SEPTEMBER 13, 2020 TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

SEPTEMBER 13, 2020
TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME, YEAR A

First Reading: Sirach 27:30–28:9

Responsorial Psalm: Psalms 103:1-4, 9-12

Second Reading: Romans 14:7-9

Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

I once read the story of a man that went to see his doctor because he was feeling terrible. The doctor gave him a careful examination, left the room to get somI once read the story of a man that went to see his doctor because he was feeling terrible. The doctor gave him a careful examination, left the room to get some test results. He came back with a gloomy expression on his face, and said; “sir I don’t know how to break the news to you, but you have rabbies and you are going to die very soon. The man very calmly got out a piece of paper and began to write furiously. The doctor asked, “What are you doing? Are you writing your will?” The man replied “no, I am writing out a list of people I am going to bite.” It is possible that there are people here whose hearts are a fertile field for bitterness and have such a list in the back of their minds in case such a thing happens to them. The Gospel today poses a serious question; is there anyone who has wronged me that I have not forgiven? One of the biggest obstacles to spiritual growth and receiving blessings from God is unforgiveness. 

The Gospel today presents us with the parable of the unforgiving or merciless servant. Jesus just finished a lesson on fraternal correction and Peter is asking how often do I have to do that? How many times do I have to do that? Peter asked, seven times? By answering seven times, Peter was not expecting a rebuke but praise. According to the Jewish law, “If a man transgresses one time, forgive him. If a man transgresses two times, forgive him. If a man transgresses three times, forgive him. If a man transgresses four times, do not forgive him.” What Peter seems to have done is to take this law of limited forgiveness, multiply it by two and add one. In his mind, that is a lot of time to forgiThe Gospel today presents us with the parable of the unforgiving or merciless servant. Jesus just finished a lesson on fraternal correction and Peter is asking how often do I have to do that? How many times do I have to do that? Peter asked, seven times? By answering seven times, Peter was not expecting a rebuke but praise. According to the Jewish law, “If a man transgresses one time, forgive him. If a man transgresses two times, forgive him. If a man transgresses three times, forgive him. If a man transgresses four times, do not forgive him.” What Peter seems to have done is to take this law of limited forgiveness, multiply it by two and add one. In his mind, that is a lot of time to forgive.

He could also be making an allusion to the Old Testament when it talks about the seven-fold vengeance in Genesis chapter 4. Genesis 4 tells the story of Cain slaying his brother. It says anyone who tries to take vengeance on Cain, vengeance shall be taken upon him seven-fold. So what Peter is presenting here is like an antithesis; instead of seven-fold vengeance, we have seven-fold forgiveness.

But Jesus shocked him and the others, “I say to you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Why does Jesus say that? First of all, there is a debate aBut Jesus shocked him and the others, “I say to you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Why does Jesus say that? First of all, there is a debate about how to translate the exact words of Jesus. One translation says seventy-seven times and another says seventy times seven which is 490 times. Either way, whether it is seventy-seven or seventy times seven that’s is an exorbitant number of times to forgive someone. It goes way beyond what Peter thinks will be the height of forgiveness. I am inclined to the perspective that Jesus said, seventy times seven which is 490 times, and here is the reason. In the book of Daniel, chapter 9, God uses the image of seventy weeks which is seventy times seven, to describe the time period that is going to take for the Israelites to atone for their sins and for the ultimate forgiveness to take place which will come through the death of the Messiah (Daniel 9:24-27).

So, 490 from the Jewish perspective is the number of ultimate forgiveness. TSo, 490 from the Jewish perspective is the number of ultimate forgiveness. That’s how many times God forgives His people. He will go even up to 490 times. The response of Jesus means that you have to forgive over and over and over and over nonstop. Your mercy has to be like God’s mercy, an exorbitant mercy, a mercy that forgives over and over and over and over and over again.

To illustrate and drive this message home, Jesus does what he frequently does in the Gospel according to Matthew, He tells a parable. The context is a king who wants to settle his account with his servants. One servant owed him 10,000 talents. A talent is a gold coin that is worth a lot of money, 6,000 denarii. One denarius is equal to a day’s wage. In other words, it will take you 6,000 days to make one talent so that what that servant owes is 60,000,000 days wage which is over 163 years wage. That’s not just a huge amount of money, it’s an almost inconceivable amount of money. It will take him over 160 thousand years to pay off his debts. He pleaded with the master, ‘have patience with me and I will pay you everything.’ Frankly, it’s absurd to think he will ever be able to pay and the king knows. Yet, he forgives him and cancels out his debt.

This servant forgiven incredible debt goes out and finds a servant who owes him a hundred denarii. Remember a denarius is equal to a day’s wage. A hundred denarii will be more than three months wage. That’s not an inconsequential amount of money. It’s a lot. This servant owes 60 million days wage and he is owed 100 days wage. His fellow servant pleaded with him for patience, but he refuses and grabs him by the throat and says, “pay what you owe.” He had him put into prison. Its important to know that in the first century Jewish context, many people in the prison were in prison not because they committed a crime but because of debt. One can go to prison until a family member or a rich relative or someway you are able to raise the money and pay up.

When the news got to the master, the master was sad. He had the merciless servant brought before him, he said to him, “I forgave you all your debt because you pleaded with me, should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you? There is a grossly disproportionate contrast here not only on the amount owed but also in mercy. The mercy of the master is exorbitant, extravagant and unprecedented, but the mercy of the servant is non-existent. In anger, the master puts the servant into prison until his debt will be paid.

Here comes the punch line of this parable. The situation of the servant who owed 10,000 talents, who if he is sold together with everything he has, will not be able to pay back, summarizes our situation before God. We can never be able to pay back what we owe. Even if you forgive 490 times, you are not anywhere close to how God forgives us. The shameful attitude of the forgiven servant who will not forgive, strikes even his mates that they report him to their master. The master said to him, I forgave you all your debts, were you not bound to forgive your fellow servant? What does God demand of us? Treat others as I have treated you.

Happy Sunday

Fr. Chidi Onwuka msscc