Sunday Homily

First Reading: Sirach 27:30-28:7
Responsorial Psalm: Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 9-10, 11-12
Second Reading: Romans 14:7-9
Gospel: Matthew 18:21-35

Homily:
In some tropical countries, monkeys are seen as pests just like we might view mice, rats or other creepy crawly things.  Although monkeys are kind of cute, wild monkeys can be quite destructive, steal your bananas and when confronted they’re aggressive – worst of all they spit and throw stuff.  To deal with monkey problems in the tropics it’s not easy, you just can’t give a call to the local pest control company to solve your monkey problem.  So, people have come up with a number of creative ways to catch monkeys so they can be relocated to the wild.

One creative way to catch monkeys is really interesting.  What you do is hollow out a coconut and leave a small hole at one end, just big enough for the monkey to stick his little hand in.  Then you put some fruit and nuts inside the coconut, then put the coconut in the place where the monkey has been hanging out and then wait.

So when the monkey comes along, he checks out the coconut smelling the fruit and nuts inside.  Then monkey reaches his hand in the hole in the coconut and closes his hand around the food.  With closing his hand holding the fruit and nuts the monkey’s hand is too big to come out of the hole.  As the monkey catcher approaches the monkey it tries to run but the coconut restricts the monkey’s movements and makes it impossible for him to climb a tree to escape.  All the monkey has to do is to let the food go and he’s free, but as monkeys do, they’re unwilling to let go and their freedom is lost.

Both the first reading and the Gospel today speak to the danger of being trapped, kind of trapped like the monkey.  The first reading talks about nursing anger and cherishing resentment almost as if they are a prized possession.  So precious that like the monkey with the food, some are unable to let resentment go.

In Peter’s encounter with Jesus he’s asking, just how far should forgiveness extend.  By asking how many times he should forgive, Peter is trying to quantify how much forgiveness is necessary.  Like the Pharisees would ask, how much do I have to do, what is the minimum I can get away with?  Jewish tradition held that God would forgive three times and that a person was expected to forgive another person no more than three times.  So Peter thought that he was being generous in being prepared to forgive seven times. 

But Jesus’ response wasn’t exactly what Peter expected, he should forgive seventy seven times.  Actually in some translations of the Bible the number is translated seventy times seven.  But why all of the sevens?  Well, in the Bible number seven is thought to signify completion or perfection, and sometimes considered to be “God’s number”.  Jesus was really telling Peter not to count, it’s not the math that matters, it’s not the number of times we forgive.  We should always be prepared to forgive and be as generous as we can with forgiveness.  Forgiveness isn’t so much about individual acts but a way of life, a mindset guiding our relationships with others.  Forgiveness is freely given to us as a gift, something that we can’t earn.  You can’t really expect mercy from God if there’s not been the same generosity demonstrated towards others. 

Some feel that holding on to anger and resentment might somehow punish the person who hurt you, gives you an upper hand or a hold over the person.  But the opposite is true, in holding on we become the ones ensnared.  Lack of forgiveness weighs us down and traps us.  It’s like a self-perpetuating cycle, but Jesus tells us that there’s a way out of the cycle through forgiveness.  By forgiving those who have wronged us, we step outside of the cycle into a new freedom.

Sometimes forgiving seems impossible, especially if the hurt is deep.  But withholding forgiveness is like a toxic cloud hanging over our lives preventing us from truly finding joy.  Mahatma Gandhi once said:  “An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind”.  Doesn’t that seem like a dark place?

It’s hard not to seek revenge and instead choose to forgive.  When we refuse to forgive, we’re like the monkey who just won’t let go to be free.  Holding on to our bitterness, anger and hurt.  It’s like we won’t let go or we can’t let go.  The only person we hurt by refusing to let go of those feelings and attitudes is ourselves.  We just need to get the monkey of our bitterness, anger and hurt off our back.

It’s not that difficult to start to forgive and we do it every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer when we pray: “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”.  In other words, if we forgive others then we can have hope to receive God’s forgiveness.  

Learning to let go and forgive heals our souls and helps us find happiness in our lives.  So, how many times should we forgive?  The answer is easy, always forgive.  Experiencing God’s generous mercy transforms who we are and the way we see our lives.  We can recognize the blessings given to us because God has forgiven us in Christ.  As it’s said: “to be Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in us.”