Sunday Lectionary: September 11, 2011

There’s not too much technical stuff to focus on in this week’s Mass Readings. My suggestion is to use the readings as a springboard to invite people in the study group to talk about their struggles, successes and failures in relation to that tough subject of forgiveness.

Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time

Last week’s Mass Readings concerned themselves with the restoration of brothers and sisters who have fallen into sin. This week’s Readings build on those of last week, focussing upon forgiveness, its centrality to the Gospel and its necessity in God’s covenant community.

“There is no offense, however serious, that the Church cannot forgive. There is no one, however wicked and guilty, who may not confidently hope for forgiveness, provided his repentance is honest. Christ who died for all men desires that in his Church the gates of forgiveness should always be open to anyone who turns away from sin” – Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 982

 

Reading I: Sirach 27:30-28:7

Our First Reading comes from the book of Sirach. This book is one of the books which was removed from the Bible by non-Catholics at the time of the Reformation in the 16th Century. Non-Catholics refer to this collection of books as the Apocrypha, whereas Catholics refer to them as the Deuterocanonical books. Other books in this collection include Tobit, Wisdom and 1 & 2 Maccabees.

The link between this First Reading and the Gospel passage is clear: if you would like the Lord’s forgiveness and mercy, you should treat others with forgiveness and mercy.

“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. 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.

Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD? Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?

Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin! Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults”

Possible Questions:

• How does the author describe the sinner’s relationship to wrath and anger? What can we learn from this?
• Practically speaking, what does this forgiveness look like?
• There are several rhetorical questions in this passage. What point do they make?
• What are the reasons the author gives for putting aside “wrath and anger” and “enmity”?

Commentary:

“Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight”

The imagery here speaks volumes. Despite the fact we know how bad it is for us, we cling tightly onto pain and anger. We do this following the misguided notion that somehow this benefits us and hurts our enemies.

“The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance…”

You will be receive from the Lord what you dished out to others.

“…for he remembers their sins in detail”

Don’t think that the Lord will forget how you treated others, He won’t.

“Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven”

Forgive and you will be forgiven. If you recall, we encountered a similar sentiment when we read the letters of St. Ignatius:

“Bear with all, just as the Lord does with you” – Letter of St. Ignatius to St. Polycarp

“Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD?”

Rhetorical Question #1. The obvious answer is “No”.

Look at the word being used here: “nourish”. What we nourish, becomes strong. If I nourish anger it will grow and I will become an angry person.

We have to be a little careful here. I would interpret this “healing” to primarily refer to the healing of the soul, although there is a logical extension to the healing of the body. We get into all kinds of problems here if we assume that all continued sickness and illness are due to sin and unforgiveness. The antidote to this kind of thinking is the Book of Job…

“Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins?”

Rhetorical Question #2. It would appear the answer is “No”.

“If one who is but flesh cherishes wrath, who will forgive his sins?”

Rhetorical Question #3. The author implies the answer is “Nobody”.

Also, look at the word used here: “cherish”. What we cherish is what we hold close to our hearts and what we value above all else. If we cherish wrath we will consistently choose it over mercy.

“Remember your last days, set enmity aside; remember death and decay, and cease from sin!”

You will some day die and have to stand before God’s throne of judgement – let that vision have its sobering effect!

“You, then, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you treat them with contempt? For we will all stand before God’s judgment seat” – Romans 14:10, 12

This infusion of reality should cause us to set grudges and sin aside.

“Think of the commandments, hate not your neighbor; remember the Most High’s covenant, and overlook faults”

The author is inviting his readers to focus on God and to order their interactions with their neighbours according to that relationship.

Sirach was written with the Old Covenant in mind. As Christians, however, we can read this passage’s final line in light of Christ: His command to love and His new and everlasting covenant in His blood.

 

Responsorial Psalm: Ps 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12

This psalm speaks of God’s character – kind, merciful, slow to anger, rich in compassion…

R. (8) The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion.

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
and all my being, bless his holy name.
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits.

