Seventy-Seven Times

Our hearts are small; we think of love in limited ways.  God's love is infinite.  Since God is so merciful, God forgives us for our grievous offenses against Him, for what we owe to Him but could never pay to Him.  Yet we hold onto much smaller offenses and hold them against our neighbor.  We must forgive our neighbor if we want God to forgive us.  

And so we hear in today's Gospel reading that 

Peter approached Jesus and asked him,
"Lord, if my brother sins against me,
how often must I forgive him?
As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times 
but seventy-seven times.
That is why the Kingdom of Heaven may be likened to a king
who decided to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began the accounting,
a debtor was brought before him who owed him a huge amount.
Since he had no way of paying it back,
his master ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife, his children, and all his property,
in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell down, did him homage, and said,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion the master of that servant
let him go and forgave him the loan.
When that servant had left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him a much smaller amount.
He seized him and started to choke him, demanding,
'Pay back what you owe.'
Falling to his knees, his fellow servant begged him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.'
But he refused.
Instead, he had him put in prison
until he paid back the debt.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened,
they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said to him, 
'You wicked servant!
I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'
Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers
until he should pay back the whole debt.
So will My Heavenly Father do to you,
unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart."*  

As humans we have limited conceptions of love.  We think we are to forgive our neighbor merely seven times.   

God is infinite, so God loves us infinitely.  When Jesus answers Peter's question, Jesus uses a figure of speech.  Jesus tells Peter that he is to forgive his neighbor not just seven times, but seventy-seven times.  

How do we know that Jesus is using a figure of speech when he tells Saint Peter that he is to forgive his neighbor not just seven times, but seventy-seven times?  Why is it significant that Jesus uses a figure of speech to answer Saint Peter's question?  Jesus follows up on his answer to Saint Peter with a parable.  In the parable, a debtor owed a huge amount to his master.  There was no way he could ever repay it all.  The debtor did not owe ten times a usual amount.  The debtor owed a gigantic sum: the debtor never would be able to repay the debt owed to his master.  

There is no way to completely repay God.  God created us; therefore, we can never pay him back.  There is nothing we can possibly do to completely satisfy this debt: God did something for us far beyond what we could ever do for Him.  

In creating us, God showed us tremendous love, love which we can never repay.  In creating us, God began to show us why all glory, praise and honor is due to Him.  

God created us, yet we sin.  God has immense love for us, yet we show grossly insufficient gratitude to Him.  

As Saint Catherine of Siena related that God had told her, God is infinite goodness.  She added that God explained to her that to sin against God commits an offense which demands infinite satisfaction.  

If God would not forgive us, we would be doomed.  God, in His great mercy, forgives us.  

Accordingly, we are to beg God for mercy.  God will forgive us if we earnestly implore Him to be merciful to us.  

Yet our neighbors commit far lesser offenses against us, and we insist on enslaving our neighbors for what they have done.  Consequently we enslave ourselves.  If we refuse to forgive our neighbor, God will not forgive us.  

Jean Vanier wrote that people escape from the prisons of past hurts as they learn to forgive.  As we learn to forgive, and to let go of the past injuries we have suffered, we are liberated from the pain which has been holding us hostage.  As we relent and forgive our neighbor, we free our neighbor from the anguish and regret they may feel, and from the hurt we inflict on them by failing to forgive them.  

Otherwise, if we refuse to forgive our neighbor, we can end up in prison for a long time with our neighbor.  Consequently the road to forgiveness can be long, with many turns.  Almost certainly we will have to keep forgiving our neighbor, just as we too would like to be repeatedly forgiven.  

I think of two particular homeless people I know.  A little over a month ago, on Valentine's Day, I wrote of how Jocelyn had stuck by her boyfriend Jonny despite his drug use.  Later in the day on Valentine's Day, after I had posted that blog entry, Jonny told me that he had broken up with Jocelyn.  He explained that she was always keeping him up at midnight.  He told me, "I can't live like this; I need to get up in the morning so I can go to work."  Despite their breaking up, a few weeks later I heard that he had been thanking those who bring food, beverages and clothing to Jocelyn when he's not around.  Yesterday I saw Jocelyn and Jonny together just outside their tent where they sleep in the bushes.  Jocelyn and Jonny forgive each other.   

I think of another specific homeless person I know, who again here I'll call "Brendon."  A couple of weeks ago, I had heard that after he had been abusing hard drugs, Brendon entered a drug treatment program.  I saw him about a week ago.  He told me he had gotten high the previous day.  We can judge Brendon and others who are also homeless, who are also addicted to illicit substances.  Or we can listen to them.  We can love them.  

In the last couple of weeks, Brendon also told me, "I've always lived in institutions and in foster homes.  I don't know how to function in society."  If we're busy judging Brendon and others on the fringes of society, our hearts are not open to them.  If we're judging Brendon and others who are marginalized, we're not forgiving them.  If we forgive our neighbor, we can listen to our neighbor.  When we listen to our neighbor, we can understand our neighbor.  When we understand our neighbor, we come to love our neighbor.  As we come to know our neighbor, we come to love our neighbor as ourselves.**    

When we forgive our neighbor, we love our neighbor.  When we choose forgiveness, we let God love our neighbor through us.  When we forgive, we turn to God.  When we forgive, we become love.  

* Matthew 18:21-35 

** Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Leviticus 19:18; Romans 13:9; Galatians 5:14