Scraping off the Barnacles of Resentment

Our Gospel reading today picks up where last Sunday’s left off. We are in what is referred to as the sermon on the Church in Matthew’s Gospel. In this discourse, Christ is addressing his disciples and instructing them on how to live together. Last week we heard how we are to correct our brothers and sisters who sin. That Gospel passage ended with Jesus saying to his disciples: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” Christ is telling us that he will always be with his Church, he will not abandon us. It is also helpful for us to remember that St Matthew here is writing his Gospel for a mostly Jewish, but somewhat mixed, audience. The Apostles were instructed by Jesus to go out to all peoples and make them disciples. So this instruction here from Jesus is particularly helpful in their efforts to teach others what it means to be a follower of Christ.

Today we hear Peter ask how we are to forgive others. Peter is actually being quite generous in what he proposes to Christ. That we should forgive those who sin against us 7 times. Seven is quite a lot of times to forgive someone if you think about it. But the Lord’s answer here of 77 times tells us that we are to forgive people infinitely, that we cannot put a limit on mercy, just as the mercy of God is limitless. For those listening to the words of Jesus as he spoke them, 77 represents an infinite number. He is referring back to Genesis where the descendant of Cain is to be avenged 77-fold. So Christ is contrasting the vengeance in Genesis with the infinite love and mercy of the Father.

Jesus explains what happens when we do not forgive others in the parable we just heard. A servant who owes a large debt to the king asks for mercy and it is granted to him, the debt is forgiven. But then when he meets a fellow servant who owes him some money, he is unmerciless with him and violently demands he pays up. When the king hears of this, he has him sent away for punishment and torture. Christ is illustrating for us the need to forgive others in the same manner that we want to be forgiven. We need to show the same mercy that we want to be given to us, to everyone else.

My friends, I know that this can be hard to do. I have a bit of an Irish memory. I remember everything that someone has ever done wrong to me. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast yesterday, but I remember the time my friend Joe crossed me when I was 9 years old. When we hold on to grudges they can become resentment. Resentment is a major impediment for us in the Christian life. It can stop us from living a life that is leading us towards Christ. It can paralyze us spiritually. We should think of these grudges and resentments as barnacles on the side of a ship. One or two, do not really have much of an effect. But when they are allowed to grow, and multiply they can eventually destroy the ship. We need to scrape off the barnacles of resentment that we may have. We need to forgive others, just as God willingly and lovingly forgives us.

The best way we can learn to forgive is to experience the forgiveness of God in our lives. We can do this through the sacrament of confession. This sacrament was given to the Church because of God’s infinite love for us. He wants us to be able to have our relationship with him, which can be damaged by sin, restored. When we fall out of a state of grace when we commit sin, it is necessary for us to go to Confession before we can receive Holy Communion again. No matter what we have done, or how far we have fallen, God’s infinite mercy is available to us through this sacrament.

So let us all seek to imitate the mercy of God in our lives. Let us seek to let go of those grudges and resentments that we may be carrying around with us. Let us seek the mercy of God in the sacrament of Confession. Let us take these words of St. Philip Neri to heart: “If a man finds it very hard to forgive injuries, let him look at a Crucifix, and think that Christ shed all His Blood for him, and not only forgave His enemies, but even prayed to His Heavenly Father to forgive them.”