24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Ecclesiasticus 27:33-28:9 | Psalm 102(103):1-4,9-12 | Romans 14:7-9 | Matthew 18:21-35
He who exacts vengeance will experience the vengeance of the Lord,
who keeps strict account of sin. (Ecclesiasticus 28:1)
This passage instantly triggered a musical memory from my teenage years:
Button up and tighten your lip
Keep a check on what you say
Those crazy words you fling from your mouth
Will bounce back on you some day
We will be held to account for everything we do and say, on the day we come face to face with the Lord. Just as the wicked and unforgiving servant in today’s Gospel earned the wrath of his master, so too will we be held responsible for our hard-heartedness towards our fellow humans.
And let’s be honest, we’ve all fallen short on that account at least once in our lives, and perhaps a lot more often than that.
Remember this commercial?
Our Lord is a forgiving master too. It’s not too late to make amends for our selfishness, to admit to our sins and forge a new caring path for ourselves.
Upon which we’ll eventually stumble and fall, hurting our neighbors yet again.
But since we’ve set our gaze on the Almighty, it’s easier each time to get back up on our feet, and love again.
We just have to take that first step, to reconcile ourselves with our sinful past, and to bounce right back onto the path of love and grace.
Amen.