Sir 27:30-28:7
Ps 103
Mt 18:21-35
Peter asked, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how many times must I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Forgiving someone seven times seems reasonable. Indeed forgiving someone seven times seems positively magnanimous, even saint-like if you will. Jesus’ reply must have startled Peter. Not seven times but seven times seventy-seven times. Jesus was not giving Peter a specific number or setting limits on forgiveness. Rather, by using hyperbole he was indicating that forgiveness must be infinite. Jesus' hyperbolic reply is analogous to something most of us heard when we were kids and, for many, something we swore we would never say upon becoming parents or uncles. But we did and we continue to do so. “If I told you once I told you a thousand times.” Sometimes a thousand underestimates the real number but mostly it is hyperbole for effect.
The gospel parable is chilling on two levels: The first is the servant’s callous behavior toward a fellow servant where he revealed himself as man who couldn't or wouldn't forgive as he was forgiven. The second chilling element is the punishment meted out to him when the master learned of his actions.
One could ask why the master was not forgiving toward the wicked servant. It is a good question. Perhaps there are actions that are unforgivable. The message Jesus gave to Peter is to forgive as God forgives, that is perfectly and without limit. That kind of forgiveness is an ideal humans generally can’t attain though some may be able to do so. They are the exception. One of those exceptional circumstances went on international display in 2006. The fourteenth anniversary of the tragedy will be in a few weeks. On 2 October 2006 Charles Roberts, IV entered the Amish one-room school house in Nickel Mines, PA.
After sending all of the boys out of the school he murdered five girls between the ages of nine and thirteen, shooting them in their heads. He critically injured five others, one of whom was severely brain-damaged. He killed himself when the police arrived. His actions horrified the world. The actions of the Amish community horrified the world even more. Roberts horrified the world by the brutality of his act. The Amish horrified the world by their forgiveness.
On the day of the shooting the grandfather of one of the murdered girls told young relatives, "We must not think evil of this man.” Another man noted, "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God." Still another Amish man held the shooter’s sobbing father in his arms for an hour in an attempt comfort him. Thirty members of the Amish community attended Roberts' funeral.
The Book of Sirach, the source of the first reading, is considered canonical and inspired by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Protestant churches do not include Sirach in the canon of the Bible, designating it part of apocrypha rather than a critical element of the wisdom literature. The Amish may or may not be familiar with the Sirach. But it contributes an important element to their response to the Nickel Mines tragedy.
"The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance,
for he remembers their sins in detail.
Forgive your neighbor’s injustice;
then when you pray,
your own sins will be forgiven."
This explains, in part, the behavior that most of the world found incomprehensible and some found repulsive. Most of us are willing to forgive. Sometimes. Under certain circumstances. For a limited number of times. For some things. In response to Peter's question Jesus instructs that seven times is not enough. Through the use of hyperbole or exaggeration Jesus is telling us we must always forgive. It is not an easy instruction to understand. It is not an easy instruction to accept. And yet, that is what God gives us. God offers us forgiveness even more heroic than the forgiveness the Amish extended to the man who killed and maimed their daughters.
The psalm assures us.
"The Lord is kind and merciful,
slow to anger, and rich in compassion. . . .
He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
He redeems your life from destruction,
crowns you with kindness and compassion."
God offers us forgiveness every time we receive the sacrament of confession. We need only begin, “I confess that I have sinned.”
And ask for pardon and forgiveness.
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Books prepared for Mass in a monastic church.
Fr. Jack, SJ, MD
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