the more he destroys God’s commandments and sins against his Creator, the greater the burden of debts he collects and the greater the debtor he becomes to the Majesty of God. Hence, human sins are called debts to God, and sinners are called debtors, as we read in the Lord’s Prayer: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). The law obliges the debtor to repay the debt to the lender. Likewise, every sinner is obligated by the law of God to pay for his sins to God. The debtor, if he does not repay the debt to the lender, is thrown into prison. Likewise, a sinner, if he does not repay his debt to His Creator, is thrown into eternal prison. But how can one repay the debt to God to a sinner who has offended His infinite majesty so many times? There is nothing to pay for one sin, but with what - for many and serious sins, for even one sin, as an insult to the infinite majesty of God, is worthy of eternal execution and death, as Christian theology teaches. Christian! It is hard to become a debtor to a person, but it is incomparably harder to fall into debt to God through sins. It is fierce and terrible to be thrown into a temporary prison, but it is incomparably crueler and more terrible to be thrown into an eternal prison. Sin is sweet to people, but its fruits are bitter. “The wages of sin is death,” says the Apostle Paul (Rom. 6:23). It is easy to commit sin, but it is not easy to free yourself from sin. We must certainly come to liberation by the One who says: “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). It happens that if the debtor cannot repay the debt to the lender, then the lender, by his grace alone, leaves him the debt, and the debtor is free. Christians! We are God's debtors. We could not and cannot pay our debts to God, to whom we were and remain indebted. But He, by His unparalleled mercy, leaves us the debts of our sins. We are the debtor who owed ten thousand talents to his king and had no means to repay his debt. “The king, being merciful... forgave him all the debt" (Matthew 18:24-28). To us, His debtors, the Heavenly King forgives many and heavy debts of sins, like ten thousand talents, for we have nothing to pay, but forgives those who turn to Him with a pure heart and repent for their sins, and those who fall before Him and ask for mercy from Him. He leaves with grace and love for mankind. His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, “Who was delivered up for our sins and was raised for our justification; The king. And the number of times he fearlessly destroys the commandment of God, the number of times he falls into debt before God. And the number of times he commits sins, the fornicator, the adulterer, and every unclean person multiplies his debt by the same amount he adds to his debt. The more a kidnapper, thief and covetous person steals, the more he becomes burdened with sinful debt. A slanderer and a foul-mouthed person who speaks recklessly, a blasphemer and every scolder, the more he defiles his tongue with rotten and evil words, the greater the debtor he becomes to God. In a word, every lawbreaker, the more he fearlessly violates God’s law, the greater the burden of his debt he collects and the more he exposes himself to punishment. O man! Sweet is the sin with which you offend the infinite majesty of God and inflame His righteous anger against yourself! Sweet is your sin, for which Christ, the Son of God, drank the bitterest cup of suffering and death! Sweet is your sin, for which you will taste the sorrow of eternal death if you do not repent! Do you see how bitter the fruits of sin are, although it seems sweet to you! But it’s enough to be burdened with debt. It’s time to throw this burden off your shoulders - so that you don’t appear with it at the Judgment of Christ. Woe to the man who appears there with this heavy burden! Will certainly plunge him to the bottom of hell. Fall down, poor man, before your Creator, and with a humble and contrite heart cry out to Him, imitating the publican: “God! Be merciful to me, a sinner" (Luke 18:13). And the Lord will look upon you with a merciful eye, and will leave you all your debts. But in the future, beware in every possible way of offending Him and borrowing money from Him. And when you recognize God’s mercy towards yourself, show mercy to your neighbor and forgive his sins, so that you do not recognize the wrath of God on yourself again, and may your abandoned debt not be returned to you, as was the case with that wicked servant mentioned in the parable (Matthew 18:28-35). Rancor closes the door to receiving God’s mercy and leaving sins behind. “For if you forgive people their trespasses, your Heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive people their trespasses, then your Father will not forgive you your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15). “Father!... Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:9-12). The debtor, having received mercy from the lender and seeing his debt forgiven by him, rejoices. Likewise, a sinner, having received the highest mercy and remission of sins from God, feels living consolation in his heart and rejoices at His mercy poured out on sinners. A heart that truly turns to God, repentant and contrite, is not left without consolation by its Merciful Creator, for God, the Humane-loving and Merciful, kindly and mercifully looks at the heart that turns to Him, contrite and falling before Him, so that “God will not despise a contrite and humble heart” (Ps. 50:19), and pours out on such a heart the oil of His mercy, from which a saddened heart, like a wound from a life-giving plaster, is healed and receives some vitality. “The Lord... heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds” 6 (Ps. 146:2–3). This is the gospel living consolation that a repentant heart receives from its Merciful Creator! This is the same gospel about which Christ, the Redeemer of the world, says: “He has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor, and sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord” (Luke 4:18–19). The debtor loves the lender as his merciful benefactor, is grateful to him all his life, and remembers his good deed even to death. So the sinner, feeling God’s great mercy upon himself, loves Him from the heart, thanks Him from the heart, and remembers this grace of His even to death. Gratitude is the memory of blessings. Where there is memory of blessings, there is gratitude. Where beneficence is forgotten, ingratitude appears. The debtor, seeing the mercy shown by the creditor and remembering this mercy, also shows mercy to his debtor, if he has one, and releases the debt. This is a sign of a kind and grateful person. Likewise, a grateful and kind-hearted Christian, seeing God’s mercy towards himself and feeling the remission of his sins, also shows mercy to his neighbor and forgives him his sins. It happens that a crafty debtor, having received a request for a debt from the lender, does not want to forgive the debt to his debtor, which righteously moves his creditor to anger, and again he sees his debt returned from him, and becomes a debtor to him, as before. Likewise, an ungrateful and crafty Christian, feeling God’s great mercy towards himself, having received remission of grave and great sins from God, does not want to leave his neighbor even small sins. Small, I say, sins, because when a person sins before another, no matter how much he sins, it is much less than what we sin against God. And so he moves God, his Creator, to the righteous and greater anger, and as before he was, so again he becomes a debtor to Him, even greater than he was. Read about this, Christian, the parable of the king and his debtor, and you will see how difficult and dangerous it is to be angry and take revenge on your neighbor (Matthew 18:23-35). There is nothing safer than to forgive, and there is nothing more dangerous than not forgiving and taking revenge on your neighbor for sins. “For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13). God, in His goodness, shows mercy to us all; we feel it not only every day, but also at every hour. But when a person, having been honored with God’s mercy, does not want to show mercy to a person similar to himself, then God takes away His mercy from him, as from an ungrateful and crafty slave. As a result, a person, instead of mercy, is subject to God's righteous judgment and will be judged for all his sins, whatever he has done in his life. We see, Christians, how scary and dangerous it is not to forgive and take revenge on one’s neighbor. "Evil slave! - the king says to his debtor, to whom he had forgiven the debt, “I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me.” Shouldn’t you also have had mercy on your companion, just as I had mercy on you?” The Heavenly King says the same thing to a Christian who does not have mercy on his neighbor. “And, being angry, his sovereign handed him over to the torturers until he paid him all the debt. “So,” Christ the Lord concludes the parable, “my Father in heaven will do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from his heart his sins” (Matthew 18:32-35). Translation by P. Yungerov – Editorial “ABC of Faith” You might be interested in: