Matthew 18:21–35

²¹ Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” ²² Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven.
²³ “Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴ When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. ²⁵ And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. ²⁶ So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ ²⁷ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ ²⁹ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ ³⁰ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹ When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. ³² Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. ³⁵ So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”[1]

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It might come across here that Peter is really trying to be magnanimous, but it falls short in contrast to God’s forgiveness of us. This should be something we can all relate to. That when we consciously try to give of ourselves that it often falls short of fully given of ourselves. This is even more true when we see such a dissimilarity between our giving of ourselves and what God has done for us. This might seem to be even more true when we accept it was grace given and then accepted that moved us to action first. Yet, this should move us towards thanksgiving and gratitude and not annoyance at our seeming feeble attempts to love our neighbor.

Jesus does not rebuff Peter for not thinking big enough, but through a parable, helps him to broaden his view and to get an inkling of how God forgives. Another aspect is that Peter’s statement is informed by scripture and he is trying to draw parallels from it.

For example, Brant Pitre notes:

And you can almost hear here an allusion to the Old Testament, which talks about the sevenfold vengeance of Cain in Genesis 4. So if you remember in Genesis 4, it tells the story of Cain slaying his brother and what God says is that “if anyone tries to take vengeance on Cain, vengeance shall be taken upon him sevenfold ❲or seven times as much❳.” So what Peter is presenting here is like an antithesis, an opposite. Instead of sevenfold vengeance of Cain in the Old Testament, it’s sevenfold forgiveness.[2]

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on Matthew, draws another parallel and quotes other Church Fathers:

It is as though He were to say: Till seven times belongs to weakness, but more belongs to malice. For that reason, he asks if he should forgive till seven times. Likewise, he knew that which is said in IV Kings 5, namely, that Eliseus commanded Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan; for that reason, he thought that he should forgive seven times. Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee, till seven times; but till seventy times seven times. This seven times that He says can be taken in one way as by addition, so that the sense is not seven times, but seven times and seventy times. Or it can be taken as by multiplication, so that the sense is seven times seventy: and Jerome explains this passage in that way.

According to the first exposition, which is Augustine’s, it is given to be understood that we ought to pardon all, because Christ pardoned all sins.14 “Bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if any have a complaint against another. Even as the Lord hath forgiven you, so do you also” (Col. 3, 13). Or it can be said that the finite number stands for an infinite number, as in the Psalms, “The word which he commanded to a thousand generations” (104, 8).

According to Jerome, the explanation is the same; nevertheless, the meaning of the number is added. For, by seven,15 perfection is signified, and by a hundred, which is ten multiplied by ten, the Decalogue is signified. The first number that passes ten is eleven. And because by seven a totality is signified, for that reason, the totality of sins is signified; it is at though He were to say: Whatsoever sins your brother shall committed against you, forgive him. Hence, according to Jerome, it seems that He wishes to say, that a man can forgive more than he can offend.[3]

There is also the numerical significance of Jesus’ initial reply, as explained by John Bergsma:

I depart here from the translation used in the Mass. To me, “seventy times seven” seems to be the more accurate translation of the Greek. Furthermore, it is likely that the number is a symbolic allusion to a famous prophetic passage, Daniel 9:25, which decreed “seventy sevens” (my translation) of years from the time of Daniel to the coming of the Messiah.

Seventy times seven is four hundred and ninety. The number four hundred and ninety is ten times forty-nine, and forty-nine is the number of the Israelite Jubilee cycle (See Lev 25:8–9). In ancient Israel, on the fiftieth year after a cycle of forty-nine years, the nation observed a year of rest in which all debts were forgiven and all indentured servants set free (Lev 25:10).[4]

The parable Jesus gives is so rich and multi-layered. It would have been edifying as an example of God’s comprehensive and overwhelming forgiveness of us with just verses 18:23–28. This parable includes a shocking twist that after the unpayable debt of the servant is forgiven, the servant was not willing to do the same. For, a relatively small debt, he will resort to violence to retrieve the debt.

From the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture on Matthew:

The king’s mercy stands in stark contrast to the servant’s harshness in the second scene. The forgiven servant demands that one of his fellow servants pay back a debt the NAB describes as a much smaller amount. Literally, this smaller debt is only one hundred denarii—about a hundred days’ wages, which is 600,000 times smaller than the first servant’s debt. Shockingly, the first servant uses violence to pressure his fellow servant, seizing him and starting to choke him.[5]

It outraged the master when told about the servant’s behavior .

