Forgiveness

In today’s Gospel, Mt. 18: 21-35,  Jesus tells the parable of the merciful king who forgives the servant who has absolutely no way to pay his debt. The statement “he had no way of paying it back” is about us humans who are in debt to our God.  It does not take rocket science to know that we live in a corrupt, sin-laden world, of which we are all a part and to which we all contribute. If we think differently, we are deceiving ourselves. Peter, in today’s Gospel, asks Jesus how many times he has to forgive a brother or a sister, seven times? Jesus replies: 70xs 7xs.  We probably are not aware that, in a given day, we are capable of offending God and others 70xs.  And even if we are unaware of the times we fail to show love, express gratitude, show mercy or promote the good of others or how many times we bend the truth for our own sake at the expense of others or how many times we exploit others for our own aggrandizement—any time truth is covered up, any time we take unfair advantage of another, we thwart the building up of the Kingdom of God’s love and mercy and generosity.

Take those reflections to a larger scale: the number of persons exploited  and enslaved by the sex and labor trades throughout the world, how many lives are destroyed by the billions of dollars spent on war and nuclear weapons, by persons hanging on to power and control.  Let us look at how many persons, especially children and infants, die throughout the world because of unjust, sinful  policies and economic inequalities that lock families into devastating poverty that leads to starvation and homelessness while corrupt politicians protect their “gods.”  Truly we have “no way of paying back” the debt we owe God because of our  willful ways of choosing our wills over God’s will. We are in the same position as the good thief on the cross. Will we recognize our guilt and the fact that the Son of God is giving His very life so that we will have life in God. Do we realize that Jesus is paying the debt we owe for our sinfulness by the pouring out of His blood for the salvation of the world-- yes, the world in which we live and of which we are a part.