September 17^th 2017. Twenty Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

GOSPEL: Matthew 18, 21-35

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading ...

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GOSPEL: Matthew 18, 21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive?
As many as seven times?" 
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times. 
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants. 
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount. 
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt. 
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan. 
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount. 
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused. 
Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt. 
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair. 
His master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! 
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. 
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt. 
So will my heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

Kieran’s summary . . . Sunday’s Gospel is about the servant who was shown great mercy by his master but who in turn had no compassion on his fellow servant. How hard it is to pardon others! The crucial issue in pardoning others is that I be aware of how much God has pardoned me. But so often there is a disconnection within me. I feel anger towards those who have offended me, but have little awareness of how much I have offended God and still been forgiven. Once I become aware of how much I am in debt to God, then it becomes possible for me – with the help of the Holy Spirit – to show similar mercy towards others. Anger and rancour towards others is a sure sign that I have not assimilated the mercy of God towards me. It is a sure sign that I have not reflected sufficiently on how miserable I am, how sinful I am, how many gifts God has given me without my merit. We like to think that we are worthy of life. We like to deserve the good things that we have received. But all of us are debtors at the deepest level. Once we assimilate this fact, then it becomes possible for us to be merciful towards the debts and offences of others.

When it comes to pardoning others, the crucial issue is that I be aware of how much God has forgiven me

The first reading from the book of Sirach gives us the key for interpreting the Gospel in this Sunday’s liturgy. “Forgive your neighbour’s offence and your sins will also be forgiven”. The point here is that we must not separate the issue of our own imperfection from that of the imperfection of others. We see this more clearly in the Gospel. A man who has enormous borrowings has all of his debts cancelled, but when he later meets someone who is in debt to him, he demands full repayment without showing any mercy. When the original creditor hears of this behaviour, the wicked servant is hauled before him and he says, “I had compassion on you. Should you not have shown similar compassion towards your fellow servant?” We are used to the scientific approach to truth, where the tendency is to separate things from each other in order to understand better. But Jesus is asking that we unite things in order to come to a fuller understanding. There is an urgent need to reflect on my own position before God whenever I find myself considering the position of others relative to me. Jesus tells us that the first commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart. The second commandment – to love your neighbour as yourself – is “similar” to the first, but the word used for “similar” actually indicates that this second commandment is one and the same with the first. There is a connection between our relationship with God and our relationship with others. This might seem obvious, but we have a tendency – very pharisaic and hypocritical – to keep these two relations separated. I think that my sins against God are not relevant to the question of the sins of others against me. But this is not true. He who is forgiven by God forgives others. He who does not pardon others has not assimilated the pardon of God towards himself.

Pardon is hard for us to accept because we would prefer if we could earn our salvation on merit.

This debtor is merciless towards the sins of others, and he represents all of us without exception. Such behaviour reveals the failure to interiorise the scandalous pardon that has been bestowed upon us. There is something embarrassing about pardon. Before it we are left naked, so to speak. We can do nothing in return, except return gratitude – which of course is important. But the account is imbalanced, as far as we are concerned. And that is difficult for us because we like to feel worthy, deserving, accomplished. In the face of pardon we are simply poor and undeserving. Normally when we are in the presence of others we like to feel that we are as good as they are. But with God we are simply not at his level, and that might seem obvious. It should prompt us to have tenderness and compassion towards the offences of others against us. This magnanimity can only be put in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. The creditor in the Gospel parable is a madman of sorts. He cancels a debt of ten thousand talents which is an enormous sum, the equivalent of the public debt of an entire country. The compassion this man shows towards his servant is a sentiment characteristic of God. The Lord stands before us with this kind of compassion. He knows the stuff of which we are made. He knows how weak and fragile we are. Life involves being forgiven a thousand times, to be welcomed home a thousand times. A child cannot grow if he is not welcomed and forgiven on a continuous basis. Life is the surprising discovery that we have again been given a chance to pick ourselves up and continue. He who does not want to live according to this logic is someone who, out of fear, or out of the emptiness which all of us carry inside, wishes to show at all costs that he is good, worthy and deserving. Such a person does not want to be pardoned but wants to tell himself that he is already at rights with the world. The truth is that none of us deserves to live. We have life only because we are loved unconditionally. The question of our merits is of no interest here. What is important is how God is and how our condition is.

Anger and unforgiveness towards others is a sure sign that we have not assimilated and comprehended the extent of God’s pardon towards ourselves

Our condition is that of a debtor towards the Lord and towards life. Any focus on our own merit is a pathway to bitterness, anger and unhappiness. If I look at life and consider the things that I think I ought to have but do not, then I am in a state of illusion and deception. Instead it is important to acknowledge the countless thanks that have been given to me despite my lack of merit. How many times have graces been given and given again even though I do not deserve them. To live as a creditor is to live as a bitter and angry man. To live as a debtor before God is to live as someone who has been visited by grace and tenderness. How do we manage to preserve rancour towards others? To do that we have to have a disconnection inside which makes us look only at the faults of others. With the help of the Holy Spirit we can be united inside and look at the offences of others – even those who have offended us grievously – and still be aware that the account is far from even: from God we have received life and so much else. No matter how badly we are treated by others, the Lord does not abandon us. God does not wish for the offences of others against me, but through these offences we can grow, develop, and mature and receive consolation. In summary, with God we are always debtors. We can accept this fact humbly and this is the gate to peace.