Ezek 12:1-12/Psa 78:56-59,61-62/Matt 18:21-19:1.
Reflection by Most Rev. Emmanuel Kofi Fianu, SVD (Catholic Bishop of Ho, Ghana)
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The two readings today speak about two ways in which God deals with erring humanity.
In the First Reading, God wanted to call the people of Israel to repentance and he did it through Ezekiel.
God commanded Ezekiel to act in a way that was to serve as a message to the people of Israel.
His behaviour, as described in the reading, could be taken for that of an insane person.
He dramatized or acted an escape into exile in broad daylight.
Although an actual escape would not have taken place in broad daylight,Ezekiel had to do so in order to attract the attention of the people of Israel.
In this way,they were to ask him what he was doing and as we found out in the story, he then explained to the people the message that God had for them.
In the Gospel Reading,the parable of the unforgiving servant teaches us how we all need to forgive those indebted to us, just as our heavenly father forgives us our debts.
The servant who was forgiven all his debt did not realise that the kind gesture of the master was also a lesson for him to do the same to his fellow servant who is indebted to him.
He could not bring himself to treat his neighbour in the same manner that God treated him.
The situation of the unforgiving servant is heightened by the fact that what his fellow servant owed him was nothing compared to what he owed the master.
In our daily life, God comes our way to manifest his forgiveness in order to bring us back to him.
God manifests his love and forgiveness each time we ask for pardon.
He is so loving that he cannot refuse us his forgiveness because doing so would be contrary to his own nature.
At times, we do not realise the need to seek forgiveness because we are blind to our sins like the people of Israel.
In such situations, God sends us his messengers who draw our attention to what we need to do in order to restore our relationship of love and obedience to him.
He expects us to respond to his love by repenting so that we can be reconciled to him.
When we experience the forgiving love of God, we should also in our turn let others experience it through us.
In this way,we spread the message of divine love to all.Amen.
