77 Times?!

 

Homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sept. 17, 2023. Gospel of St. Matthew 18:21-35. Theme: 77 Times?! 

The message of today’s Liturgy is so important that the Church knows we need to hear it over and over again: forgive, forgive, forgive! In addition to the teaching in today's passage, Jesus’ consistent and persistent words about forgiveness were recorded by Matthew several more times in his edition of the Gospel. He tells us that Christ declared that only if we ourselves are merciful will we be shown mercy, warning us that God will forgive us on the basis that we forgive others. Jesus even made this clause a petition in the “Our Father” where He has us say: "...and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us..." We all know that prayer so well and can recite it so easily from memory that I think we often overlook what it is that we are actually saying! We are telling God to forgive us only and to the extent that we forgive others! 

Jesus gave us this repetitive emphasis on forgiveness because He knows that showing mercy by extending an olive branch to someone who has hurt us is probably one of the most difficult things for us to do. And the deeper the wound, the harder it is. But we have to remember that to forgive is not to condone a terrible thing that someone has done. It does not mean, “What you did to me was OK.” To forgive means that although we recognize the damage done to us, we freely choose to move beyond it. We intentionally refuse to seek revenge and “get even” because Christ intentionally refused to do so even during the agony of His Passion. And so, we choose to forgive because we want to have a merciful heart like Jesus. We know that if we are sincere about being Christians in fact and not just in name then we should forgive, we need to forgive, and we will receive the power to forgive. 

First, we should forgive. Because if we don’t we are actually rejecting God’s mercy for ourselves. I honestly think that most of us do not keep in mind the reality of this precondition for our own forgiveness. As I just mentioned, Jesus says it several times and in various ways. In today’s Gospel he puts it like: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” Referring back to the parable of the unforgiving servant, what Jesus is saying is that we will receive only the amount of mercy that we ourselves give out. So, you see, for our own good if nothing else, we should forgive. 

Secondly, we need to forgive. Otherwise we will end up destroying ourselves. We know that unresolved anger along with the underlying seeds of resentment will become a spiritual cancer in our lives if we do not treat it with the medicine of mercy. It will entrap us in a toxic attitude that reaches out and poisons all our relationships in one way or another. How cold, callous and cruel it would be to have to live out our days in such an environment. There would be no meaningful expression of love. No inner serenity. No laughter or contentment. Actually, that’s a pretty good description of Hell, isn’t it? To refuse to forgive is to condemn ourselves to a slow and painful spiritual and emotional death. Holding a grudge results in past hurts remaining within us like radioactive material, gradually poisoning us from the inside out. We need to forgive if we want to live life to the fullest and experience love both in this world and in the after-life. 

Thirdly, we will be given the power to forgive. The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross is like a great river of forgiveness that keeps flowing through all centuries and generations until the end of time. When we discover the need to forgive someone and find it hard to do so, we can ask Christ in prayer to pour out this water of mercy upon us to soften the hardness of our hearts. Consistent and persistent prayer can transform each one of us bit by bit from being a victim into being a healer, from being a hater into being a lover. It might be very hard to do and it may even seem impossible. 

But Jesus, truly present in the Eucharist that we receive, makes it possible. Through our frequent and mindful communion with Him, He will place within us the power to love as he loves, to forgive as He forgives, to be merciful as He is merciful. Christ living in us by grace and Eucharist will give us the strength to overcome harmful attitudes of retaliation and to become a people of compassion who reflect the mercy of God. So, you see, as Christians we should forgive, we need to forgive, and we can forgive.