Sept. 13, 2026

Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight.

The vengeful will suffer the LORD’s vengeance, for he remembers their sins in detail.

Forgive your neighbor’s injustice; then when you pray, your own sins will be forgiven.

Could anyone nourish anger against another and expect healing from the LORD?

Could anyone refuse mercy to another like himself, can he seek pardon for his own sins? 

Sirach 27:30-28:4

Our first reading today comes from the Book of Sirach, which has a fascinating history in biblical study. It was written less than two hundred years before Jesus’ birth, and its wisdom and sayings were widely known in the Jewish world. Although originally written in Hebrew, Sirach was translated into Greek and became part of the biblical writings familiar to many early Christians. It was not ultimately included in the Jewish canon of the Hebrew Scriptures which is why most Protestant Bibles do not include it along with other ‘deuterocanonical’ books but Catholics recognize them as truly the inspired Word of God.

When Jesus shared the Our Father with his disciples and a form of what we translate as, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive each other’s trespasses,” the listener would not have heard something entirely new in light of the words we share this week that had been known for nearly two hundred years. Then, like now, two thousand years later, perhaps we still need to continue to grapple with what forgiveness is all about.

Peter continues to ask questions of Jesus this week that he probably poses on behalf of “the rest of the class.” Perhaps it’s because it is the beginning of the school year, but I imagine the disciples (with most of the Apostles in the front, but a few of the cool ones in the back) asking Jesus in a classroom setting what is going to be expected of them. Peter takes the role of the student who has the courage to ask: “What is the bare minimum we need to do to pass this class?”

In our Gospel this week Peter asks Jesus, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive? As many as seven times?”  They probably wanted to hear, “Oh, not seven, just once or twice, unless the person is really annoying!” Instead, in Matthew’s account we hear Jesus answer, “I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times.”

Some of us may remember hearing this translated as “seventy times seven.” The ancient Greek can be understood in either way, which explains the difference among translations. But before anyone starts counting (whether it is 7 or 70, 77 or 490) the answer is ‘a lot!’  Jesus is telling them that just as we know that God’s mercy is unending so too are we expected to share that same compassion toward others.   

While researching this I came across something I never knew or was taught and forgot.  Jesus seems to be echoing Genesis 4:24 (look it up for fun!), where Lamech boasts that his vengeance will be seventy-sevenfold. or, in some translations, seventy times seven.  Mercy now replaces vengeance as an overwhelming response to faults against us.  Later, “an eye for an eye” and “a tooth for a tooth” would place a limit on such escalating vengeance.  Jesus takes his disciples even further. Instead of multiplying vengeance, he calls us to multiply forgiveness. Instead of demanding an eye for an eye, Jesus will speak of turning the other cheek.

It is difficult to forgive others when we have been hurt, and even more difficult if someone we love, care about, or someone who is vulnerable is victimized. We cannot turn off those emotions any more than we can turn off grief or sadness. In all cases, the worst we can say to another or the most offensive thing we might be told by them is “Get over it!”

Jesus is, in some ways, inviting us to get over ourselves, to have the humility to trust in a God who wants to heal us. Sometimes that means we need to bring healing into our world, to treat the pain and suffering rather than add salt to the wound. There are certainly many opportunities for us to help bring pardon and peace to a world craving absolution, even when it is difficult to share that same gift we are given freely in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

Perhaps this is where the readings come extremely close to the bone. In times of stress, pain and difficulty, we cry out to God to make things right. We call upon a God of justice and mercy, but what we consider “right” can change rather dramatically depending upon what side we are on. When we have been hurt, we want justice. When we recognize that we have caused hurt, shoulder some of the guilt, or simply admit our own sinfulness, we want mercy.

Jesus, as the Great Teacher, is instructing us in what is required of us.  All this can be summarized by ‘CliffsNotes’ version that reminds us of the words of Micah, “To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”  As disciples, we are the students, not the master, even though we aspire to one day fill those shoes.  The humility comes in when we realize that even when we fall short, we trust that God will give us extra credit for trying.

Many of us have been hurt more times than we can count.  Perhaps seven times, or seventy times seven times.  Many of us have hurt others over the course of our lifetime. Perhaps as the youngest, most impressionable among us begin a new school year, we can begin anew and try a little harder to bring healing into our world.  That may require a forgiveness we never thought possible, the grace and courage to forgive ourselves.

God bless you all!  Walk humbly and let us all be led to new paths of reconciliation and peace.