September 17, 2017

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time A

Sirach 27: 30 - 28:7; Romans 14: 7-9; Matthew 18: 1-35

Am I a forgiving person?  I think I am…but let’s go deeper into this.  Who are the people I can’t stand?  How do I feel about those who take advantage of me…who irritate me?  Bullies have existed throughout my life.  Who are the people who bully me now…what is my attitude toward them?  Forgiveness begins with empathy which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another and to see a situation from their perspective.  Am I an empathic person with the ‘disturbing’ people in my life?  Do I hold grudges?  Do I want to get even?  The theme of today's scriptures is the grace and courage to seek forgiveness and the strength to accept it.

Jesus ben Sirach the author of today’s first reading went to the Torah and wrote his reflection on these five books helping others on their spiritual journey.  He valued the Law of Moses, to him this was the source of true wisdom.  Can we see Cain and Abel (Genesis 4) and the selling of Joseph into slavery (Genesis 37) in today’s readings?  Sirach describes anger and its different stages as being ‘hateful things’.  Do I allow them to rule me?  So often I hang on to my emotions and let them control and manipulate me.  Isn’t this in opposition to love and friendship?  So what do I do when I discover this?  Do I apologize?  Do I avoid looking at ‘my issues’?  Do I look to God to forgive me and yet am unwilling to extend this forgiveness to others, especially those not on my ‘friend list’?  We can see traces of the Our Father in today’s verses.  In the Covenant with Moses, God continues to emphasize that He is full of compassion and mercy.  All are obligated to extend these to others.  In Leviticus 19:17-18 we hear God’s words, “You shall not bear hatred for your brother in your heart.  Though you may have to reprove your fellow man, do not incur sin because of him.  Take no revenge and cherish no grudge against your fellow countrymen.  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  I am the Lord.”

Paul is addressing tensions that have come up within the Roman community.  One side that Paul identifies as being weak in faith, continues to observe Jewish dietary laws saying that certain days as more important than others.  The other side, that Paul is on, does not observe these laws, saying that they are no longer bound by these restrictions. Paul today is putting these two factions together saying that both are to be welcoming to each other as Jesus taught.  The gospel of love is more important that any social differences that divide.  Faith in Christ is more important than the cultural issues that divide us.  Do I live in this way?  Or do I feel and live as if I am the one in charge?  

Matthew today focuses on mercy and forgiveness.  He shows this through an encounter between Jesus and Peter that exemplifies Jesus’ teaching.  Now the rabbis had a general rule that people should be forgiven as many as three times.  This would be considered very generous and merciful.  Peter having followed and listened to Jesus felt that the rabbi’s teaching didn’t go far enough.  He felt that more than doubling their teaching would be a great teaching.  Imagine how shocked Peter was when Jesus even expanded this number to 77 times.  Symbolically this means that a sinner must be forgiven without limit.  Jesus continues with a parable.  The first part tells of a king and his servant.  The servant owed an amount that he couldn’t repay. The king responded in the accepted business way of that time.  The servant pleaded with the king and promises to pay it all back.  Very surprisingly the king had compassion and forgave the entire debt.  How surprising the servant was and I’m sure Peter listening to Jesus.  Then, for whatever reason, the servant went out and in the very same situation went to one of his fellow servants and demanded payment for a much smaller amount.  Wouldn’t this servant forgive as he was forgiven?  No, he does just the opposite and has this man thrown into prison.  That was justice at that time.  The King on hearing this responded by handing ‘this wicked servant’ over to the torturers and he loses everything.   The point is that God places no limits on forgiveness.  Isn’t this in the Our Father too?  Jesus is telling us that if we place limits on forgiveness, limits will be placed on us.  

When each of us examine ourselves we can see hatreds, long festering grudges, vengeance, and even wars.  The advice to let go of these is not always easy.  It is always a challenge.  If I hang on to these, as Jesus shows us, these hateful things, slowly eat away at us.  It is a delicate task to ask for forgiveness.  It is important to see that both parties are involved:  I say I’m sorry, please forgive me, and the other accepts this and grants forgiveness.  They can say ‘no’; then what do I do?  Do I continue to ask for their forgivensss?  Do I continue to pray for them?  Prayer must always be present.  I have problems with mercy and forgiveness,  God never does.  God welcomes me back with open arms.  God always helps me.   Do I want Him to help me or am I stuck? Bring this ‘stuckness’ to the Lord in prayer.  

Connections, The newsletter of ideas, resources and information for homilists and preachers shares this, “The great sin of the unforgiving servant in today’s Gospel is his refusal or inability to realize the grace of God in his midst.  He has work that provides for his family; his own debt has been forgiven by an understanding and compassionate boss — and, for the obtuse servant, that’s all that matters.  He possesses no sense of gratitude for the good extended to him; he cannot see that he is part of a world bigger than his own wants and needs.  He reasons that the king’s forgiving of his debt is something one is entitled to, that survival is the name of the game and he found a way to win.  But to forgive as he has been forgiven — only a fool would do that.  But that is the Kingdom of God that Jesus comes to reveal:  a perspective of life that is built on gratitude for the gift of life itself, gratitude that compels us to generosity, justice, and, yes, forgiveness.  May we possess the spirit of gratitude for all that we have been given — and forgiven — and may that spirit enable us to create God’s Kingdom here and now, in which forgiveness is joyfully offered and humbly but confidently sought, mirroring the mercy and forgiveness of God, the compassionate Father of us all.” 

So I reflect on: 

• Why should I be willing to forgive others when they have hurt me?  What have I done in the past that has worked?
• What do I think is necessary for reconciliation to be honest?
• What motivates my anger? 

Sacred Space 2017 states:

   “When He speaks about the kingdom of God, Jesus invites us to use our imagination.  I use my imagination and allow myself to be drawn into this story; I think of how I am forgiven and confer how well I offer that forgiveness to others.

   The king in the story wanted first only to settle accounts with his debtors.  He did not set out to let the debt go.  Compassion took over later, and he cancelled the debt.  He would never think of it again.  The Lord is like that with us:  totally forgiving and not remembering our sins.  Help me, Lord, to forget my sins as you have, so that I can be free to love and forgive others.”