"Ginoo, kon ang akon utod permi lang makasala sa akon, makapila ko gid bala siya patawaron?"

Ebanghelyo subong nga Adlaw (Mateo 18:21-19:1)

Nagpalapit si Pedro kay Jesus kag nagpamangkot, "Ginoo, kon ang akon utod permi lang makasala sa akon, makapila ko gid bala siya patawaron? Makapito gid bala ka beses?"

Nagsabat si Jesus sa iya, "Indi lang hasta sa pito, kundi hasta sa 77 ka beses.

Kay ang paghari sang Dios pareho sa natabo sa isa ka hari nga nagahusay sang mga utang sang iya mga suluguon. 

Samtang nagahusay siya sang ila mga utang, may gindala sa iya nga suluguon nga ang iya utang minilyon. 

Tungod nga indi siya makabayad nagsugo ang hari nga ibaligya siya bilang ulipon pati ang iya asawa kag ang iya mga bata. Kag ibaligya man ang tanan niya nga pagkabutang agod mabayaran niya ang iya utang. 

Ang ginhimo sang suluguon, nagluhod siya sa hari kag nagpakitluoy nga nagasiling, 'Pasensyaha lang ako anay kay bayaran ko gid ikaw sang tanan!' 

Naluoy ang hari sa iya, gani ginpatawad siya kag wala na pagpabayara sang iya utang, kag ginpapauli siya. 

"Pagpauli sadto nga suluguon nasugata niya ang kapareho niya nga suluguon nga may utang sa iya nga gamay gid lang. Gindakop niya siya kag ginkuga dayon nga nagasiling, 'Bayari ako sang imo utang!' 

Nagluhod sa iya ang iya kapareho nga suluguon nga nagapakitluoy, 'Pasensyaha lang ako anay kay bayaran ko gid ikaw!' 

Pero wala gid siya nagpasugot. Ginpapriso gid niya ang suluguon nga ato hasta makabayad. 

Pagkakita sadto sang iban pa gid nga mga suluguon naglain ang ila buot, gani nagkadto sila sa ila hari kag ginsugid ang parte sa natabo. 

Ginpatawag sang hari ang suluguon kag nagsiling, 'Masyado ka kalain nga suluguon. Ginpatawad ko ikaw sa imo utang sa akon tungod kay nagpakitluoy ka sa akon. 

Ngaa bala wala mo pagkaluoyi ang imo kapareho nga suluguon pareho sang akon pagkaluoy sa imo?' 

Naakig gid ang hari sa iya. Ginpapriso niya siya kag ginpasilutan hasta mabayaran ang tanan niya nga utang." 

Dayon nagsiling si Jesus sa ila, "Amo man ini ang himuon sa inyo sang akon Amay sa langit kon indi kamo magpatawad sa inyo kapareho sa bug-os ninyo nga tagipusuon." 

Pagkatapos sang pagpanudlo ni Jesus sadto nga mga butang, naghalin siya sa Galilea kag nagkadto sa mga lugar nga sakop sang Judea sa tabok sang Suba sang Jordan. 

Prayers:

"Lord Jesus, you have been kind and forgiving towards me. May I be merciful as you are merciful. Free me from all bitterness and resentment that I may truly forgive from the heart those who have caused me injury or grief." 

***

Reflection of the Daily Gospel:

Does mercy trump justice? Justice demands that everyone be given their due. So when is it right to show mercy and pardon to those who have acted unjustly or wrongly? The prophet Amos speaks of God forgiving transgression three times, but warns that God may not revoke punishment for the fourth (see Amos 1:3-13; 2:1-6). When Peter posed the question of forgiveness, he characteristically offered an answer he thought Jesus would be pleased with. Why not forgive seven times! How unthinkable for Jesus to counter with the proposition that one must forgive seventy times that. Jesus made it clear that there is no reckonable limit to forgiveness. And he drove the lesson home with a parable about two very different kinds of debts. The first man owed an enormous sum of money – millions in our currency. In Jesus' time this amount was greater than the total revenue of a province – more than it would cost to ransom a king! The man who was forgiven such an incredible debt could not, however bring himself to forgive his neighbor a very small debt which was about one-hundred-thousandth of his own debt. 

The contrast could not have been greater! No offence our neighbor can do to us can compare with our debt to God! We have been forgiven a debt which is beyond all paying; to ransom our debt of sin God gave up his only begotten Son. Paul the Apostle states, "you were bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 7:23 ) and that price was Jesus' death on the cross. Through the shedding of his blood on the cross, Jesus not only brought forgiveness and pardon for our offenses, but release from captivity – from bondage and slavery to sin. Christ came to redeem us from a sinful way of life. "You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers ...with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Peter 1:18). Christ "gave himself to redeem us from all iniquity" (Titus 2:14). Iniquity describes the futile ways of wrongdoing or sin. We have been forgiven an enormous debt which we could never possibly repay. God expects us to treat one another the same way he treats us. If God has forgiven each of us our debt, which was very great, we, too must forgive others whatever debt they owe us. 

Jesus teaches that one must forgive in order to be forgiven (Matthew 6:12,14-15). If we do not forgive our fellow human beings, we cannot expect God to forgive us in turn. The Apostle James says that "judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy" (James 2:13). Mercy is truly a gift and it is offered in such a way that justice is not negated. Mercy seasons justice as salt seasons meat and gives it flavor. Mercy follows justice and perfects it. To pardon the unrepentant is not mercy but license. C.S. Lewis, a 20th century Christian author wrote: "Mercy will flower only when it grows in the crannies of the rock of Justice: transplanted to the marshlands of mere Humanitarianism, it becomes a man-eating weed, all the more dangerous because it is still called by the same name as the mountain variety." If we want mercy shown to us we must be ready to forgive others as God has forgiven us. Do you hold any grudge or resentment towards anyone?