The Kingdom of God is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.
Now when his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply disturbed, and went to their master and reported the whole affair. His master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you your entire debt because you begged me to. Should you not have had pity on your fellow servant, as I had pity on you?’ Then in anger his master handed him over to the torturers until he should pay back the whole debt. So will my heavenly Father do to you, unless each of you forgives your brother from your heart.” (Matthew 18: 21-35)
Today as we remember the attacks of September 11, 2001, I am struck by the fact that our Sunday readings have a distinct focus on forgiveness. Last night at our vigil mass, I noted that the first reading from Sirach was read by the man I most associate with the military in my parish, Col. Jim O’Brien. In the days following September 11, I was even more thankful than normal for the men and women who daily defend our nation from those who would like to harm us. It was a good thing to see a man who has been faithful in his protection of our citizens from our enemies to proclaim God’s word to us. The message was as follows:
Wrath and anger are hateful things, yet the sinner hugs them tight. (Sirach 27:30)
As I have reflected on these words it seems more and more to me that the tragedy of the life of Osama Bin Laden and his followers is that they lived out this passage from the Bible all too well. They hugged wrath and anger tightly to their bodies, and eventually it was a close relationship with wrath and anger that led to their killing of thousands of people and to creating a world where terror has too big of a place.
So what are we as Christians called to do in response? Certainly we are not called to hug wrath and anger tightly to ourselves. The readings for this weekend would suggest that instead we cling to forgiveness. But how does that work when it comes to people like Osama Bin Laden? Last night’s mass at St. Thomas might provide a clue. As I listened to the second reading, I noticed something I would classify as pretty amazing. Sue Paulus walked to the ambo and began reading. Her husband, TJ, was sitting in the front pew with a face beaming with love for her. It looked to me that as far as he was concerned, she was the only person in the church. When I saw this, I knew that the solution to terrorists like Bin Laden and others like him is not only about the military. Perhaps more important is our ability to love and forgive one another. You see, that look that TJ gave his wife last night is only possible because he has spent years learning how to forgive her. And it is also possible because she has spent years learning how to forgive him. That’s how successful marriages work. If we are to defeat terrorism, we need to start with small acts of love. We need to work on hugging love and forgiveness tightly to us, rather than wrath and anger. And if we do, we will show the world how weak terrorists really are.
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