Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A. Sir. 27:30-28:7; Ps. 103:1-2.3-4.9-10.11-12(R.8); Rom. 14:7-9; Matt.18:21-35
The first reading tells us to remember the last things – death, judgment, hell and heaven. When we remember that whatever happens to us here in this world, there will come a day when we shall die, we will be more DECISIVE about the choices we make. A brother of mine once said that unforgiveness can be likend to casting hot coals on another with our bare hands. The irony of this gesture is that the coals burn us first before they burn those we intend to cast them upon.
Friends, today’s Gospel passage shows us how difficult it can be for us to forgive. Peter, knowing that the Jewish law recommended forgiving another’s wrong only three times, must have felt quite generous when he multiplied that by two and even added one extra to make it seven. But Jesus tells him that forgiveness should be seventy times seven times. If the master could forgive the servant who owed him about 2.3 million naira, why couldn’t the same servant forgive his colleague who owed him just a little below five thousand naira? Here, Jesus teaches us that forgiveness should be boundless and unconditional. After all, “none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord…”
Prayer
Lord, may your grace empower us to extend forgiveness to everyone, including those we find most difficult to forgive, and experience the healing it brings. Amen.
Have a blessed Sunday today!
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