Ordinary 24

The Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Sirach 27:30 – 29:7; Psalm 103; Romans 14:7-9; Matthew 18:21-35

Which aspect of forgiveness do you think is the most difficult to realize?

 

Is it, to ask forgiveness of another person or to bestow the gift of forgiveness requested?

Is it to accept forgiveness, and related to that, to forgive one’s self?

 

Some clarifications.

 

When I say, ask for forgiveness, I don’t mean saying, “I’m sorry.”

Rather, I mean asking, “Will you – can you - forgive me?”

Admitting we are sorry is an acknowledgment that we have offended, sinned or caused harm to another person. It is not forgiveness.

 

To ask for forgiveness is more complex.

It is an acknowledgement of harm but this request places us in a vulnerable position.

We are not in control.

We must wait upon answer. Wait for the possibility of forgiveness that may or may not be offered.

It rests on the compassion and generosity of the person harmed, betrayed or sinned against.

 

How do you respond if the person chooses not to forgive us?

The wound so deep is unable to forgive us.

Are we left to travel our separate ways unhealed?

            Both people resonating with the wound we’ve inflicted?

 

Are we willing to wait an undetermined period if a person needs time to reflect.

 

It was suggested to me that there are some wounds or sins that need to be forgiven seventy-seven times over for the one act of forgiveness to be complete. Conversely a forgiveness hastily given may result in bandaging an open wound that never really heals.

 

The rabbis taught that you should forgive a person up to three times.

Peter is being generous today doubling that and adding one. Seven times.

Jesus teaches we are to forgive seventy-seven times.

            What did Jesus mean? Is there a limit to forgiveness? Or does he mean every time?

           

Today, the teacher Ben Sirach and Jesus’ parable as well as the model of prayer he taught us

clearly bind the forgiveness of our sins with how we have treated others.

 

“Could anyone refuse mercy to another [person, yet] seek pardon for their own sins?”

“I forgave you your entire debt…should you not have had pity on your fellow servant…?”

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

            Those two words, as we, should stick in our throats every time we pray the Our Father.

 

Notice that in the teaching of Ben Sirach and the Lord’s Prayer our forgiveness of others precedes God’s forgiveness of us. In the parable, God’s forgiveness precedes our actions. Either way, the two movements are inseparably bound.

 

To accept the gift of forgiveness entails humility.

Forgiveness is a choice of the person harmed, a freely offered gift, no strings attached.

Should not the reception of such a gift of healing blossom into gratitude?

Isn’t that really the only possible response? 

Meister Eckhart, a 12th century mystic, taught that if the only prayer we express is “thank you,” we have said everything. Gratitude in turn should blossom into further acts of forgiveness and healing. Maybe that’s what was missing in the servant before he left the presence of the king.

 

In the light of 9/11, the Nazi Holocaust, the Israeli-Palestinian war, our country’s grappling with our history of the genocide of indigenous peoples and the slave trade, and our church’s sexual abuse crisis; nations, peoples, corporations, and churches can and must acknowledge the harm they have caused to people, but can a corporate entity request forgiveness and receive? Who does the speaking for a group?

 

The scriptural passages allude to broken relationships between individuals.

The gospel lifestyle is lived out one-on-one, individually. It’s the incarnational way.

 

The Amish go to the home of the West Nickels Mines School shooter to comfort his wife and family.

John Paul II visits and speaks face-to-face with Mehmet Ali Ağca, his would-be assassin.

Jesus embraces a woman at a well,

           ...lifts up from the ground a woman caught committing adultery,

                       ...listens to a guilty man hanging next to him on a cross,

                                    ...sits and converses with Peter after breakfast.

 

One-on-one. Personal. Heartfelt.

 

One final thought.

To humbly and graciously receive another person’s forgiveness is only a partial act until we can forgive ourselves, which I find is where many of us stumble. That is what I consider the most difficult aspect of the journey of forgiveness and healing.

 

Of whom do each of us need to ask forgiveness?

Whom do we need to offer the gift of compassion and understanding with healing forgiveness?

 

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

 

 

13 September 2026

Feast of John Chysostomos, bishop