Fr. Marsel R. Taruk sx
Reflection on the Mass Readings of the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year A
The mathematics of Forgiveness One of my favourite subjects during my school days was maths; maths deals with numbers. And the immediate consequence when dealing with numbers is having to do with quantity: HOW MANY? I find the Gospel of this Sunday quite delightful: the discussion between Jesus and Peter on the theme of Forgiveness about numbers, or put it in another way, the discussion on a mathematics of forgiveness rather amazing. Peter begins the conversation by using numbers to qualify his understanding of forgiveness. Peter knew quite well what his master thought about forgiveness: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Yet Peter wants to quantify forgiveness by putting across the question: “how often must I forgive: As many as seven times?” Peter proposes to forgive as many as seven times the brother who sins against him. His suggestion is not without reason. It was the Rabbinic teaching that a man must forgive his brother up to three times. In other words, it was a common practice among the Jews that “he who begs forgiveness of his neighbour must not do so more than three times”. Peter thought that he was more than generous in his proposition, for he doubles the number of the Rabbinic teaching and adds one more as a sign of generosity. Jesus’ answer is quite surprising and unexpected: " you must forgive seventy times seven—or 490, to be exact (though this is not to be taken literally: it really means "without limits"). Moreover, Jesus tells a parable about forgiveness using numbers that are out of proportion, really absurd. A servant who owes his master ten thousand talents is fully pardoned by the master, but then he goes out and refuses, cruelly, to forgive a fellow servant who owes him a meager amount, only a hundred denarii. Jesus’ number game vis-a-vis Peter’s number game is there for our admiration, if we dare to compare how much the Lord would have us forgive one another. Jesus is not recommending a mathematics of reconciliation. He is using extreme numbers to show the unbridgeable chasm between a forgiving and an unforgiving universe. Jesus teaches us a great lesson on how to be merciful, how to forgive in order to be forgiven. He who will not forgive his fellowmen cannot hope that God will forgive him. “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy,” said Jesus. The truth is that God is ready to forgive endlessly, for “the Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion.” We on our part surely would not. Forgive again and again and again? Wait a minute; we think that if we forgive too easily, we show we are weak; people will walk over us. For this reason, we will forgive, may be once or twice or otherwise you forgive me first; or we forgive on condition, etc. We are used to deal with our brothers with a mathematical forgiveness. The challenge of this Sunday Gospel is to believe that forgiveness is the door to reconciliation; Jesus is asking us to do something utterly radical, but he also gives us the grace to do it. The fact about radical unforgiveness is that the refusal to forgive, by its very nature, locks us into a vicious circle. By being so tightly closed against pardoning the brother, we seal ourselves off from the very experience of pardon. There are two works of mercy which will set us free. They are concisely set down in the Lord’s words: “Forgive and you will be forgiven, and Give and you will receive” (Mt. 6:14). The former concerns pardon, the latter generosity. We have been forgiven a debt which is beyond paying, for the sin of man brought about the death of God’s own Son, and if that is so, we must forgive others as God has forgiven us, or we cannot hope to find any mercy.
Reflection on the Mass Readings of the 24th Sunday of Ordinary Time - Year A
The mathematics of Forgiveness One of my favourite subjects during my school days was maths; maths deals with numbers. And the immediate consequence when dealing with numbers is having to do with quantity: HOW MANY? I find the Gospel of this Sunday quite delightful: the discussion between Jesus and Peter on the theme of Forgiveness about numbers, or put it in another way, the discussion on a mathematics of forgiveness rather amazing. Peter begins the conversation by using numbers to qualify his understanding of forgiveness. Peter knew quite well what his master thought about forgiveness: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” Yet Peter wants to quantify forgiveness by putting across the question: “how often must I forgive: As many as seven times?” Peter proposes to forgive as many as seven times the brother who sins against him. His suggestion is not without reason. It was the Rabbinic teaching that a man must forgive his brother up to three times. In other words, it was a common practice among the Jews that “he who begs forgiveness of his neighbour must not do so more than three times”. Peter thought that he was more than generous in his proposition, for he doubles the number of the Rabbinic teaching and adds one more as a sign of generosity. Jesus’ answer is quite surprising and unexpected: " you must forgive seventy times seven—or 490, to be exact (though this is not to be taken literally: it really means "without limits"). Moreover, Jesus tells a parable about forgiveness using numbers that are out of proportion, really absurd. A servant who owes his master ten thousand talents is fully pardoned by the master, but then he goes out and refuses, cruelly, to forgive a fellow servant who owes him a meager amount, only a hundred denarii. Jesus’ number game vis-a-vis Peter’s number game is there for our admiration, if we dare to compare how much the Lord would have us forgive one another. Jesus is not recommending a mathematics of reconciliation. He is using extreme numbers to show the unbridgeable chasm between a forgiving and an unforgiving universe. Jesus teaches us a great lesson on how to be merciful, how to forgive in order to be forgiven. He who will not forgive his fellowmen cannot hope that God will forgive him. “Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy,” said Jesus. The truth is that God is ready to forgive endlessly, for “the Lord is kind and merciful, slow to anger and rich in compassion.” We on our part surely would not. Forgive again and again and again? Wait a minute; we think that if we forgive too easily, we show we are weak; people will walk over us. For this reason, we will forgive, may be once or twice or otherwise you forgive me first; or we forgive on condition, etc. We are used to deal with our brothers with a mathematical forgiveness. The challenge of this Sunday Gospel is to believe that forgiveness is the door to reconciliation; Jesus is asking us to do something utterly radical, but he also gives us the grace to do it. The fact about radical unforgiveness is that the refusal to forgive, by its very nature, locks us into a vicious circle. By being so tightly closed against pardoning the brother, we seal ourselves off from the very experience of pardon. There are two works of mercy which will set us free. They are concisely set down in the Lord’s words: “Forgive and you will be forgiven, and Give and you will receive” (Mt. 6:14). The former concerns pardon, the latter generosity. We have been forgiven a debt which is beyond paying, for the sin of man brought about the death of God’s own Son, and if that is so, we must forgive others as God has forgiven us, or we cannot hope to find any mercy.