Thursday of week 19 in Ordinary Time
First Reading
Ezekiel 12:1–12
The word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, you are living with that set of rebels who have eyes and never see, ears and never hear, for they are a set of rebels. You, son of man, pack an exile’s bundle and emigrate by daylight when they can see you, emigrate from where you are to somewhere else while they watch. Perhaps they will admit then that they are a set of rebels. You will pack your baggage like an exile’s bundle, by daylight, for them to see, and leave like an exile in the evening, making sure that they are looking. As they watch, make a hole in the wall, and go out through it. As they watch, you will shoulder your pack and go out into the dark; you will cover your face so that you cannot see the country, since I have made you a symbol for the House of Israel.’
I did as I had been told. I packed my baggage like an exile’s bundle, by daylight; and in the evening I made a hole through the wall with my hand. I went out into the dark and shouldered my pack as they watched.
The next morning the word of the Lord was addressed to me as follows, ‘Son of man, did not the House of Israel, did not that set of rebels, ask you what you were doing? Say, “The Lord says this: This oracle is directed against Jerusalem and the whole House of Israel wherever they are living.” Say, “I am a symbol for you; the thing I have done will be done to them; they will go into exile, into banishment.” Their ruler will shoulder his pack in the dark and go out through the wall; a hole will be made to let him out; he will cover his face rather than see the country.’
Responsorial Psalm
Psalm 77(78):56–59, 61–62
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
They put God to the proof and defied him;
they refused to obey the Most High.
They strayed, as faithless as their fathers,
like a bow on which the archer cannot count.
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
With their mountain shrines they angered him;
made him jealous with the idols they served.
God saw this and was filled with fury:
he utterly rejected Israel.
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
He gave his ark into captivity,
his glorious ark into the hands of the foe.
He gave up his people to the sword,
in his anger against his chosen ones.
Do not forget the works of the Lord!
Gospel Acclamation
Alleluia, alleluia!
Let your face shine on your servant,
and teach me your laws.
Alleluia!
Gospel
Matthew 18:21–19:1
Peter went up to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘Not seven, I tell you, but seventy-seven times.
‘And so the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who decided to settle his accounts with his servants. When the reckoning began, they brought him a man who owed ten thousand talents; but he had no means of paying, so his master gave orders that he should be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, to meet the debt. At this, the servant threw himself down at his master’s feet. “Give me time” he said “and I will pay the whole sum.” And the servant’s master felt so sorry for him that he let him go and cancelled the debt. Now as this servant went out, he happened to meet a fellow servant who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him by the throat and began to throttle him. “Pay what you owe me” he said. His fellow servant fell at his feet and implored him, saying, “Give me time and I will pay you.” But the other would not agree; on the contrary, he had him thrown into prison till he should pay the debt. His fellow servants were deeply distressed when they saw what had happened, and they went to their master and reported the whole affair to him. Then the master sent for him. “You wicked servant,” he said “I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me. Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?” And in his anger the master handed him over to the torturers till he should pay all his debt. And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart.’
Jesus had now finished what he wanted to say, and he left Galilee and came into the part of Judaea which is on the far side of the Jordan.
Reflection
Ezekiel is sent to a people who have functioning eyes and ears but refuse to receive what God is showing and saying. Their rebellion is not caused by a lack of evidence. God has spoken repeatedly through his prophets, yet Israel has trained itself not to recognise the truth. Ezekiel must therefore turn his own body into a living sign: he packs for exile, breaks through a wall and leaves under cover of darkness while the people watch.
The prophet’s actions reveal that sin eventually becomes visible in its consequences. Jerusalem’s exile will not be an arbitrary punishment imposed by an unpredictable God. It is the outward result of a long inward refusal to listen. The people have rejected the covenant while expecting to retain its security. Ezekiel exposes the illusion that we can close our ears to God indefinitely without changing the direction of our lives.
The psalm looks back upon this same pattern. Israel forgot the works of the Lord, tested God and returned to idols. Forgetfulness here is not simply a failure of memory. It is a moral refusal to let God’s past faithfulness shape present conduct. Once the people forget what God has done, lesser things begin to claim their trust and devotion. The response, “Do not forget the works of the Lord,” is therefore a call to remember faithfully—to live today in the light of the mercy already received.
That failure to remember stands at the centre of the Gospel. The servant is released from a debt so vast that repayment is unimaginable. Yet almost immediately, he confronts another servant over a much smaller debt. He remembers exactly what is owed to him while forgetting what has just been forgiven. His cruelty grows from spiritual amnesia.
Jesus does not minimise the reality of wrongdoing. The second debt is genuine, and the fellow servant truly owes something. Forgiveness is not a declaration that evil does not matter, nor does it always remove the need for justice, accountability or appropriate boundaries. The Catechism recognises that forgiveness reaches deep into the human heart, where injury and resentment are experienced most personally. It is not within our power simply to stop feeling hurt, but the Holy Spirit can transform the wound by teaching us compassion and purifying our memory (CCC 2842–2843).
Peter asks for a number, perhaps hoping to discover the point at which his obligation ends. Jesus answers with “seventy-seven times,” removing forgiveness from the logic of careful accounting. The Christian does not forgive because the offence is insignificant or because the offender has earned release. We forgive because our own lives stand beneath a mercy we could never purchase.
This does not make forgiveness easy. Some wounds are too serious to be resolved by a quick decision or a few religious words. Forgiveness may involve a long surrender of the desire for revenge, repeated whenever the pain returns. Yet Jesus insists that it must reach the heart. The Catechism describes the petition “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us” as inseparable: we cannot receive divine mercy while deliberately refusing to let that mercy pass through us towards others (CCC 2838–2840).
The First Reading and Gospel therefore expose two forms of blindness. Israel watches Ezekiel’s warning but resists its meaning. The servant experiences extraordinary mercy but refuses to recognise what it requires of him. In both cases, God’s action is visible, but the heart remains closed. The question is not merely whether we have heard Scripture or received mercy. It is whether what we have heard and received has changed the way we live.
The Gospel Acclamation offers the right prayer: “Let your face shine on your servant, and teach me your laws.” We need God’s light because self-interest distorts what we see. Left to ourselves, we enlarge the debts owed to us and minimise the mercy shown to us. Under the light of Christ, the proportions are restored. We recognise ourselves as forgiven debtors, and from that truth we learn to forgive.
One line to carry today:
Remembering the mercy God has shown me changes how I carry the debts of others.
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