Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18, 21-35; 19, 1
Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
“Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
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 his brother from his heart.”
When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee
and went to the district of Judea across the Jordan.
Forgiving from the heart
1. How often? That’s Peter’s question. How many times must we forgive? What’s the limit? When do you cross the line from being merciful to being foolish for forgiving so much? Jesus sets a clear point; He says, “Always.” Yes, you have to learn to forgive always. That’s what “seventy times seven” means. Your job as a Christian is to always forgive your brother or sister. If the other person keeps on committing offences, that’s their problem, but Jesus reminds us to be merciful always.
2. The situation. In the Gospel, we see a man who has a debt so great that he and his family are at risk of slavery. Let me be clear: when you hurt someone, when you’re damaging another person’s life, it’s not just you at risk, but also your family, the people who love you. Consider if your family is currently suffering the consequences of one of your mistakes. The man’s debt was great, but he was forgiven. Your debt to God is great, too, and He never stops forgiving you. You are called to do the same. Don’t be stubborn, don’t hold a grudge against people because you feel that forgiving is relieving them of pain. If you decide not to forgive them, you end up suffering more. Forgiveness heals.
3. Wicked servant. We see another debtor who owed much less than the first one, yet the servant whose debt had been forgiven sends this one to jail for an absurdity. Be careful because you too can end up like him, becoming a person with nothing in their heart. A wretched person has no memory; they forget the times they were saved or the people who helped them. A miserable person has such a hard heart that they don’t even care about hurting others. They’re opportunistic, caring only about themselves. To avoid being miserable, you must be compassionate. Today, look at your life and see if you’re compassionate or miserable, destroying others if you can and taking advantage of everything. Truly forgive others from the heart, not just with words. This will free you of many burdens.
Remember that something good is on the way!
God bless you and protect you in the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
