19TH THURSDAY HOMILY ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
19TH THURSDAY HOMILY ORDINARY TIME — YEAR A
HOMILY THEME: “BE PATIENT WITH ME AND I WILL PAY YOU BACK.”
BY: Fr. Mike Lagrimas
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… 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 his 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 the 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.
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In the Lord’s Prayer, we ask the Father: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.” In Latin, it says: “et dimitte nobis débita nostra, sicut et nos dimíttimus debitóribus nostris”. ‘Débita’ means ‘debts’.
Our trespasses or sins are debts that must be paid in order to gain our freedom. But we have no capacity to pay the ransom ourselves. It was God who paid for it by the Precious Blood of His Son Jesus. He always forgives our sins, but on one condition: that we also forgive the sins of those who offended us.
The parable today is actually an elucidation of this petition in the Lord’s Prayer. The Master is God; we are the servant who owed him a huge amount that we cannot pay; the other servants who owed us a petty amount are our fellowmen. Since God has forgiven us our sins, we also must forgive others: “If you forgive others their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Mt. 6:14-15). C.S. Lewis puts it this way: “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
Why is it so hard to forgive those who wronged us, when, in fact, our offenses against God are more numerous and much worse than theirs?
The answer is the ‘ego’. God always readily forgives us our sins, no matter how grave and many they are, simply because He has no ‘ego’ issues. He is pure and perfect love, without an iota of selfishness or egoism in Him. Of course, He is also hurt by our offenses and transgressions, not because they insult His majesty, but because it hurts Him to see us suffer due to our sins. Hence, He always forgives to give us all the opportunities for our conversion and salvation.
On the other hand, we find it too difficult to forgive others because of our pride. Our ego is hurt and we need to do something to appease and soothe it. The prouder a person, the bigger his ego, and the more painful it is for him. Thus, his natural response to an offense is the desire to get even, one way or another. Forgiveness is not an option for him.
In the Gospel today, Jesus urges us all to forgive others who hurt us. When Peter asks Jesus how often we need to forgive our erring brother, He answers, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” That means always and indefinitely, so long as he is truly repentant.
Does this mean we will just allow the wrongdoer to continue hurting us? By no means. Justice has to be served, too. That is the lesson of yesterday’s Gospel. But this simply means we should always give them the chance to reform their lives, while at the same time safeguarding our honor and dignity from further abuse.
There are reasons why Jesus urges us to always forgive the offender. First, forgiving actually benefits the forgiver more than the forgiven. Our anger, resentments and ill feelings towards our neighbor are like garbage. The sooner we get rid of them through forgiveness, the better for our physical, mental and spiritual health. It also benefits the community since it is the key towards healing of divisions, reconciliation and lasting peace.
Second, forgiveness also gives us true freedom and power. Nelson Mandela is a beautiful example of this. Looking back after being released from many years of unjust imprisonment, he said, “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.” Thus, he concludes: “Forgiveness liberates the soul. It removes fear. That is why it is such a powerful weapon.”
And finally, when one truly loves, he always forgives. A quotation says, “When love is thin, faults are thick; when love is thick, faults are thin.” Jesus Himself showed us the perfect example when He prayed for His persecutors on the cross: “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34). He commands us to love, even our enemies. And the concrete way of loving our enemies is by forgiving them.
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