Mercy. 77. (2026-09-13, Sunday 24th)

[ver_05]   24^th Sunday _Year A  - September 13, 2026  - Sirach 27:30-28:7 -- Psalm 103:1-103:2, 103:3-103:4, 103:9-103:10, 103:11-103:12  -- Romans 14:7-14:9, Matthew 18:21-18:35

 

1. Peter Is Counting

In today's Gospel, Jesus says:

“The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.”

You and I are those servants.

But sometimes we have questions about what is being counted—about what we owe and what somebody else owes us.

Peter has a question about counting:

“Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?”

Peter probably thinks he is being generous.

Once? Twice? Three times?

Peter is willing to go as high as seven.

But Jesus says:

“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

Jesus is not simply giving Peter a larger number. He is telling Peter not to put a numerical limit on forgiveness.

Stop counting.

2. The Three R's of Mercy

And this reminds us of God's forgiveness of us.

We cannot exhaust God's mercy. His mercy is readily available whenever we sincerely turn back to him.

Perhaps we can remember this with three R's:

Readily Available. Repentance. Reconciliation.

First, God's mercy is Readily Available. We never have to conclude that we have used up our opportunities to return to God.

Second, our response involves Repentance. We acknowledge our sins, sincerely turn back to God, and ask for his forgiveness.

And third is Reconciliation. In the Sacrament of Reconciliation, God forgives us and restores our relationship with him.

So seventy-seven is not simply a larger quota.

God's mercy is not exhausted by our arithmetic. We receive that mercy—and then we are called, with God's grace, to extend mercy to others.

3. Servant A and Servant B

And then Jesus tells a story about money. But the message is about much more than “show me the money.”

There are two servants and two debts.

Servant A owes the king an enormous amount—far beyond anything he can possibly repay.

He begs the king:

“Be patient with me.”

But the king does something extraordinary.

He forgives the entire debt.

Then Servant A goes out and meets Servant B.

Servant B owes Servant A a much smaller amount.

But Servant A—the man who has just had his enormous debt forgiven—refuses to forgive the much smaller debt owed to him.

He has received mercy.

But he is still counting what somebody else owes him.

4. Debt Follows Us Around

We can understand why Jesus uses debt as such a powerful image.

Some translations of the Our Father say:

“Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”

And actual financial debt can affect our whole lives.

Debt can follow you around. It can follow me around. It can follow us around.

It can keep us awake at night. It can affect our concentration, our conversations and our relationships.

Imagine owing something that you simply cannot repay—and then hearing:

Your debt is forgiven.

The debt we cannot repay becomes an image of how completely we depend upon God's mercy.

And yet, after receiving mercy, we can still start counting what somebody else owes us.

What did that person say?

What didn't that person say?

What did that person do?

What didn't that person do?

I've done this. Perhaps you have too.

We keep count.

And Jesus says:

Stop counting.

5. Forgiveness Is Not Always Reconciliation

But it is important to recognize what forgiveness does—and does not—mean.

Forgiveness does not mean calling something evil good.

It does not mean pretending that nothing happened.

It does not mean approving something that was truly wrong.

And forgiveness is not always the same thing as reconciliation between two people.

We may forgive someone even when restoring the relationship is not within our power.

The person may live far away.

The person may have died.

Or in some circumstances, restoring the relationship may not be safe or wise. Appropriate boundaries may need to remain.

Reconciliation between people is a good thing when genuine reconciliation is possible.

But reconciliation may not always be within our power.

With God's grace, forgiveness is still possible.

We refuse to allow anger, resentment or vengeance to corrupt our hearts.

6. The Bag

Some years ago, I heard a real-life story told by a flight attendant who loved her work but also understood its pressures and responsibilities.

Those pressures became especially intense after September 11, 2001.

People were anxious about flying. People felt unsafe. And flight attendants carried an enormous responsibility for the safety of everyone aboard.

A few weeks after September 11, she was working a flight from New York to California.

A man boarded carrying a large trash bag.

He put it carefully into the overhead compartment.

And then he watched it very closely.

He guarded it.

Naturally, in those anxious weeks after September 11, she became suspicious.

Eventually, during the flight, she approached him and began a conversation.

She asked:

“What brought you to New York? Business or pleasure?”

He answered:

“Neither. I came because of my son.”

His son had been a New York City firefighter who died at the World Trade Center on September 11.

His son's body had never been recovered.

But some of his firefighter uniform and gear had been recovered from the rubble of the collapsed towers.

That was what the father was carrying home in the bag.

“It's all I have left of him.”

And suddenly she no longer saw merely a suspicious passenger.

She saw a grieving father.

7. What Someone Else Is Carrying

Now, this father had done nothing wrong. He had not trespassed against the flight attendant.

So this is not exactly a story about forgiveness.

But it reminds us of something important:

We do not always know what another person is carrying.

We see what somebody did.

We hear what somebody said.

We remember what somebody failed to do.

But we do not always know the whole story.

And that can matter when we begin counting what another person owes us.

It does not make an injustice just.

It does not make something wrong right.

But it can help us look at another person with greater mercy.

There may be many people you or I are called to forgive.

Or perhaps there is just one person.

We do not always know everything that person is carrying.

But we do know the mercy that God has shown to us.

8. You and I Are Those Servants

Peter asks Jesus:

“How many times must I forgive? As many as seven times?”

Jesus says:

“I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

Not simply a higher number.

Stop counting.

Remember the mercy you have received.

God's mercy is readily available.

We turn to him in repentance.

And in Reconciliation, our relationship with him is restored.

Then, with God's grace, we become people of mercy toward others.

This is why Jesus says: “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a king who decided to settle accounts with his servants.” You and I are those servants.