He pardons all your iniquities,
heals all your ills.
redeems your life from destruction,
he crowns you with kindness and compassion.

He will not always chide,
nor does he keep his wrath forever.
Not according to our sins does he deal with us,
nor does he requite us according to our crimes.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,
so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.
As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he put our transgressions from us.

Possible Questions:

• How does the psalmist describe the Lord?
• How does God treat us in relation to our sin? What do you make of this?
• What does God do with our sin?
• Why do you think the psalmist chooses “east…[and] west”, rather than north and south?

Commentary:

“The Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger, and rich in compassion”

The psalmist asserts that God’s central character is one of love and mercy.

“O my soul”

A typical Hebrew way of addressing oneself.

“He pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills. redeems your life from destruction, he crowns you with kindness and compassion”

This describes the restorative, salvific work of the Lord

“He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever”

God’s wrath is always associated with His justice and righteousness. It is always tempered by His mercy. Justice and mercy meet at the cross.

“Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes”

Even when God punishes, He doesn’t punish us as we truly deserve – He is constantly staying His hand, giving us chance after chance to repent and turn back to Him.

In the light of Christ we can truly say that God does not deal with us according to our sins, thanks to the atoning sacrifice of Christ.

“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him”

God’s goodness is expressed with dramatic scale.

“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us”

What a rich phrase! Here is what Mark Hall, lead singer of the greatest band in the world, Casting Crowns, has to say on the subject:

You can only go so far north before you start going south. However, if you start going eastwards you continue going eastwards forever. Likewise, if you start going westwards you continue going westwards forever. The distance between east and west is therefore infinite. This is how far Christ has separated us from our sin.

It’s also quite easy to see here imagery of Christ’s arms spread out on the cross, opening up from east to west, “…from one scarred hand to the other…”

 

Reading II: Romans 14:7-9

If you recall, last week we read St. Paul’s assertion that love of neighbour fulfills the Law.

Today’s reading is from a later section of Romans in which Paul is exhorting his readers to live a life completely focused on Jesus. He encourages the Romans to live a life so oriented around Jesus that if we live “we live for the Lord” and if we die “we die for the Lord”. If you recall, this echos what we read in our recent study of the letter to the Philippians: “…to live is Christ, to die is gain” – Philippians 1:21.

Brothers and sisters:

None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself. For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

Possible Questions:

• What kind of life does Paul describe here?
• Why are we “the Lord’s”? What does this mean concerning the way that we live our lives?
• What is the reason Paul gives for Christ dying and rising again? What do you make of this?

Commentary:

“Brothers and sisters…”

Paul is addressing Christians here, not unbelivers.

“None of us lives for oneself, and no one dies for oneself”

St. Bernard of Clairvaux said:

“He who is his own master is the disciple of a fool”

In this verse Paul is describing what egocentric living looks like.

“For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord; so then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s”

Paul is now describing Christ-centered living. We belong to Christ in both life and death because we have been purchased by God:

“Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price” – 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

And what was this price? It was Christ’s blood:

“And they sang a new song, saying:

   ‘You are worthy to take the scroll 
   and to open its seals, 
because you were slain, 
   and with your blood you purchased for God 
   persons from every tribe and language and people and nation'” – Revelation 5:9

“For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”

Christ is over all, through all and in all.

 

Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

Last week Jesus explained the process by which people are corrected within the Church. Following on from this, Peter asks a good question: how often should this forgiveness be offered?

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 prison until 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 forgives your brother from your heart.”

Possible Questions:

• What question does Peter ask?
• What possible answer does Peter suggest? What do you think Peter thought of this answer?
• What is Jesus’ answer? What does He mean by it?
• What parable does Jesus then tell?
• What should the servant have done with the person who owed him money?
• In refusing to offer forgiveness, what we do we deny ourselves?
• Tricky question: We are approaching the 9-11 anniversary. A while ago there was a media storm when it was discovered that a parish was saying Masses for Osama Bin Laden. In light of today’s passages, what do you make of this?
• Tricky question: what does forgiveness actually look like? Is it an emotion? A decision?
• Tricky question: how can we forgive while not encouraging irresponsibility in others?

