Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
“Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?””
Summary
How many times must I forgive my brother, as many as seven times?” Both of today’s reading are about forgiveness: the cost of forgiving and, more importantly, the cost of not forgiving. In Genesis 50:15-21, Joseph’s brothers are suddenly fearful of what will happen if Joseph “pays us back in full for all the wrong we did.” When the brothers had power over Joseph they used it to their own advantage but now that Joseph has power over them he refuses to use it instead he uses his power to raise them up, to care for them. In the parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 18:21-35, the king has enormous power over his servant who owes him the equivalent of his wages for the next 150,000 years! By forgiving the debt he no longer has any power over the servant. He is free. The servant, on the other hand, cannot bear to free his fellow servant, he still wants power over him. Yet he is the one who ends his days in suffering. Forgiveness frees not just the one who is forgiven but also the one who forgives. The point of the huge numbers in the gospel reading, the 10,000 talents, the 70 x 7, is to make a mockery of the sums: if we are looking for pay-back we are missing the point. Forgiveness is not transactional, it is relational, it is the grace that restores us to one another.
FIRST READING
Genesis 50:15-21
The word of the Lord came to me: O Mortal, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take one of their number as their sentinel; and if the sentinel sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people; then if any who hear the sound of the trumpet do not take warning, and the sword comes and takes them away, their blood shall be upon their own heads. They heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; their blood shall be upon themselves. But if they had taken warning, they would have saved their lives. But if the sentinel sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any of them, they are taken away in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at the sentinel’s hand.
So you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked ones, you shall surely die’, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the wicked shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?’ Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel?
GOSPEL
Matthew 18.21-35
‘Peter came and said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.
‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.” Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly 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 slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’
