Today's Gospel

The Forgiveness Equation

Hi, I'm Matthew Kelly, and welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we take a few moments to reflect on the gospel, to allow the Holy Spirit to direct our hearts to some new wisdom, to some old wisdom, to a new lesson, to an old lesson we need to hear again. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 18, verses 21 through 35, and chapter 19, verse 1. Then Peter came up and said to him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? As many as 7 times?" And Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you 7 times, but 70 times 7.

Therefore, the kingdom of Heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began reckoning, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. And as he could not pay, his Lord ordered him to be sold and his wife and children and all that he had and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, "Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him, the lord of the servant released him and forgave him the debt." But the same servant, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow servants who owed him a 100 denarii. And seizing him by the throat, he said, "Pay me what you owe." So his fellow servant fell down and besought him. Have patience with me, and I will pay. He refused and went and put him in prison till he should pay the debt.

When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, "You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you besought me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?" And in anger, his lord delivered him to the jailers till he should pay all his debt. So also, my Heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. Now, when Jesus had finished these sayings, He went away from Galilee and entered the region of Judea beyond the Jordan, and large crowds followed him, and he healed them.

So we have a number of sections in today's reading. The first is Peter coming to Jesus, obviously frustrated with somebody and saying, "Jesus, how many times I've got to forgive this guy?" Obviously, Jesus gives him an answer that doesn't really please him and probably doesn't really please us. I've thought a lot about this one, and it's an interesting one. And sometimes it's not that we have to forgive somebody seven times, for the same thing, seven different times. Sometimes we've got to forgive somebody seven times for the same thing that they did once. Sometimes we get wounded in our hearts, and we think we've forgiven somebody, and then something will happen, and that wound will swell up, that wound will flare up, that wound will say, "Eh, no, not quite healed yet." And then we have to forgive that person. We thought we'd forgiven them, have to forgive them again. Maybe 70 times seven, if the wound is great enough. And so this idea that, okay, we have to forgive people over and over, yes. Obviously, if they're hurting you in serious ways, we shouldn't put ourselves in a situation where they can hurt us over and over like that. But sometimes we need to forgive somebody 70 times seven times for just hurting us once, because the wound is that great. And then, of course, we have the story of the parable, and the servant, and the masters, and what I love here is that there's a beautiful prayer here. The guy, the servant, who can't pay his debts, falls on his knees, imploring his master. And what does he say? He says, "Lord, have patience with me." I love these things that come up in the scriptures, because what is this? This is a prayer. This is a prayer that Jesus made the parable of. So this is a prayer written by Jesus. Jesus wrote this prayer. And what is the prayer? The prayer is, Lord, have patience with me. And so let's go out into the world today praying that prayer just over and over. Lord, have patience with me. Lord, have patience with me. Over and over, you got a few minutes of the stoplight. Lord, have patience with me. You got a couple of minutes waiting in line at the grocery store. Lord, have patience with me. You've got a few minutes waiting in the doctor's office. Lord, have patience with me. Just over and over, let that prayer be our prayer today. A prayer written by Jesus. Lord, have patience with me. Have a great day, and remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.