Commentary:

“Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?” 

Good ol’ Peter – what generosity! Seven times! Actually, at the time, this was quite generous. Typically, three or four chances were deemed acceptable:

“For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath…” – Amos 1:3 

Why did Peter choose the number seven? Quite likely because, in the Old Testament, the number seven i often associated with forgiveness and mercy:

“He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and to consecrate it from the uncleanness of the Israelites” – Leviticus 16:19

Maybe Peter was thinking of handling what Proverbs describes:

“…for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again” – Proverbs 24:16

“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times”

There are some textual variations here. Some manuscripts say “seventy times seven”.  However, the variance is irrelevant, since Jesus’ meaning remains the same: you must forgive your brother infinitely.

Contrast Jesus’ words with what Lamach says about his unlimited vengeance on anyone who crosses him:

 Lamech said to his wives,

   “Adah and Zillah, listen to me; 
   wives of Lamech, hear my words. 
I have killed a man for wounding me, 
   a young man for injuring me. 
If Cain is avenged seven times, 
   then Lamech seventy-seven times.” – Genesis 4:23-24

“…a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount”

The text here literally says 10, 000 talents. To put that into context for the age:

1 Talent = 6,000 Denarii = 20 years’ wages for a laborer.
10,000 Talents is therefore 200,000 years’ wages!

So, let’s try and put that into today’s terms… If we assume that a San Diegan minimum wage worker earns $8 an hour and works 40 hours a week he will earn approximately $15,000 per year. The wages of 200,000 years would therefore equate to roughly $3,000,000,000. Three billion dollars…

Such a large value is used here to emphasize both the servant’s inability to pay and also the king’s mercy in forgiving such a loan.

“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”

This was not an unusual practice in the ancient world.

“If any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to you, do not make them work as slaves. They are to be treated as hired workers or temporary residents among you; they are to work for you until the Year of Jubilee” – Leviticus 25:39-40

“At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'”

A cry of mercy is compassionately received. Do you remember the Gospel story of the Canaanite women from a few weeks ago? “Even the dogs eat the scraps which fall from the master’s table…”

“Moved with compassion the master of that servant let him go and forgave him the loan”

He doesn’t just get an extension on the loan – it was forgiven!

“When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a much smaller amount”

Again, the Greek text has a literal amount – 100 denarii. This was about three months’ wages. In comparison to the earlier debt, it’s nothing.

“But he refused. Instead, he had the fellow servant put in prison until he paid back the debt. “

Remember the Second Reading from last week? “Owe nothing but a debt of love to one another…”. 

The servant here demonstrates a complete lack of mercy. Of this, St. James says:

“Judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment” – James 2:13

In this parable we see God as the king who has forgiven us our great debt of sin. We should therefore forgive others too. There is nothing our neighbour can do which outweighs what God has forgiven us.

“Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair”

In the First Reading we heard that the Lord “…remembers their sins in detail”. In this parable too, the king has knowledge of his servant’s sin. When we sin, how often do we delude ourselves into thinking that God will somehow not notice?

“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?”

This is the same kind of question that was asked in the First Reading.

“Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. “

Ouch.

“So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart”

This is our great responsibility. If we are forgiven by God of our eternal debt, out of gratitude we too should forgive. To do otherwise is, quite frankly, crazy…

Thus the Lord’s words on forgiveness, the love that loves to the end, become a living reality. The parable of the merciless servant, which crowns the Lord’s teaching on ecclesial communion, ends with these words: “So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” It is there, in fact, “in the depths of the heart,” that everything is bound and loosed. It is not in our power not to feel or to forget an offense; but the heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion and purifies the memory in transforming the hurt into intercession. – Catechism of the Catholic Church, Paragraph 2843