70 X 7 = INFINITY

XXIV Sunday Ordinary Time Matthew 18:21-35 70 x 7 = Infinity Peter approached Jesus and asked him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? 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 prisonuntil 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 forgive one another from your heart.”

This Sunday is about forgiveness. God's forgiveness and the need to forgive others. God's forgiveness; that’s easy. You're forgiven! If you come to God repentant, God will forgive you. This is today's parable. The servant owed his master 10,000 talents, one talent is 6000 denari or what you can earn in a day working. So it's 60 million days of work, or about 200,000 years of work. It's a huge amount, an amount that would be impossible to pay, but it was already forgiven. We can be sure then that God is willing to forgive any debt. God's mercy is always greater than our sins. But the second part, this is the hard part. To forgive others. God doesn't want to just forgive us, He wants us to forgive others too. God wants us to receive his forgiveness and give it to others. In the first reading the prophet Sirach says how terrible resentment and anger are, and how the sinner "hugs them tight," a wonderful image. How many of us hold grudges tightly? We don't want to let go of it at all. "So many years ago my brother offended me, I'm never going to forgive him." I'm going to keep my grudge forever. Yes, we hold grudges tightly, let go of it and let it go, says the prophet. And it's not for the good of the person you're forgiving, but for your own good. It is said that not forgiving the other is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die. The Psalm talks about God's love, a love without conditions. God is kind and merciful, slow to anger, rich in compassion. The Second Reading says that we are not to live for ourselves, but for others. We are to imitate God. We are to forgive as God forgives us. If we want to be disciples of Jesus, if we want to be known as Christians, there is one essential thing: forgiveness. Forgiveness is a fundamental ingredient to live for God and for others. We have to be able to forgive. But what does forgiveness consist of? How can I forgive others? In the parable Jesus uses the example of a debt. Forgiving the debt means that you don't have to pay it anymore. You owe me 10,000 pesos. Okay, the debt is forgiven. It doesn't exist anymore, now! It's erased. The most important thing to remember is that forgiveness is not for the other person, but for yourself. Forgiveness is a liberation. Remember the image in the first reading? We hold grudges tightly, let them go. Let it go! You don't have to carry it any longer. Forgiveness is a personal decision. The other person doesn't have to ask for forgiveness. You can forgive people who are in the grave. It's not for them, it's for you. That's why forgiveness is a gift to yourself. You're not going to let the past keep controlling you. When you don’t forgive someone you give the other incredible control over you. It's over. It doesn't matter what the wound of the past was, you can let it go. But at the same time it's important to remember what forgiveness isn't. Forgiving doesn't mean forgetting. Nowhere in the Bible does it say you have to forget in order to forgive. Sometimes you just can't forget and if you're talking about a hurt, it's not good to forget. It also doesn't mean you agree if you forgive someone. If I forgive someone for stealing I'm not saying that I agree with robberty. Forgiveness isn't always a reconciliation either. If it's an abusive relationship you're not going to let the person back into your life. Forgiving doesn't mean you're going to let the person keep hurting you. Sometimes we think, how can I forgive? Well, go back to the parable. We can forgive because we have been forgiven so much. The deepest motivation for forgiveness is gratitude, gratitude because we have been forgiven. You don't think about the other person's offense, you think about God's love. If you remember how much God loved us, it is easier to forgive others. Today we come to celebrate the Eucharist, we are in the presence of Jesus, God whose name is forgiveness. So today when you come to communion receive this gift of forgiveness, receive this gift of love. You do not have to embrace the grudge anymore, let go of it and let Christ embrace you, when we feel God's forgiveness we can begin to forgive others.