This is a reflection on the Mass readings of the day.
We cannot escape from the fact that, over and over again, Jesus makes forgiveness of our sins depend on our forgiving others their sins.
Jesus incorporates this principle into the Our Father. He also tells the parable of the unforgiving servant, whose inability to forgive his fellow servant’s debt ultimately costs him his own forgiveness (cf. Mt. 18:21ff). And in today’s gospel, He tells us that the measure of our forgiveness will be the measure by which we are forgiven.
This theme is not one that Jesus mentions once in passing. It is one that He repeats, in different forms, again and again and again.
Why is this theme so important to Jesus?
For a clue by way of foreshadowing, we can recall how Moses, once he has become a member of the Egyptian court, sees one of his countrymen, a Hebrew, abused by an Egyptian. He is filled with rage, and he kills the Egyptian, winning for himself exile.
For Jesus, each one of us is a “countryman”–and so much more. He is passionate for our brother’s and sister’s welfare, even in small things, even when they are not in grace, more than we could know.
He does not want us holding things over our brother’s and sister’s. He wants us to love them, to forgive them. Union between persons is a priority to Him second only to the union of the Blessed Trinity, and our union with that Trinity.
Ideas for conversation with the Lord: Ask Jesus why forgiveness is so important to Him. Think of the person whom it is has been most difficult to forgive in your life. Think of that person in their weakness, neediness, and insecurity, and ask Jesus to forgive them and strengthen them. And tell Him that you let their offenses go as well.
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