Liturgical Table Talk: 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Weekly Reflections

The Hors d'oeuvre 

If tomorrow you won a million dollars (tax-free) what would you do with it?

Dig In

Matthew was writing his gospel to a church that was primarily comprised of people who converted to Christianity from Judaism. Throughout his gospel, there are clues to this and knowing this helps to explain the way he structured his gospel and what he particularly remembered and wrote about Jesus.

We mentioned it before, but there are five long speeches or discourses in Matthew’s gospel. In the Old Testament, the five books of Moses, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, comprise the heart of the Jewish faith. By having Jesus give five discourses, Matthew is establishing a new foundation for believers. Today’s gospel comes from the fourth discourse and it is also called the Discourse on the Church. This section of Matthew’s gospel a guide for maintain peace among the different members.

Last week, Jesus gave instructions on how to address conflict within a community. First, go directly to the person. Second, bring another witness. Third, bring it before the community. After this instruction on how to handle offenses and conflict, the Gospel today picks up with Peter speaking on behalf of the other disciples and asks a questions about forgiveness within a community. It should be noted that Peter is talking about “personal offenses”. These are cases when someone is lying about us or speaking ill of us behind our back. Most of us have had moments when we discovered that someone we thought was a friend was talking badly about us. This is what Peter was referring to.

Consider how it feels when offenses like these are discovered. With that in mind, Peter most likely thought he was being more than generous when asked if forgiveness should be offered seven times. Pause here and read Genesis 4:24: “If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.” Jesus takes a well-known verse about vengeance and turns it around to forgiveness. To illustrate his point that forgiveness should be limitless, he tells a story of the most extreme proportions.

He says that a man owed a king “a huge amount”. When translated literally, the “huge amount was “ten thousand talents”. A talent was worth six to ten thousand denarii. A denarii was the average daily wage. Ten thousand talents, then, is equal to 27,777 years worth of wages for the average person. I was just a ridiculous amount of money. The forgives all of the debt. Not only that, but the king no longer calls it a “debt”. Instead, in verse 26, he calls it a “loan” which took away some of stigma attached to what he accumulated.

The man then goes and miserably treats someone else who owed him a debt. The total of that debt would have equaled 100 days wages, certainly a manageable amount. The king hears of the way the original man was harsh and unmerciful. Then the king handed him over to torturers to force him to pay back the equivalent of $17.5 billion for today’s average workers.

Please read Matthew 18:21-35 together.

Table Talk

  • Have you ever felt betrayed by friend or has someone broken your trust? What happened? Is there someone that you consider to be an adversary or perhaps even a “frienemy”?
  • Have you ever treated someone badly? Have you ever had to ask for someone’s forgiveness?
  • Do you feel that you have been forgiven by God?
  • Can you think of ways that today’s gospel is challenging you live differently in a specific way?

and for Dessert

Lord Jesus, each of us have been wrong. People have betrayed us. The have been mean to us or they have purposefully made things hard on us. But we have done the same to others. Help us to seek forgiveness from you and the people we have wronged. Help us also to forgive those who have wronged us as we pray:

Our Father, who art in heaven …

We ask this through Jesus who is Lord forever and ever. Amen.