Mercy and Forgiveness?!? - Matthew 4:12-23

KAALAGAD Gospel Reflection – January 26, 2020

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Matthew 4:12-23


12Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” 17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Mercy and Forgiveness?!?

This reflection revolves around the Gospel of Matthew, focusing on 4:17, which is pivotal to the flow of the writer’s narrative. After ststing the arrest of John the Baptist, a key formula “From that time” signals the reader of the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. Here is the start of a new beginning. Unlike John who preached judgment upon the people, Jesus proclaimed salvation. He announced the start of the realization of the Rule of God in human history.

According to Matthew, the ushering in of the Rule of God has been fulfilled in Jesus. However, such fulfillment took place with strong oppositions. Matthew underlines that it suffered violence in two ways. First, its advent was met by violence – John was arrested and Jesus Himself was crucified – and second, people tried to force their way to its realization violently or most probably through violent means. Such is also pointed out by Matthew in 11:12

 “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.”

 Matthew reiterates that violence has no role to play in God’s rule, that it is strongly contradictory to its principles.

 To what this negative take of Matthew on the use of violence points us? It points us to seriously consider its exact opposite. That the realization of the rule of God in human history can only be achieved, not by violent actions fueled with hate, but via the primary role of mercy and forgiveness that lead to peace. These two kingdom values – mercy and readiness to forgive – are distinct but related lenses through which we must appropriate, participate in. and understand the nature and characteristics of the rule of God as it comes to its full completion.

In Matthew we find consistently an ethical Christianity. Jesus seeks to fulfill the true intention of the law and prophets. Gerd Thiessen observes that “unlike Paul, he (Matthew) does not promise any certainty of salvation. Paul could assure his readers that ‘there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’. By contrast, Matthew says, ‘Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord” shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.’

 Matthew requires at least the readiness to forgive and an elementary readiness to help by performing acts of mercy as path to salvation (cf. Mt 25). Anyone can do that! Even non-Christians!

 The beatitude declares “Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy.In 5:38-48, Jesus favors love instead of retaliation. The Lord’s prayer exclaims “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”, with emphasis on the readiness to forgive. Again in 12:7, Jesus makes clear what manner by which one is to enter the Kingdom of God when He said “I desire mercy not sacrifice”. In 23:23, Jesus cited for the second time Hosea 6:6 in reference to the Pharisees “they condemn the guiltless with their legal interpretations because they do not realize that God prefers mercy over sacrifice”.

 We can look into a more detailed analysis of Matthew’s gospel, like looking at how these themes of mercy and readiness to forgive are further developed in a beautiful literary fashion, but that will require us so much space and time, and therefore not our task.

Hence, for our purposes here, it is enough to underline that the themes of mercy and forgiveness are undeniably highlighted in the First Gospel. That under these two major themes, our take on Jesus’ declaration of the coming of the Rule of God in 4:17 should be explicated.

 Moreover, Pope John Paul II’s encyclical echoes this very idea of mercy in the Dives in Misericordia (God who is rich in mercy!).

 “In Christ, through Christ, God also becomes especially visible in His mercy, that is to say, there is emphasized that attribute of the Divinity which the OT, using various concepts and terms, already defined as ‘mercy’. Christ confers on the whole of the OT tradition about God’s mercy a definitive meaning. Not only does he speak of it and explain it by the use of comparisons and parables, but above all He himself makes it incarnate and personifies it. He himself, in a certain sense, is mercy. To the person who sees it in him – and finds it in him – God becomes visible in a particular way as the Father who is rich in mercy”.

 Theological reflections and actions – the life we live – then must be founded on God’s mercy, as Walter Kasper argues in his book about mercy being the starting point of doing theology. We often say “To know Jesus is to know God”. And it’s not the other way around. And this is very important! Since oftentimes we tend to impose on the Christ image our presupposed ideas of the divine that results in incomprehension rather than understanding the God that Jesus introduced to us. Jesus introduced this God as someone who is so rich in mercy; not a tyrant god; not someone who is quick to judge; not a god who rests on hate and wrath; not vengeful; does not approve any form of violence for he is not a violent god. Unlike what seems to dominate our own society and even the whole global community, this God that we encounter through the life demonstrated by Jesus is a God who is so rich in mercy! John Paul II knew that this world, then and now, seems to refuse to open its doors to mercy!

 “The present day mentality, more perhaps than that of people in the past, seems opposed to a God of mercy, and in fact tends to exclude from life and to remove from the human heart the very idea of mercy. The word and the concept of mercy seem to cause uneasiness in man who, thanks to the enormous development of science and technology, never before known in history, has become the master of the earth and has subdued and dominated it. This dominion over the earth, sometimes understood in a one sided and superficial way, seems to have no room for mercy.”

 I still remember nang magkasiyahan kami ng ilang kasama (two years ago pa yata ito pero may ilang bagay na di ko makalimutan habang nag-iinuman). Di maiwasan, halu-halong kwentuhan – advocacies, the current political situation and social condition. Napag usapan din ang pagibig sa kapwa at ano nga ba ang ibig sabihin ng sakripisyo, etc. At kung ano pa. One interesting point that was brought up is a kind of poison that is destroying human relations in our families, schools, churches, work and society in general. The poison is called hate. MUHI.

 We are not saying that without hate, everything will be put into place. Our current societal problems are so complex (and systemic) that they require non-simplistic reading and solutions. But at least, as we learn not to anchor ourselves on hate, it will somehow lighten the burdens we inevitably carry on our shoulders as we continue following the way of Jesus.

 The truth of the matter, however, is that the way of Jesus is not always an easy road to walk on especially when violence takes  place in front of our very eyes that usually victimize the poor and the weak – the poor who fell victims of the violence of everyday killings, but by the subtle and more dangerous violence of hunger and sickness due to a political and economic system that only favors the few. Everyday, we witness these things happening. We hear the cries of the oppressed as if there is no rest for them. We see how the workers are exploited and neglected by those who are supposed to serve them. And people get tired. We get tired! Naturally and understandably, there is always this temptation to justify revenge – to walk the popular path.

 But Matthew has to remind us to take the narrow road, that our ethical life, our response to the horrors that (we and) the poor experience opposite the luxury of the rich and powerful, must be anchored on mercy and the readiness to forgive, This does not in any way suggest that such evil must not be confronted and exposed. But again, even our hearts, as we do advocacy works or launch direct actions of confrontation against the power holders, must be always guided not by hate that is so irrational.


ALVIN JIMENEZ

Penuel School of Theology