Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?'
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This Sunday’s readings focus on forgiveness, reminding us that there is no limit to God’s mercy and unconditional love. We cannot repay God’s forgiveness, but we can imitate God’s free, unearned mercy by forgiving others with patience and compassion.
The First Reading warns against anger, telling us to not keep a record of grudges. Letting go of anger restores peace to ourselves. We are to live by the commandments, overlooking errors and forgiving our neighbour.
The Psalmist praises the depth of the Lord’s compassion and mercy, telling of God’s care for us. There is no end to his forgiveness nor love.
St Paul (Second Reading) explains that we belong to the Lord both in life and death. Christ died and rose because of his great love for us. We, too, are called to live not for ourselves but for others, showing love and mercy.
Jesus (Gospel) teaches about forgiveness through the parable of a servant forgiven a large debt by a merciful king; the servant then refuses to forgive a much smaller debt. Jesus warns that people should not expect mercy from God if they do not show mercy to others. We are called always to forgive others wholeheartedly.
This week, we pray for one another and ask for the grace to forgive, welcoming the healing and reconciliation forgiveness brings. We remember too those who are unable to forgive, and all who are affected by war, violence and unrest throughout the world.
Reconciliation, Josefina de Vasconcellos, St. Michael's Cathedral, Coventry
Here’s a text if you’ve only got a minute …
It is the Lord who forgives all your sins … who crowns you with mercy and compassion. Psalm
Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
Second Reading
A new commandment I give to you, says the Lord, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
Gospel acclamation
‘All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness … the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives.’ Dalai Lama XIV
Further Reflection
Psalm 103 (102)
This psalm is a song of thanksgiving for God’s love and forgiveness for us all. It helps to negate the old division sometimes made between the Old and the New Testaments: the first supposedly being centred on fear; the second on love.
As is usual in this type of psalm, the author starts with an introduction of thanks to the Lord and then gives reasons for his gratitude. For this he uses a series of verbs in close succession: forgives, heals, redeems, crowns.
When the psalmist addresses his ‘soul’, he means his ‘inner being’: what keeps him alive.
At first the psalmist speaks in his own name (My soul), then addresses the rest of the people present who pray with him (he crowns you with mercy and compassion). Through him, the whole people of Israel give thanks.
God’s greatest expression of his love for us all is his mercy and forgiveness despite our faults (he forgives all our sins).
The psalmist goes beyond thanksgiving for the blessings he has personally received and also includes the whole of creation ‘as far as the east is from the west’. God loves all who ‘fear him’. The Hebrew word translated here by ‘fear’ does not have the modern implication of anxiety, apprehension, and alarm at possible punishment. Rather it denotes awe, reverent respect, honour and obedience to the Lord’s will.
The phrase ‘The Lord is compassionate and gracious’, often repeated throughout the Psalter, and today forming the response to the psalm, echoes the words of the Lord on Mount Sinai in the presence of Moses (Exodus 34:6). It describes the psalmist’s understanding of the nature of God.
Gospel Matthew 18: 21–35
We continue Matthew’s ‘Sermon on the Church’, with a passage that starts with Peter’s question to Jesus on forgiveness.
‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?’ When Peter asked this, he would have thought that to forgive someone as many as seven times was generous; seven was seen as a symbol of completeness. Indeed, Rabbis of the time taught that to forgive three times was sufficient. Biblical proof for this was taken from the opening chapters of the book of the Prophet Amos in the Old Testament.
‘Seventy seven times seven.’ Jesus replies to Peter, also using the symbolism of numbers: he indicates that forgiveness must be without limit. He multiplies Peter’s seven, a symbol of completeness, by ten, a number seen as a symbol of infinity. The real meaning of forgiveness. Jesus teaches the people that their attitude towards forgiveness is at fault, using a parable that forms one of the sternest and most challenging passages in the Gospels. The parable of the unforgiving debtor has been referred to as a dramatisation of the fifth beatitude: ‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy’. (Matthew 5: 7).
The debt that could never be repaid. One of the most important points in the story is the significant contrast between the two debts. The first servant owed his master 10,000 talents, a talent being the equivalent of 15 years wages. This huge debt was more than the total budget of an ordinary province. The total revenue of the province which contained Idumaea, Judaea and Samaria was only 600 talents, whereas the total revenue of a wealthy province like Galilee was only 300 talents. This first servant was himself owed 100 denarii, a denarius being a day’s wage; a fraction of the debt which had caused him to beg for mercy.
‘Should you not have had mercy in your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ The king was an Oriental despot. To take a man’s family in lieu of his debt was common practice, especially among the pagans. Tyrants, particularly in the Orient, made use of torture to extract confessions or to force the victim’s family into paying the debt. Regardless of this, the king, in his pity for the servant, cancels the entire debt and expects the forgiven one to do the same.
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Almighty God, our creator and guide, may we serve you with all our heart and know your forgiveness in our lives.
Old Opening Prayer