TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME
17 SEPTEMBER 2023
Last
Sunday, Jesus gave instructions on handling conflict in the Church. He told us to go to the one who has offended
us and bring the matter with love and directness. If the person responds, then the matter is
solved. If that does not work, we are to
bring the matter before two or three other members of the Church, much like an
intervention for an addicted love one.
If that does not work, we need to bring the matter to the Church, which
has the power to loose and bind. If that
fails, we need to treat the offender like a Gentile or a tax collector. In other words, if the offender chooses to
leave the Church, we must continue to make sure that there is an openness for
that person, just as Jesus pursued Gentiles and tax collectors in his day.
Jesus had given
Peter the authority to bind and loose.
He has obviously understood the process Jesus has outlined for
reconciliation and forgiveness. So, he
asks Jesus the question: “How often must
I forgive?” He knows that he must
forgive many times. So, he adds, “As
many as seven times, the Biblical number indicting that we must forgive many
times?” But Jesus comes back with an
incredible number: “Not seven times, but
seventy-seven times.” In other words,
Jesus insists that we never give up the process of forgiving. We must imitate God’s endless cycle of
forgiving over and over again.
Then, he
tells this parable. The debtor owes the
king 10,000 talents, a staggering amount.
A single talent was the unit of money equal to the wage-earning
potential of fifteen days of daily labor.
It would have taken this man over 150,000 years to repay. He orders him to be sold, along with his wife
and children and all his property. Then the servant falls down, does him
homage, and says, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.” The king knows that he could never repay that
debt. Moved with compassion, he lets him
go and forgives his debt.
Then the
servant seeks out a fellow servant who owes him a much smaller amount. 100 days’ worth of labor would repay it. Ignoring the incredible mercy that he has
just received, he chokes the other servant and demands repayment. He makes the same statement: “Be patient with me, and I will pay you
back.” But he refuses and puts him in
jail. The other servants are so shocked,
that they report this to the king, who treats his servant as he had deserved.
In telling
this parable, Jesus demands that we never give up on forgiving. He echoes the advice of Sirach, who points
out that wrath and anger are hateful things when we hug them tight. Jesus tells us that we must continue to
forgive and not count the offenses against us.
We must do this, because Jesus himself has ransomed us from the cycle of
sin that we can never repay.
This
process of extending to others what we have received in our redemption is very
difficult. Forgiving another who has
hurt us profoundly does not mean that the offense is justified. It means that we must move beyond the hurt
and anger caused by the offense and let go of our wrath. The process may take time. I have worked to let go of a hurt inflicted
on me quite a long time ago. I have
brought my inability to forgive to the Sacrament of Reconciliation and asked
for the grace to forgive, as I have been forgiven. Others have found that when the offense
involves some kind of abuse, professional therapy is needed.
Our human
tendency is to write off the offending party from a relationship. We cling to the saying, “Fool me once shame
on you. Shame me twice, shame on me.” However, Jesus insists that the authentic
life of the Christian community of faith is more important than counting what
is right or wrong in a dispute. We ask
for the grace to forgive as we have been forgiven and move beyond our desire
for revenge.
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