Monthly Archives: July 2014

Forgiveness is not something which should be taken lightly. When we pray the Our Father, we say, “forgive us our tresspasses, as we forgive those who tresspass against us.” But do we realise the implications of receiving forgiveness? Do we understand what is forgiveness?

In today’s Gospel, a master had a servant who owed him quite a lot of money. The master wanted to sell the servant, together with the servant’s wife and children and all the servant’s possessions, to meet the debt. The servant begged for more time to pay off his debt, and the master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. But did the servant appreciate the master’s forgiveness? No. He thought he had been given a lucky break or lucky escape. This is shown by the way he treated another servant who owed him money. As a result, the servant was punished by the master for being unforgiving and ungrateful. The Gospel cautions us: “And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.” When we are forgiven for the wrong we have done, are we not bound to forgive others who have wronged us? Have we become so proud, conceited, or thick-skinned in expecting forgiveness, but so easily condemn others for even the slightest wrong?

Each of us at some point or another may have gotten into a misunderstanding with another person. Such a misunderstanding could be a small squabble, or an argument due to differences in opinion, or even a heated exchange of words. Sometimes the misunderstanding could also be due to some wrong doing committed by one party to another. When a person has done something wrong towards us, how do we respond? There are people who would ignore the person’s wrongdoing and forgive him or her (sometimes due to the fact that such people do not want to make an issue out of the matter, no matter how serious it may be, but by doing so, the other person who has committed wrongdoing may not learn from their mistake and possibly think that he or she had had a lucky escape and may not appreciate the forgiveness given). There are people who get angry or upset or bear a grudge against the other person. There are also people who begin to shun the other person, especially if the wrongdoing was especially serious and hurting, and this could lead to prolonged feelings of anger and resentment. But what did Jesus teach us to do in such a situation?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus said, “If your brother does something wrong, go and have it out with him alone, between your two selves. If he listens to you, you have won back your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you: the evidence of two or three witnesses is required to sustain any charge. But if he refuses to listen to these, report it to the community; and if he refuses to listen to the community, treat him like a pagan or a tax collector.” As you can see, dealing with another person who has done something wrong is not an easy or quick matter. It requires patience, persistence, firmness, compassion and mercy towards the other person. We ought to be against the wrongdoing, not the wrongdoer, and try to help the other person grow and change for the better. Have we been charitable and loving towards those who have wronged us?

Some of us may think that to be great, we must have lots of money and property. With such wealth, we think we can buy respect and admiration from others. Some of us may think that to be great, we must be highly educated, thinking that people would treat us like a sage or a wise person. Some of us may think that to be great, we must have lots of titles and honours, thinking that we could be greeted and respected widely wherever we go. However, what is greatness really?

In today’s Gospel, Jesus taught His disciples: “‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ So he called a little child to him and set the child in front of them. Then he said, ‘I tell you solemnly, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. And so, the one who makes himself as little as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.'” Little children learn to depend on their elders and parents for help and guidance. In the same way, like little children, we learn to be humble and depend on our Heavenly Father for His help, guidance and providence. We begin to realise that being great is not for ourselves, but for the glory of God. Are we still chasing after temporary greatness here on earth, or are we striving towards eternal greatness in heaven?

Are we willing to set aside certain rights and privileges, even though we may be entitled to them? Some of us seem to think that we have a right to something or we are entitled to certain privileges. When we have this sort of mentality, we may become more and more possessive of what is ours and what we ought to receive. But there are times where we could set aside certain rights as a form of showing good example or witnessing to others.

In today’s Gospel, we see the collectors of the half-shekel questioning Peter on whether Jesus pays the half-shekel. This half-shekel is a temple tax which is meant for the upkeep of the temple (after all, even in those days, nothing comes free and persons and buildings still need to be maintained at cost). Jesus is actually exempted as the temple is the house of God and he is the Son of God. However, Jesus chose to forgo his right to be exempted and had the tax paid so that his exercising his right would not be a stumbling block to the temple collectors and others. He sent Peter fishing to demonstrate that he was in fact Lord over all creation, having the power to know which fish had a shekel in its mouth, just enough to pay the tax for the two of them. Moreover, Jesus’ willingness to pay the tax shows his submission to the law of God. He told Peter to take the shekel and “give it to them for me and for you.” Here, we see that Jesus made a distinction between himself as the exempted son and Peter as the non-exempted subject, and yet still followed the law of God as an example to others.

What about us? Are we still demanding our rights? If Jesus, son of God, is willing to forgo His rights and pay the temple tax, would we be willing to do the same? Jesus, as son of God, could have easily exercised His rights, but as St. Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:6-8: “Though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.” We call ourselves Christians, followers of Christ, but are we humble and willing to follow Jesus’ example?