The River of Mercy
Thursday 19th week ordinary time
(Matthew 18:21-19:1)
One of the most deep-seated weaknesses of human nature is our desire to revenge and payback. There is something inside us that feels relieved when we have scored over an enemy. We seem to get a certain satisfaction out of this. However, as followers of Jesus Christ we are taught that sorrow, forgiveness, and reconciliation are absolute necessities for discipleship.
Why do we find it hard to forgive others even though that is the only way to anchor God's forgiveness? I think the reason is because we fail to appreciate and celebrate our own forgiveness. Like the ungrateful servant in the parable, we focus on the 100 denarii our neighbour owes us rather than the 10,000 talents we owe to God, which God has graciously cancelled. Let us think about this in perspective.
A denarius is a labourer’s daily wage. So his fellow servant owed him 100 days pay, which could be paid back in a couple of months. But this same servant owed his master 10,000 talents. A talent was equal to 6,000 denarii. So he owed his master the equivalent of 60,000,000 denarii. For a labourer working 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, it would take 280,000 years to raise that kind of money. This enormous figure shows that the servant owed his master so much that there was absolutely no way he could ever hope to repay that. This is symbolic of the debt each of us owes God through sin; a debt we could never ever hope to repay even if we spent out whole life is sackcloth and ashes.
Not even the combined penitence of all humankind suffices to blot out a single sin. But God in his infinite mercy sent his own Son to die on the cross and take away our sins. And all He asks of us is to be grateful; to realise that He has done for us so much more than we could ever be required to do for our neighbour.
***
There are two seas in Palestine. They are both very different. One is called Sea of Galilee. It is a large lake with clean fresh water from which people can drink. Fish and people swim in it. It is surrounded by green fields and gardens. Many people have built their homes near to it. The other big body of water is called the Dead Sea. It lives up to its name. Everything about it is dead. The water is so salty that people would get sick from trying to drink it. It has no fish. Nothing grows along its banks. No one wants to live anywhere near its unpleasant smell.
The interesting thing about both these bodies of water is that the same river flows into both of them. What makes the difference? Just this one: one receives and gives; the other receives and does not give. The Jordan River flows into the top of the Sea of Galilee and out at the bottom. The same river flows into the Dead Sea and never gets out again.
We have received the river of mercy of God. The river of mercy should flow out to others. Otherwise, we will be like the Dead Sea.
(Matthew 18:21-19:1)
One of the most deep-seated weaknesses of human nature is our desire to revenge and payback. There is something inside us that feels relieved when we have scored over an enemy. We seem to get a certain satisfaction out of this. However, as followers of Jesus Christ we are taught that sorrow, forgiveness, and reconciliation are absolute necessities for discipleship.
Why do we find it hard to forgive others even though that is the only way to anchor God's forgiveness? I think the reason is because we fail to appreciate and celebrate our own forgiveness. Like the ungrateful servant in the parable, we focus on the 100 denarii our neighbour owes us rather than the 10,000 talents we owe to God, which God has graciously cancelled. Let us think about this in perspective.
A denarius is a labourer’s daily wage. So his fellow servant owed him 100 days pay, which could be paid back in a couple of months. But this same servant owed his master 10,000 talents. A talent was equal to 6,000 denarii. So he owed his master the equivalent of 60,000,000 denarii. For a labourer working 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year, it would take 280,000 years to raise that kind of money. This enormous figure shows that the servant owed his master so much that there was absolutely no way he could ever hope to repay that. This is symbolic of the debt each of us owes God through sin; a debt we could never ever hope to repay even if we spent out whole life is sackcloth and ashes.
Not even the combined penitence of all humankind suffices to blot out a single sin. But God in his infinite mercy sent his own Son to die on the cross and take away our sins. And all He asks of us is to be grateful; to realise that He has done for us so much more than we could ever be required to do for our neighbour.
***
There are two seas in Palestine. They are both very different. One is called Sea of Galilee. It is a large lake with clean fresh water from which people can drink. Fish and people swim in it. It is surrounded by green fields and gardens. Many people have built their homes near to it. The other big body of water is called the Dead Sea. It lives up to its name. Everything about it is dead. The water is so salty that people would get sick from trying to drink it. It has no fish. Nothing grows along its banks. No one wants to live anywhere near its unpleasant smell.
The interesting thing about both these bodies of water is that the same river flows into both of them. What makes the difference? Just this one: one receives and gives; the other receives and does not give. The Jordan River flows into the top of the Sea of Galilee and out at the bottom. The same river flows into the Dead Sea and never gets out again.
We have received the river of mercy of God. The river of mercy should flow out to others. Otherwise, we will be like the Dead Sea.
