HOMILY FROM CANON STEPHEN BAILLIE
24th Sunday of Year A20
‘Infinitely Loved’
INTRODUCTION
We gather as the people of God to worship our Creator, to listen to God’s Word to us today and to be nourished at the Eucharist.
SCRIPTURE READINGS
Eccl. 27:30-28:7 There is great advice offered here: Pray and your sins will be forgiven.
Romans 14: 7-9 We belong to the Lord. It is our core identity both in life and in death.
Matthew 18: 21-35 There is no end to forgiveness. It is built into the prayer that Jesus has taught us. In the creed, we proclaim together: ‘I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’ Well, do we believe?
The need to be people of forgiveness is not just a matter of Christian faith: it’s also a matter of common sense. Many of us have met the kind of person who seems to lack the ability to let go of even rather small offences; the person who, on the one hand has a memory like an elephant, but on the other hand, has a very poor memory, because they seem to have forgotten so much of the good they’ve experienced. It’s as if so much of their memory’s capacity is taken up with hurt there’s no space left for blessings.
A person in that sad situation is, ironically, a very good advertisement for forgiveness, for rising above life’s hurt. They can remind us of the common sense that tells us not to burden ourselves.
But what common sense asks of us is not easy, and the other place which we get the logic of forgiveness and the ability to forgive is our faith. Here’s a good general rule that we might bear in mind whenever we hear or read the Gospels: when Jesus teaches us something persistently, we can be sure of two things: it’s possible, and it’s difficult. In the Gospel we’ve just heard. Jesus very strongly teaches the need for forgiveness, and it’s to him that we as Christians need to look, to find the ability to forgive.
Pope St John Paul once wrote: ‘What does it mean to forgive, if not to appeal to a good that is greater than any evil?’ He was referring to the forgiveness appalling crimes and hurts, but even for lesser hurts, that insight is valid. To forgive is an act of human common sense; but to forgive as a Christian is to trust that God can work out all hurts and offences in his time and in his way.
The parable of the unforgiving servant highlights the generous love of God and sets a blueprint for our treatment of others. The master who cancels the servant’s large debt does so out of compassion, and the servant is grateful – but not so grateful that he is willing to take pity on a fellow servant who owes him just a small amount. It seems he has leant nothing; he has neither appreciated the gift he has been given, nor is he willing to pass it on to others.
We are each loved infinitely by God. He has provided us with every good thing, and we are expected to live accordingly. Because we have been loved, we must love. In this Season of Creation, we focus in particular on our relationship with creation. We have been gifted with this wonderful world, with all its beauty and natural resources. Yet in so many ways, we have failed to appreciate this gift. We depend entirely on the earth’s resources, yet instead of respecting them we have plundered them, causing great harm to the earth and its inhabitants. We have built comfortable and cheap lifestyles at the expense of the world’s poorest people. If we carry on this way, there will be no gift to pass in to future generations. We are like the servant in the Gospel – taking, but giving nothing in return.
Today, we are called to act as people who are loved infinitely by God. All of creation speaks of God’s love for us. We are deeply connected with the earth and all its people. We must live a life which is centred exclusively on ourselves, but on the needs of others.
