Gospel Commentary MT 18:21-35
How large is your personal forgiveness quota? Trick question. It will seem like a trick question anyway, if you consider it from the point of view of how many times you want to be able to be forgiven. The other point of view would be how many times you are willing to forgive. The teaching of Jesus this Sunday concerns making the two numbers the same, and really, making them no number at all. The way we forgive should match the way we are forgiven.
Peter is at it again today. He is asking the questions others have but don’t dare ask. “How often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” Can you hear the calculator of his mind doing the estimates of what he thinks he could actually do, factoring in three or four more times to bring him closer to the answer he anticipates the Merciful Jesus might give? The answer Jesus gives, of course, is more than he expects and more than Peter thinks he can do. Without going into the weeds of translations and original languages (although such would be interesting to do) we notice that Jesus’ answer seems to have changed over the past years — not so long ago we heard at Mass “seventy times seven times.” Today, we hear “seventy-seven times.” Is it an error? Did Jesus send a correction through the church? Does it matter to you? A way of coping with these kinds of details is to glean the clear meaning of Jesus. Recognizing that He clearly means a great and endless number of times helps us put His merciful ways into action in our own interactions. Honestly, if we can manage to forgive, really forgive someone who offends us 77 times, will the 78th time be more difficult than the time before? Would the 490th time be the last straw?
The key to making sense of this merciful math game is to recognize that it is anything but a calculation. Imagine a coupon system by which we go over to the parish church and receive seven vouchers for this year’s Ordinary Time sins. This system would teach us that there is a limited supply of mercy. Maybe we would like the clear limits and boundaries? Would knowing that there is one more mercy moment possible for a person be enough to make him virtuous until his Lenten coupons came? Instead of these kinds of small-minded ways, Jesus teaches something very different and much better in today’s parable.
The master in the parable forgives his servant a very large debt. He does so when the servant asks him to be patient with him. “Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan.” The amount Jesus uses in this parable is an amount that would have taken the servant some fifteen years to pay. In this way, Jesus reminds us that we really aren’t in a position to pay back what we owe when it comes to making up for our sins. The only hope we have is to be able to acquire, so to speak, the kind of abundant wealth the master has. The master in this case simply doesn’t require the servant to pay. The continuation of the parable shows clearly that the meaning of this mercy is that it should be received, learned and passed on.
When we hear what happens next between the forgiven servant and his fellow servant who owes him a very small amount we are bothered rightfully. How could he do that? After he was just forgiven a much greater debt? The answer to our question is sometimes present in our very own ways. We seek mercy from God over and over. Also in life we are asked to forgive others around us. When we are asked to forgive are we connecting this opportunity to the one we just received? Is your Personal Forgiveness Quota able to stand up to an internal, interior audit? God’s mercy should change us. When it does, it changes the world also. When it comes to counting the cost of forgiveness we have to look at the wide open arms of Jesus on the Cross. “Father, forgive them.” Jesus forgives from a heart full of love. Jesus invites us to do the same — without counting how often or how much.
Fr. Zuberbueler is pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church in Falls Church.
http://www.theworkofgod.org/Devotns/Euchrist/HolyMass/gospels.asp?key=140
Year A - 24th Sunday in ordinary time
How often must I forgive?
Matthew 18:21-35
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.
24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him;
25 and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.
26 So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
27 And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.
28 But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denari; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’
29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.
31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.
32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
33 Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’
34 And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.
35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” (NRSV)
Inspiration of the Holy Spirit - From the Sacred Heart of Jesus
Sin is the dark inheritance of every human being. I came to this world to forgive sins so that you could be reconciled with my Heavenly Father and partake of his divinity and of the glories of the Kingdom of Heaven.
In my prayer to the Father I have taught you to say “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In other words, your forgiveness is guaranteed so long as you forgive those who upset you and sin against you.
You must forgive if you expect to be forgiven. Forgiveness begins with patience, which is a mild form of forgiveness and tolerance that opens the heart to complete understanding and mercy.
I have said, be merciful as my heavenly father is merciful, do not judge and you shall not be judged, for with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.
Justice will be made to those who do not forgive. Therefore, be mild in your judgment; always treat others as you would like them to treat you. Put your self in the other person’s position when you are offended. Do not risk your own forgiveness by having resentments in your heart.
The moment someone offends you is the moment to forgive and forget. The other person may have committed a sin but you are not God to condemn him, forgive him and you will avoid committing a sin yourself. Be merciful and you will obtain mercy on the day of judgment.
When you do not forgive, you create resentment in your heart, which will work against the person who offended you and will serve as the platform to harden your heart. You will accumulate more resentment against other people and in the end you will have many enemies. The evil of your resentments will be your sin; it will surround you with darkness and destroy all your chances to be at peace with your self, with your neighbor and with God.
You will not find happiness on earth as long as you have resentments, therefore you must forgive and forget in order to obtain interior peace and to reconcile your self with others and with God.
There is no point in presenting your offering before Heaven if you still have something against your brother. If you bind resentments in your heart, they will stop you from entering into the joy of my presence, you will have to undo each resentment with many acts of love in order to be purified.
The Holy Spirit cannot be at home in a heart that does not forgive. Lack of forgiveness leads to hatred; which is the opposite of love.
Forgive and you will truly learn how to love, love mercifully and you will imitate the goodness of my loving heart.
Author: Joseph of Jesus and Mary