Aug 15 2024 Reflection

Thursday 15 August 2024

First Reading: 1 Chr 15:3-4, 15-16; 16:1-2
Responsorial Psalm:
Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your holiness.
PS 132:6-7, 9-10, 13-14
Second Reading: 1 Cor 15:54b-57
Gospel Reading: Matthew 18:21-19:1

Today’s Note: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Gospel Reading:

Then Peter came up and said to him,
“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me,
and I forgive him? As many as seven times?”
Jesus said to him,
“I do not say to you seven times,
but seventy times seven.
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king
who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the reckoning,
one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents;
and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold,
with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.

So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him,
`Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
And out of pity for him
the lord of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. 

But that same servant, as he went out,
came upon one of his fellow servants
who owed him a hundred denarii;
and seizing him by the throat he said,
`Pay what you owe.’
So his fellow servant fell down and besought him,
`Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
He refused and went and put him in prison
till he should pay the debt.

When his fellow servants saw what had taken place,
they were greatly distressed,
and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place.
Then his lord summoned him and said to him,
`You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you besought me;
and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
And in anger his lord delivered him to the jailers,
till he should pay all his debt.

So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you,
if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
Now when Jesus had finished these sayings,
he went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

Reflection:

Does mercy overlook justice? Justice demands that everyone be given their due. So when is it right to show mercy and pardon to those who have acted unjustly or wrongly? The prophet Amos speaks of God forgiving transgression three times, but warns that God may not revoke punishment for the fourth (see Amos 1:3-13; 2:1-6). When Peter posed the question of forgiveness, he characteristically offered an answer he thought Jesus would be pleased with. Why not forgive seven times! How unthinkable for Jesus to counter with the proposition that one must forgive seventy times that. 

No limit to granting forgiveness and pardon 
Jesus makes it clear that there is no limit to giving and receiving forgiveness. He drove the lesson home with a parable about two very different kinds of debts. The first man owed an enormous sum of money – millions in our currency. In Jesus’ time this amount was greater than the total revenue of a province – more than it would cost to ransom a king! The man who was forgiven such an incredible debt could not, however, bring himself to forgive his neighbor a very small debt which was about one-hundred-thousandth of his own debt. The contrast could not have been greater! 

Jesus paid our ransom to set us free from the debt of sin
No offense our neighbor can do to us can compare with our own personal debt to God for offending him! We have been forgiven an enormous debt we could not repay on our own. That is why the Father in heaven sent his only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who freely and willing gave up his life for our sake to ransom us from slavery to sin, Satan, and death. Paul the Apostle states, “you were bought with a price” (1 Corinthians 7:23 ) and that price was Jesus’ death on the cross. Through the shedding of his blood on the cross, Jesus not only brought forgiveness and pardon for our offenses, but release from our captivity to Satan and bondage to sin. 

Set free from futile thinking and sinful living
The Lord Jesus sets us free from a futile mind and way of living in sin and spiritual darkness. “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers …with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18). Christ “gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity” (Titus 2:14). Iniquity describes the futile ways of wrong thinking, sinful attitudes and wrong behavior, and disregarding or treating God’s commandments lightly. We have been forgiven an enormous debt which we could never possibly repay. We owe God a debt of gratitude for the mercy and grace he has given us in his Son, Jesus Christ.

Forgiving others is a sacred duty
If God has shown mercy to us in granting us pardon for our sins, then we, in turn, must show mercy and forgiveness towards every person who has offended us. The willingness to forgive those who offend us is a sacred duty. If we expect God to pardon us and show us his mercy when we sin and disobey his commandments, then we must be willing to let go of any resentment, grievance, or ill-will we feel towards our neighbor. Jesus teaches us to pray daily for the grace and strength to forgive others in the same measure in which God has forgiven us (Matthew 6:12,14-15). If we do not show mercy and forgiveness to our fellow human beings, how can we expect God to forgive us in turn? The Apostle James says that “judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy” (James 2:13). 

Mercy seasons justice and perfects it
Mercy is the flip-side of God’s justice. Without mercy justice is cold, calculating, and even cruel. Mercy seasons justice as salt seasons meat and gives it flavor. Mercy follows justice and perfects it. Justice demands that the wrong be addressed. To show mercy without addressing the wrong and to pardon the unrepentant is not true mercy but license. C.S. Lewis, a 20th century Christian author wrote: “Mercy will flower only when it grows in the crannies of the rock of Justice: transplanted to the marshlands of mere Humanitarianism, it becomes a man-eating weed, all the more dangerous because it is still called by the same name as the mountain variety.” If we want mercy shown to us we must be ready to forgive others from the heart as God has forgiven us. Do you hold any grudge or resentment towards anyone? Ask the Lord to purify your heart that you may show mercy and loving-kindness to all – and especially to those who cause you grief and ill-will.

Lord Jesus, you have been kind and forgiving towards me. May I be merciful as you are merciful. Free me from all bitterness and resentment that I may truly forgive from the heart those who have caused me injury or grief.