Homily for Thursday, 16 August 2018– Ferial

Thursday of the 20th Week in Ordinary Time


Optional Memorial of St. Stephen of Hungary

Readings of the day: Ezekiel 12:1-12, 12-15, 18-22; Psalm 78:56-57, 58-59, 61-62; Matthew 18:21-19:1

This homily was given at the Kateri House Women's Residence Chapel at St. Joseph's College, Edmonton, AB, Canada.

How might poetry help us to put ourselves in Peter’s place in today’s Gospel; to empathize with Peter? And then how might a bit of background in poetry, specifically the poetry of the Old Testament prophet Amos, help us better to understand Jesus’ invitation to Peter to unlimited forgiveness?

When we think of Peter the Apostle, we might imagine him as a humble fisherman. We might imagine Peter, as one of Jesus’ best friends, hand-picked by Jesus to lead the community of Jesus’ disciples, the Church, after Jesus’ ascension to heaven. But I do not think we often imagine Peter as a poet.

Having said this, Peter the fisherman-turned-head of the Church was no slouch at poetry, or at Scripture for that matter. A faithful Jew of the time like Peter may well have known by heart a text like that at the beginning of the Book of Amos, and the culture behind it, in which Amos poetically condemns the nations that were Israel’s enemies: “For three times and for four.” In other words, one way of interpreting Amos is that God would forgive Israel’s enemies, and expected Israel to forgive its enemies, up to “three times and… four.”

And so Peter may have been creating a poetic parody of Amos as he asked Jesus, “How often would I forgive? As many as seven times”? Seven times were far beyond the “three times and for four” that Amos asked Israel to forgive its enemies. We may want to give Peter the benefit of the doubt more often than we do in our Christian tradition. Peter was already perhaps suggesting to Jesus that forgiveness and mercy meant going beyond the minimal demands of the Jewish Law and prophets: Forgive not only “three times and for four,” but “up to seven times.”

As a great teacher and pastor does, Jesus recognizes that his student and best friend, Peter, is on the right track, and then leads him toward an even greater truth. To forgive “three times and for four” is good. Peter’s proposal to go beyond “three times and for four” is better, not to mention his is an astute application of the poetry of Amos. But unlimited forgiveness is best: Not only “three times and for four”; “not seven times but seventy-seven times.” If Peter shows himself a decent poet and student of prophets like Amos, Jesus is even better. Jesus, as the Son of God, is the teacher and pastor of poets; of apostles; of each of us.

What, then, are our greatest strengths? Maybe not all of us are poets, or apostles, or teachers, or prophets. Perhaps not all of us would consider ourselves great at forgiving and reconciling with one another. But our Lord, gently if somewhat poetically, knows and uses our greatest strengths to lead us to something even better: Not only “three times and for four”; “not seven times but seventy-seven times.” Today, Jesus takes Peter’s greatest strengths to deepen his sense of forgiveness; of mercy. And today, Jesus takes our greatest strengths and leads us beyond our limits to be closer to God who, as we know, is limitless.