Meditation Minute

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

 

“If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?”

 

Gospel Reading: Matthew 18:21-35

Peter approached Jesus and asked him, "Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him? 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 him 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."

 

Jesus tells many parables about forgiveness.  Many of those parables focus not only on God forgiving us, but on us forgiving others.  In the time of Christ, it was the custom of Jews to forgive a person up to three times for any sin they committed against you. But if they had committed that transgression a fourth time, then God would retract his mercy. Therefore, Peter thought he was being rather clever when he suggested that he forgive his brothers who sinned against him seven times. Jesus said to him, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.” What is Jesus really saying in his response to Peter? You must always forgive your brother, no matter how many times he sins against you. We are all sinners and owe a great deal of mercy to God for all the forgiveness he has poured out for us. But this mercy becomes limited if we can’t forgive others who sin against us.

 

The servant owed 10,000 talents. In today’s money, this would be millions of dollars. This was a debt that would exceed the coffers of the king. It was literally a debt that was impossible to repay and the king still forgave the man. There is no way we can repay God for all our transgressions, yet Christ died on the cross to save us from everyone of our sins. He made the ultimate sacrifice so our sins could be forgiven.  Therefore, the same obligation is placed upon us, we must forgive the sins of those who trespass against us.  How can we be forgiven if we cannot release the hatred against our brother? God is not asking us to die for our sins, just release them from our hearts. During lent, when you examine your conscience, spend time thinking about those who have sinned against you and focus your prayers on forgiving them. Focus on releasing the debt that they owe you. This is a great time to renew bonds between friends whose relationship has been strained. Forgiveness helps build bonds of communion.  When we do not forgive, we destroy these links which bind us as humans.  To destroy these links is to destroy our relationship with God.

 

A Simple Prayer

 

God, give me strength to release the sins of my brothers and sisters.

May I have the strength to not only forgive them but forget the sins which they have committed against me.

Wash away the hatred and the sorrow that forms in heart So that I may experience the joy of your love.

 

Yours in Christ

Michael Marcon