And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.[6]:

John Bergsma reflects on this:

I have usually understood the delivery over to the jailers/torturers “until he should pay back the whole debt” as a reference to hell, on the assumption that it is impossible to pay your debt when you are in jail, and thus you will never leave, just as hell is eternal.

Michael Barber, however, has made the intriguing observation that perhaps the phrase “until he should pay back the whole debt” is meant in earnest: eventually, the man will pay off his debt and be released. Michael points out several Rabbinic texts that indicate a Jewish belief in a place of temporary punishment. In light of such texts, another interpretive option becomes possible: the delivery of the man over to the jailers refers to purgatory.[7]

God’s forgiveness of us and our redemption is a central component of the Good News. Love seeks to forgive, to restore communion among persons, and anything that separates us. No surprise that this message in Jesus’ statement at the end of this Gospel paragraph reflects what is in the Our Father. Forgiveness is to be passed on and not stopping with us; where we treat it as something deserved and not shared.

Peter Kreeft, in his commentary on this passage, has many wise things to say on this, but I especially appreciated this:

The only path that leads somewhere, like a birth canal into new life, is forgiveness.[8]

Sources

Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A – John Bergsma
St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew
The Gospel of Matthew (Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture)
Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A
English Standard Version Catholic Edition
– Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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1. English Standard Version Catholic Edition (2019). Augustine Institute.  ↩
2. Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
3. Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Dolorosa Press  ↩
4. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
5. The Gospel of Matthew, Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture, Edward Sri and Curtis Mitch  ↩
6. English Standard Version Catholic Edition (2019). Augustine Institute.  ↩
7. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma, 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
8. Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A  ↩

Matthew 18:15–20

¹⁵ “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. ¹⁹ Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”[1]

It is simple to pull some general rules regarding those cases where we might need to rebuke our brother. It is important to understand the context of what is being said here, as Brant Pitre reminds us:

… it’s important to read this passage in light of the whole chapter. The whole chapter is a discourse of Jesus to his disciples. So he is speaking in particular to his students, to his disciples, to the men who have left their former lives behind and have become his followers, his students who travel with him every day to learn from him. He is speaking to the apostles in other words, and that’s clear if you look at the earlier verses in the Gospel of Matthew 18. So in Matthew 18:15, when Jesus says “if your brother sins against you,” he’s not talking about two siblings in a family. He’s talking about a brother within the community of his disciples. He is talking about conflicts between his followers, and in particular between the disciples themselves within the circle of the apostles. So whenever we read those words of his, what he’s describing then is a process of fraternal correction within the Church.[2]

You can see the ecclesial context here when you consider the wording “brother sins against you.” It is very specific about “against you” and not the broader of a brother sinning, but not against you personally. There is a sense where every sin is a sin against God and also a sin against the community. No sin is just in isolation, affecting only the person who missed the mark.

King David illustrates this here:

Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment. (Psalm 51:4)[3]

The Catechism broadens the point:

CCC §1868 Sin is a personal act. Moreover, we have a responsibility for the sins committed by others when we cooperate in them:

— by participating directly and voluntarily in them;
— by ordering, advising, praising, or approving them;
— by not disclosing or not hindering them when we have an obligation to do so;
— by protecting evil-doers.[4]

In these three steps there is a lot that is unsaid regarding how you decide to rebuke your brother in the first place. Prayer must be involved first and the questions to consider. Are you in the right, considering the sin you are condemning? When you rebuke someone, it’s important to consider your relationship with them and how likely they are to accept your criticism. But, prudence does not mean saying nothing because it will be uncomfortable to you.

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on this passage, writes:

If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, etc.; “With them that hated peace I was peaceable” (Ps. 119, 7). Should you forgive first? No; but first you ought to go and rebuke him: hence, He does not command us to forgive just anyone, but the repentant. Likewise, He says, Rebuke, not ‘scold’ or ‘exasperate’: and show the offense briefly. If he acknowledges his offense, you ought to forgive him; hence, it is said, “Instruct such a one in the spirit of meekness” (Gal. 6, 1).
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But does a man sin who omits to make this correction? Augustine says: “If you do not correct, you become worse by keeping silence, than he became by sinning.”

