Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Dominica XXIV per Annum A
13 September 2026

Last weekend’s readings instructed us about the difficult work of confronting error and sin, and it showed us the Church’s role in confronting and healing divisions that may arise in the community.  This weekend’s readings continue that theme, but they take on a more personal note in teaching us how we need to be forgiven and how we are called to forgive others.  Forgiveness is not easy. But our faith stretches us and challenges us to live by higher standards than the secular world proposes.

In the Gospel parable we are told about a servant who was in debt to his king, a servant who owed a “huge amount”, says our English translation. That’s accurate but the original Greek gives us more information in that we are told that this servant owed a “myriad of talents” to the king. A myriad was the largest number in ancient Greek and equaled ten thousand (10,000). A talent was the largest monetary unit, representing six thousand (6,000) denarii. A single denarius represents a day’s wages. Doing the math shows us that the servant owed 60 million days’ wages. The clear hyperbole shows us that the point here is that the servant owed a debt he could not possibly pay off. When we know that, then we can also see how ridiculous a request it is for the servant to beg for patience by claiming he will pay the king back in full. When we recognize the extent of the impossibility of paying back the debt, the parable likewise shows us the extravagant generosity of the king’s forgiveness.

Thus, it is shocking that the servant seems oblivious to just how much he was in debt and oblivious to just how merciful the king was to him. That servant went out to a fellow servant and showed no mercy for one who owed a “much smaller amount”, says our English translation. Again, the original Greek tells us that the second servant owed only about one hundred day’s wages. That far smaller amount certainly could have been paid off. It was also entirely reasonable, given the smaller amount, for the second servant to request patience. The first servant is full of anger, unaware of the magnitude of his own debt, and unappreciative of the mercy shown to him. For this he is called wicked and the king hands him over to the torturers “until he should pay back the whole debt”. Now, we know the servant could not possibly pay off the debt. So, this line tells us the wicked servant is sent to a never-ending punishment. The details of an incomprehensible amount of debt and a never-ending punishment in repayment of the debt show us that the parable is not speaking about human calculations of monetary debt and is not speaking about a typical punishment in prison. Rather, we are to learn of spiritual lessons and to understand the punishment of a spiritual prison that never ends.

And what lesson does the Lord have for us? It’s the last line of the parable: “So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart”. The first servant was unaware and dismissive of the magnitude of debt he owed. He was angry, focused on what was owed to him, and unappreciative of the great generosity shown to him. All of this made him unmerciful toward others. And in his lack of mercy he was disfigured and not fit to be with the king. Rather, he is sent to unending punishment. The parable calls us in our relationship with God to recognize the magnitude of the debt we owe to God due to original sin and our personal sins. At the same time, we should be aware of the impossibility of paying that debt off. Sin is offensive to God’s love, generosity and mercy. Because of sin each of us owes a magnitude of debt to God. And we have no way of paying off the debt. We can so easily focus on what is owed to us. We can be determined to get what is owed to us. We lose focus on our own debt when we so easily see the debt and the faults, the sins of others. In this we become unappreciative of the great generosity God shows us in our debt of sin. The result is that we become unmerciful. That disfigures the image of God in us and makes us children who are very much unlike our heavenly Father. In such lack of awareness of our own debt, in our lack of gratitude, in our lack of mercy we are destined for a hell of our own making and an eternal punishment for our debt.

The Good News that we celebrate is that in place of our lack of ability to ever pay off our debt of sin, it is God Himself, the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ, who puts himself in our place to pay off the debt. As God he can pay an infinite debt. As man like us in the flesh, the debt he pays on the Cross incorporates all indebted mankind into that generous forgiveness of debt. Before baptism we are like the first servant who has no way to make up for what is owed. When we squander the gift of mercy by our sins after baptism, we have the gift of confession to be restored. Our awareness of the debt paid on the Cross and our restoration in confession should lead to our being merciful toward others. In this we become more like our heavenly Father, His children who bear His image of mercy. We start each Holy Mass with a Penitential Act, calling to mind our sins and asking for God’s mercy. That is no empty act or mere formality. That is no simple gesture. Do you realize that when we come to the foot of the Cross here at the sanctuary, we are not worthy to be here? In fact, later in the Mass before Holy Communion we say, “Lord, I am not worthy.” We have nothing of our own doing to remove our offense to God. And so, at the start of Mass before daring to continue the worship of God we admit our debt of sin and we beg God’s mercy. Only with His gift can we hope to avoid the never-ending punishment for our sins.

The parable today calls us to admit the magnitude of our debt. It is a call to regular practice of confession. When we don’t have a frequent practice of confession we risk becoming increasingly unaware of our debt and increasingly ungrateful. We are called to rejoice in the mercy of God. We don’t deserve it, but when we receive it, we must take on that character and show mercy to others. The disfigurement of our sin must give way to taking on more the image of Christ so that in place of eternal punishment we may enter and remain in that kingdom of eternal blessing and eternal life.