The Hard Work of Forgiveness

Homily for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

There is a strong parallel between the first reading for today and the Gospel excerpt. They seem to say that God cannot forgive us if we do not forgive. They also seem to imply that this is not a limit on God’s omnipotence but is in the very nature of the case. There is an existential logic that requires this rule. It is, however, very difficult for most of us to understand forgiveness. Today’s passage from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans, just like the reading from the book of Sirach, suggests that anything other than forgiveness is quite out of place because judgment can safely be left to God. Yet, there is more to it than that.

We have difficulty in understanding forgiveness because we tend to identify it with permissiveness. Few of us in practice want to let anyone injure us unchallenged seventy times seven times while we pretend to like it. However, this is not what is commanded by the Gospel reading. The saying and the story about forgiveness must be read in sequence with last Sunday’s readings which stressed the obligation, in love, to challenge evil doing and admonish sinners. To let evil go unchallenged is in fact unforgiving because such permissiveness does not heal or restore but allows destructive forces to gather momentum, rushing persons and societies to their doom.

If we examine forgiveness as it is offered by God, we may have developed a false sense of forgiveness by our usual practice of believing that forgiveness is simply a matter of reciting three Our Father’s and three Hail Mary’s. The effects of sin can be quite devastating. I would point to the disaster that took place in Libya this past week. Two damaged dams gave way this week and washed away tens of thousands of people and real estate. Though a thorough investigation has not yet taken place, it seems at this time that the impending collapse of these dams was ignored by those who were responsible for them. They had been warned of the need for maintenance. However, the various people responsible were caught up in a civil war. Resources to repair the dams were not available because of all the fighting.

I use this example to explain what happens to relationships through sin. The bridges that used to connect people in relationship can be destroyed by sin. The betrayal of a spouse, a lie to a good friend, taking something from its lawful owner, etc. are just a few examples of how sin can destroy a personal relationship. Reciting a few prayers is not going to rebuild those bridges or restore the trust that has been lost. The hard work of repentance to reestablish a friendship, a marriage, or an entire community must involve action more than words.

The story of the unforgiving steward that we hear in today’s Gospel text suggests that the sin of that steward was not just a matter of the relationship between the debtor and the steward. It caused great difficulty throughout the household, so much so that the other servants felt it necessary to bring attention to the injustice to the master of the household. When he realized how this man’s sin had made him look like a fool in the eyes of the community, he retracted his forgiveness.

Something similar may be said of the course of human history. We know from the Exodus theme that it is not when the oppressed of the world are quiescent and cowed under their oppressors that the redemptive, forgiving, healing spirit of God is abroad among us. It is when the oppressed stand up and challenge their oppressors and demand liberation that we know there can be forgiveness even of the sins of oppression of the powerless. It may be a painful forgiveness, but it effectively heals and restores. God’s forgiveness is the model for human forgiveness. It involves the challenge of evil, restoration, and healing.

It is in this context that we hear the Gospel passage read. This parable links our attitude to God with our practical behavior towards other people. In the story of the unforgiving servant, what is stressed most is the fantastic disproportion between the debt we owe God and the debt that others owe us. If God is willing to heal and redeem all that the human persons have destroyed and distorted in creation, it is clearly important that we help to repair those particular distortions of relationship that others inflict on us. The issue is not blame but reconstruction.

We must also consider the lengths to which God went to reconcile the human race. It took the death of Jesus to reopen the relationship that Adam lost in the Garden. The story from the book of Genesis makes this very clear. Before they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Adam would walk with God through the garden every evening, enjoying the gentle breeze. However, Adam was expelled from the garden after his sin, making it impossible for him to spend time with God in the garden. It took the death of Jesus on a cross, the very sacrifice that we remember each and every time that we celebrate the Eucharist. Consequently, the Eucharist becomes the primary sacrament of reconciliation and restoration. The hard work that Jesus was forced to endure to redeem us should remind us that sin is about the destruction of relationships. Such destruction must be remedied by concrete actions of reconciliation.