Debt We Can Never Repay:
Radical Forgiveness
A Catholic Reflection on Matthew 18:21-19:1
You know, Peter probably walked up to Jesus feeling pretty good about himself. "Lord, how many times should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?" I can almost see him with that expectant look, thinking he was being remarkably generous. After all, most rabbis taught three times was enough! But Jesus completely flips Peter's world upside down with His answer: not seven times, but seventy-seven times. Basically, Jesus is saying, "Peter, throw away the calculator. Stop keeping score entirely." Then He launches into this incredible parable about a servant whose debt was so massive, ten thousand talents, which would be like billions in today's money, that it could never be repaid. Yet his master forgives the entire thing with a word. But here's the kicker: that same forgiven servant immediately goes out and grabs a fellow servant by the throat over what amounts to pocket change. It's a story that should make every Catholic sit up and pay attention.
The beauty of this parable is how it reveals God's heart toward us. That impossible debt? That's what we owe God for all our sins, all our failures to love perfectly. And just like that master in the story, God doesn't just reduce our debt or set up a payment plan, He wipes it clean completely. Every time we go to Confession, every time we receive the Eucharist, every morning we wake up to His mercy, we're experiencing that same radical forgiveness. When we really let this sink in, that we've been forgiven everything, it changes how we see the people who hurt us. Their offenses against us look pretty small compared to what God has forgiven us for.
Here's where the humility comes in, and it's actually liberating when we embrace it. We get to let go of all that stuff we've been carrying around, the grudges, the scorekeeping, the need to be right all the time. It means releasing our grip on those hurts and admitting we're all broken people who need grace. As Catholics, we have such a gift in being able to experience God's forgiveness tangibly through the sacraments. When we walk out of that confessional, we know what it feels like to be completely clean and new. That experience should overflow into how we treat others, not because they deserve it, but because we've been shown such incredible mercy ourselves.
This is what makes the Catholic faith so compelling and life-changing. When we choose to forgive like Jesus forgives, we're not just following a nice teaching; we're actually participating in God's own life and love. We become channels of His grace to a world that desperately needs it. And here's the amazing thing: the more we give away this forgiveness, the more joy and peace we experience ourselves. It's like Jesus is inviting us into this incredible adventure where letting go of our need for revenge and justice actually sets us free. When people see Catholics living this way, really forgiving, really loving, really reflecting Christ's mercy, they can't help but be drawn to want that same peace and freedom in their own lives.
©2025 James Dacey Jr.
