“Lord, how often must I forgive my brother if he wrongs me? As often as seven times?”
Readiness to forgive is taught by many of the great philosophies and religions of the world. Why? Because you can’t be happy, or have any sort of inner peace, far less inner joy, if you refuse to forgive. Dwelling on past hurts, nurturing resentment, indulging simmering anger: these things can blight or embitter a person’s whole life.
He answered her not a word.
St. Matthew doesn’t tell us why the Lord withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. St. Mark, in his slightly fuller account of the same incident, adds the detail that Jesus wanted to remain hidden there. At any rate, he certainly didn’t go to pagan territory in order to preach or teach or perform miracles. Why? Because Jesus was a faithful Jew, obedient to the law, as well as to his own mission from the Father. According to the law given to Israel, the Jews are a people set apart, a consecrated nation, a holy people of God. As the Psalm puts it: they are the sheep of God’s pasture, and the flock led by his hand (Ps 94/95:7).
According to St. Paul, we should “have that mind in us which was in Christ Jesus” (Phil 2:5). In today’s Gospel according to St. Luke, our Lord manifests his mind to us, and asks us to imitate it. Love your enemies, he says, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you (6:27). Through all this list of commandments, Jesus is painting for us a self portrait, and indeed sketching out for us his own autobiography.
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