A reading from the holy Gospel according to Matthew
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.”
In response to Peter’s question about forgiveness, Jesus tells the parable about a king and a great debt a servant owed him. Since he had no way of paying it back, the master of that servant ordered that his wife, children, and property be sold to pay for the debt. But the servant begged the master and said, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.” The master pitied him and forgave him all of his debt. When that servant encountered a fellow servant who owed him, he demanded that the other servant pay him what he owed. Falling to his knees, the fellow servant begged for mercy, saying, “Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.” But he denied him the request and had him put in jail. When word got back to the master, he summoned his servant and handed him over to torturers until he could pay back his debt. Jesus then says, “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” The shocking mention of torture is enveloped by the greater message of forgiveness and the consequence of failing to forgive. The same formula applies here as it does in the Our Father: “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
God, help me relate this back to the first part of today’s Gospel. Peter asked Jesus how many times he must forgive someone who sins against him, and Jesus replies, “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.” In your kingdom, Lord, there is mercy and forgiveness. What is alien to your kingdom is fallen human nature. That is why Jesus tells Peter to forgive constantly; in that kind of forgiveness is a reaching out for you, an attempt to be perfect just as you are perfect. The alternative is to suffer in self-torture through a failure to forgive. Help me forgive, Lord, any hurt I hold on to that keeps me from you.
Thank you, Lord, for your presence today. From the first reading, help me recall throughout the day: “And now we follow you with our whole heart, we fear you and we pray to you. Do not let us be put to shame, but deal with us in your kindness and great mercy.”
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.