Homily for Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent, Mt 18:21-35
Today’s Gospel reminds me of the old version of the Lord’s Prayer. I am referring in particular to that part in the prayer that says “And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” The old version says, “And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” In Tagalog, “Patawarin mo ang aming mga utang, gaya ng pagpapatawad namin sa nagkakautang sa amin.”
The line establishes the important connection between asking to be be forgiven and being forgiving. Ano ang karapatan kong humingi ng tawad kung ako mismo hindi ako marunong magpatawad? What right do I have to seek forgiveness if I myself am so unforgiving?
In the Gospel, Jesus elaborates on this idea by telling his audience a parable about an unforgiving servant. He had been forgiven the huge amount of money that he owed his master. And yet, when a fellow servant of his who owed him much less asked for some consideration—he responded by demanding an immediate repayment from him and having him imprisoned when he could not immediately pay back what he owed. Listen to what the master said to him, “You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant as I had pity on you?” If I were to translate this into Tagalog, instead of saying “Napakasama mong katulong!” I would probably have used the Tagalog expression “Napaka-walang utang-na-loob mong katulong! Pinatawad kita dahil nagmakaawa ka. Hindi ka ba dapat naawa at nagpatawad sa iyong kapwa kung paanong kinaawaan kita at pinatawad?”
It’s very interesting how, in Tagalog, we switch from the literal to the figurative sense of indebtedness by just adding the word “loob” to the word “utang”. From a literal UTANG to a figurative UTANG NA LOOB—a spiritual form of indebtedness that is unfortunately watered down by the English expression “Debt of gratitude.” Utang na loob for us is more than a debt of gratitude.
The simplest way of putting it is: “Why should I expect to be forgiven if I myself choose to be so unforgiving?” This must be what Jesus meant when he said, “The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you.” The Lord is not asking to be repaid for the debts we owe him. What he expects of us is the capacity to pay it forward.
