20/09/2009 - 25th. Sunday in Ordinary
Season - B
Ist. Reading Wis 2,12.17-20 Psalm 53 IInd. Reading Js 3,16 - 4,3 Vangelo Mk
9,30-37
"As we forgive those who sin against us". We have asked forgiveness
for our sins and faults, with great trust in the mercy the Father has for his
children and for all his creatures. We need to ask though, how can we ask for
forgiveness but then we are not ready to forgive others when they hurt us? How
can we ask not to be punished for our faults, when from our side we are not
ready to forgive our brothers? Jesus once said a parable very significant and
clear reading forgiveness. This is the parable of the wicked servant. That servant
showed himself wicked, because after he obtained the forgiveness of a great
amount of debt, only because he asked his master, was not able, from his part,
to forgive a small amount of debt of one of his fellow servants. For such a
wickedness he received a worst punishment than that which he would have received
if he had to pay his debt at the first place: "Were you not to show mercy
to your companion as I have showed you?" Hence we are the ones who ask
the Father to forgive us in the measure we forgive all to everybody. At the
end of the teaching on prayer, Jesus, in fact had to say: "If you don't
forgive others their sins, neither will your Father forgive your sins".
Upon this teaching the apostles then built up their teaching: "Be kind
therefore with each other, merciful, forgiving one another as God has forgiven
you in Christ Jesus" (Eph 4,32). To be able to forgive we need to see how
much God the Father has already forgiven us: he doesn't ask us to merit his
love, he gives it to us freely, but in return, he expects us to behave like
true children of his, when we learn the ways of how to pass on his forgiveness.
Let us think also of the parable of the prodigal son: in it Jesus tells us of
how God forgives to his son who has hurt him with his behavior and rejection.
His forgiveness turned into a joyful feast for all. Unfortunately the other
son was not able to put on the same attitude of the Father: he even stayed far
away more than his younger brother when he either spent his part of inheritance
or look after pigs.
The Word of God answers a question that even today Christians ask: why does
the world has it against us? What do we do wrong? Why would they want to take
away every symbol of our faith, and only ours, from public places? With all
the good the Church has done through her saints and through her committed members
in every place around the globe, why all this hatred against her and her representatives?
The Book of Wisdom convince us that this is very normal. Already in the past,
those who wanted to do God's will, or wanted to obey the commandments and live
honestly, were hated and rejected, put to trail and condemned as criminals.
What was their blame? Their just behavior made those, who didn't want to do
with God's presence and his judgment, uncomfortable. The one who is committed
to live the faith with love is a warning to the ones who lead an egoistic life
without respecting others. That's the way things stand today, and so will they
be in as much as sin enters into the will and emotions/feelings of men. We are
not to be afraid, because we know that the one who was put to test, more than
anyone else, is the same Jesus, our Lord and Master. He himself has revealed
to his disciples that the words of the Book of Wisdom would be fulfilled in
him. "The Son of Man will be given into the hands of men and they will
put him to death". The disciples knew that he was the Son of Man, he who
has healed the sick, exorcised the possessed, opened the eyes of the blind,
made the dumb speak, multiplied the bread. What did he do wrong? They could
not understand why he was to be put to death. But this is what he said for himself.
He did say that he was to raise up after three days, but this word was to high
for them to understand: this was a word that belong all to the power of God.
Among themselves they won't speak of death and resurrection, instead they speak
of who, after Jesus is dead, of who is going to take his place. Who amongst
us the greatest? How much sufferings for Jesus: he suffers for the fact of being
rejected, but he suffers more to know of the preoccupation of his disciples.
They don't understand that the greatest is the one who suffers, who is little
and ignored by the rest: these are the great to serve. The disciples are to
serve these "great ones", who are to be considered as first, as those
who merit our attention. He himself, when not there anymore, can be still welcomed:
in what way? "Who welcomes even one of these children in my name; and who
welcomes me, welcomes not me, but the one who sent me". This is the infallible
way of how to be great in the eyes of God, to welcome within oneself God himself.
God is the God who loves and who is for life and peace to those who don't know
how to give to themselves these: we can welcome in us his same love to be know
as his, his sons/daughters and his collaborators. We shall enjoy his trust even
if we have to suffer the rejection from those who continue to stay away from
him or even reject him.