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Greetings, SBT Readers:
The flower in this week's photo caught me by surprise. I was on my morning walk when I suddenly caught sight of the fragile flower, barely visible amongst the pebbles lining the sidewalk. Simple, unassuming yet exquisitely beautiful, it invited me to pause and take a closer look -- not only at the burgundy-centered blossom, but also at the blooms ready to unfold among elongated leaves. How it had taken root in such an inhospitable location amazed me -- and how it had escaped trampling or being doused in Round-Up also gave me pause to wonder. My encounter made me marvel at the infinite variety of the natural world and how every plant and creature somehow radiates the presence of the Divine.
Words of the Victorian poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, came to mind: "The world is charged with the grandeur of God./ It will flame out like shining from shook foil..." Despite the worst that humanity can do -- despite all being "seared with trade; bleared, smeared with toil"-- there still exists "the dearest freshness deep down things." Whether the flower will survive until my next walk remains to be seen, but, meanwhile, it is indelibly planted in my consciousness....
Many Blessings!
Elizabeth
SCRIPTURE REFLECTION
Link to the Sunday Readings
Peter approached Jesus and asked,
"Lord, if my brother or sister sins against me,
how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?"
Jesus answered, "Not seven times but seventy-seven times.
That is why the kingdom of heaven may be compared 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 10,000 talents. Since he had no way of repaying the debt,
his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned, in payment of the debt.
At that, the servant fell to his knee and beseeched him,
'Be patient with me, and I will pay you back in full.'
Moved with compassion, his master let him go and forgave him the loan. When that servant left, he found one of his fellow servants
who owed him 100 denarius. Seizing him, he 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 and, instead, had the servant put in prison
until he paid back the debt. Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were outraged; they went to their master
and reported the whole affair.
His master summoned him and said, 'You wicked servant!
I cancelled your entire debt because you begged me to.
Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant,
as I had pity on you?'"
Mt 18:21-35
The narrative speaks for itself. On the one hand, there is the compassionate master who takes pity on his servant, despite the huge amount of money he owes him; note that 10,000 gold talents would equal roughly $226,291,702.50 in U.S. dollars today. On the other, there is the hard-hearted servant who literally squeezes his fellow servant out of his last dime, in addition to depriving him of his freedom; note that 100 denarii would be worth about 4 month's wages for a day laborer-- about $6,000.00 in modern money. Even if
these internet calculations may not be 100% accurate, they are close enough to indicate the vast difference between the two debts in this parable. According to one commentator, the larger debt would have represented 60 million working days -- in other words, not a debt that anyone could pay off in their life time or even in a succession of life times!
But the parable is about more than money; nor does it directly answer Peter's question regarding the number of times one should forgive. In asking, "How many times must I forgive?" Peter is looking for a literal answer, a strict formula that would guide how he should respond to those who harm him in any way. But Jesus' thinking is not formulaic; on the contrary, he spins a tale which turns upside down conventional thinking about forgiveness. He not only rejects the ancient concept of "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," but also the more modern concept of "second chances" --or, as Peter suggests, seven second chances. The compassionate master is as lavish in his forgiving as the father in the parable of The Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-31). The spendthrift servant and the dissolute son exceed all notions of impropriety and yet, unworthy as they are, they receive limitless forgiveness. As readers, we don't have any sense that either character is truly repentant; rather, it seems that both want to escape the consequences of their bad decisions. They seek mercy because they don't want to pay the price for what they have done and for what they have failed to do. However, while the dissolute son seems to settle back into home life, the spendthrift servant does not seem to have learned anything from his experience. No sooner is he forgiven than he hounds down the colleague who owes him a comparatively small debt and who could, in fact, pay it off in a matter of months.
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant highlights God's infinite mercy, but also warns us to heed the words of The Lord's Prayer: "And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass us against us..." If we wish to be forgiven, then we need to let go of our anger and hatred towards others, seek reconciliation when possible, and resist all desire for revenge or payback. This does not mean endangering ourselves in any way or staying in toxic situations, but it does mean "letting go" of grudges -- not just for the sake of those who have offended us, but also for the sake of our own health and well-being. For as Sirach points out, "Wrath and anger are hateful
things" and cause harm to all those who harbor them.
QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
* When have you experienced God's great mercy and how did this leave you feeling?
* Who are the people in your life who have hurt you the most and have you truly forgiven them? If so, what was the experience like for you?
* If there are people that you need to avoid for your own well-being, how can you forgive them despite keeping distant?
* Are there people that still need your forgiveness? If so, what steps are you willing to take so that you can let go of "wrath and hatred"?
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