THEME: If you O Lord should mark our guilt
A doctor sent a sick woman to a specialist. When the specialist checked on her, he found her condition greatly improved. The woman’s doctor was stunned. He asked her, “Did anything unusual happen since I saw you?” “Yes”, said the patient, “I made up with a childhood friend with whom I had been feuding for years. Today, modern Medicine is beginning to confirm what ancient people suspected that there is a link between sin and sickness. Indeed, many Christians are not growing in their walk with God simply because they are carrying anger and vindictiveness in their hearts to the extent that Jesus has no space to enter in. forgiveness heals and that is what the readings of today admonishes us to do.
We must forgive the failings of each other because forgiveness is of God. In the first reading Sirach reminds us, “Anger and wrath, these also are abominations, yet a sinner holds on to them. The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance, for he keeps a strict account of their sins” (Sirach 27:30-28:1). Can you imagine a sinner not ready to forgive his brother or sister? Who will forgive such a sinner? This is the point of the first reading that a sinner holds on to unforgiveness as if he or she has never offended anyone.
Just as the vengeful is not ready to forgive,” The vengeful will face the Lord’s vengeance for he keeps a strict account of their sins” (Sirach 28:1). Can you again, imagine God taking account of our sins? The Psalmist is right when he says, “If you O Lord should mark our guilt, Lord, who will survive? But there is forgiveness with you so that you may be revered” (Psalm 130:3).
Unless humility and honesty result in forgiveness, relationships cannot be mended and strengthened. Sirach says again, “Remember the end of your life and set enmity aside; remember corruption and death and be true to the commandments” (Sirach 28:6). Lord, make us know the shortness of our lives so that we may gain wisdom of heart (Cf Psalm 90:12).
What is wrong with the Man in today’s gospel parable is wrong with many professing Christians today. We have received forgiveness, but we have not really experienced forgiveness deep in our hearts. The world’s worst prison is the prison of an unforgiving heart. If we refuse to forgive others, then we are only imprisoning ourselves and causing our own torment.
Our Lord’s warning to forgive ceaselessly is serious. He did not say that God saves only those who forgive others. The theme of today’s parable is forgiveness between brothers, not salvation for lost sinners. Jesus warns us that God cannot forgive us if we do not have a humble and repentant hearts.
St. Paul enjoins on all that we do not owe our lives. It has been purchased through the endless mercy of God. He says, “We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:7-8). The injunction to forgive is not optional. It is a divine injunction that will determine our future destiny; our eventual union with God.
Indeed, the psalmist summarises it all when he says “He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as the Heaven are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love towards those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west , so far he removes our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:10-12).
When we gather at the celebration of the Mass, it is God’s mercy we celebrate. When we fail, therefore, to forgive, then I can conclude that either we do not understand what we celebrate or we are hypocrites. This is because when we gather, it is Jesus who gratuitously offered himself on the cross for us who has called us; “ We come to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant and him whose blood pleads more insistently than that of Abel’s” ( Hebrews 12:24).
“Captives cannot free themselves; they need someone to see them as captives who need releasing rather than as enemies to reject.”“Father forgive them, for they know not what they are doing” (cf. Luke 23:24) was one of last sayings of Jesus on the cross to his Father. Did his captors not know what they were doing? They knew it. This was indeed a practical example that Jesus left for us his followers and yet forgiveness is one of the greatest challenges to our Christian life. How can we lighten the load of unforgiveness in our life?
In sum, Remember always that when we encounter someone who has offended us greatly in one way or another, we need to see him as a spiritual captive not as an enemy. No matter how distasteful one’s actions may seem to be, you must visualize him as a captive and not your enemy. The enemy of God loves to take peoples wills, passions and actions captive. Do not be enslaved by hatred and unforgiveness because the power to forgive is in your hands. Forgiveness is a sign of Christian maturity. Will you act now?
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