But although this is true, because all are bound to correct, someone might say that it is only fitting for prelates who are bound by their office, but it is fitting for others out of charity. Sometimes, the Lord permits the good to be punished with the wicked. Why? It is because they did not correct the wicked. Nevertheless, Augustine says that sometimes we ought to refrain from correcting, “if you fear that they will not be emended by this correction, but will be made worse.” Likewise, if you fear to correct lest it lead to a persecution of the Church, you do not sin if you do not correct. If, however, you abstain from correcting lest you be harmed in temporal goods, lest trouble come upon you, or some such thing, you sin; “Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee” (Prov. 9, 8).[5]

The order these principles are laid out in, have much wisdom. John Bergsma writes how often we get this order wrong:

This principle applies to all life within the Church. When offended, however, our tendency is first to go and tell all our friends and anyone else who will listen about how so-and-so did something outrageous to us. This spreads the circle of the offense while making no progress toward reconciliation. It also starts a cycle of gossip and escalating exaggeration.[6]

Some might read the consequence when they will not listen “even to the Church” as rather harsh. One thing to remember is that in Matthew, this paragraph is placed right after the parable of the lost sheep. The context is always to bring somebody who has strayed home. A medicinal recipe to use when all other efforts have failed and to ultimately bring healing.

I like what Dr. Brant Pitre says here in his commentary as he expands on this idea:

So when Jesus says “tell it to the church” here, he is referring to the assembly of believers, and not just to the assembly of believers, but in particular to the assembly of authoritative leaders of those believers, because you can see here what he says is “if he refuses to listen even to the church,” then what’s the penalty? “Let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.” What does that mean? Well effectively what it means is you treat him as cut off from the community of disciples.

In fact, as some scholars have pointed out, if you say treat the person like a Gentile or a tax collector, there is both a negative and a positive dimension. The negative dimension is that that person is excommunicated, they are cut off from the Church, they are cut off from the body of believers. The positive dimension though is how do you treat gentiles and tax collectors? How did Jesus and the apostles treat them? Well they evangelized them, they shared the good news with them. So it doesn’t mean that person necessarily is permanently cut off, what it means is that they need to be evangelized again. They need the gospel to be re-presented to them so that they can be called to repentance and then re-integrated into the community. That would be a second implication of his use of the language of gentile and tax collector in this particular context. So there is both excommunication but also evangelization implied by these two expressions that Jesus uses for an impenitent or unrepentant sinner within the Church.[7]

The Gospel passage talks about the future role of the disciples in the Church. The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible summarises this:

18:18 whatever you bind … loose: In 16:19, Peter was invested with Christ’s authority as the visible head of the Church. A derivative—but subordinate—authority is given also to the apostles as royal ministers in the kingdom. Jesus’ authority in this context is related to Church discipline; by extension, it is also a sacramental authority to forgive sins (cf. Jn 20:23; CCC 553 ,CCC 1444).[8]

From there, Jesus teaches them more regarding the communal nature of the Church and again how Jesus is there with us always in the Body of Christ.

Peter Kreeft writes about the efficacy of prayer:

There’s no catch to it. Jesus means exactly what he says. Take him at his word. He says: “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened” (Matt. 7:7–8). He promises to answer all our prayers, to satisfy all the desires of our hearts. He doesn’t promise how or when he will answer, because his way and his timing are much better and wiser than ours. He sometimes has to answer our shallow desires with a no to answer our deeper desires with a yes. And he sometimes has to take time to give us good things, because life is more like a farm, which takes time to grow crops, than like a machine, which gives you instant results from pushing a button. But he promises to answer every prayer of every faithful heart. And he infallibly keeps his promises. Our part is to believe and to wait in faith. We say, “Seeing is believing,” but Jesus says, “Believing is seeing.” We say we won’t believe it in our souls until we see it with our eyes, but Jesus says that if we believe it in our souls we will eventually see it with our eyes, because every good desire will be fulfilled eventually, if not in this world then in the next. That’s what he promises: “Everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”[9]

We magnify prayer when we come to pray together in community, from a small to a larger group.

Sources

• Catholic Productions, Commentaries by Brant Pitre
• English Standard Version Catholic Edition
• Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd Edition
• St. Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew
• The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A – John Bergsma
• Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A
• The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible꞉ The New Testament
• Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

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1. English Standard Version Catholic Edition (2019). Augustine Institute.  ↩
2. Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
3. English Standard Version Catholic Edition (2019). Augustine Institute.  ↩
4. Catholic Church. (2000). Catechism of the Catholic Church (2nd Ed). United States Catholic Conference.  ↩
5. Commentary on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Dolorosa Press  ↩
6. The Word of the Lord: Reflections on the Sunday Mass Readings for Year A, John Bergsma, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
7. Catholic Productions, Brant Pitre, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩
8. Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament  ↩
9. Peter Kreeft, Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings Cycle A,, 23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time  ↩