Seventy times seven: Sir 27, Rom 14, and the parable of the unmerciful servant in Mt 18

By Prof. Dr. Daniel C. Afonso · Updated 19 October 2026

Non dico tibi usque septies, sed usque septuagies septies.
Mt 18:22

“Seventy times seven” (Mt 18:22): the Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time of Year A brings together three texts around limitless forgiveness. Sir 27:30-28:7 warns that wrath and resentment are abominable and that forgiving one’s neighbor is the condition for receiving God’s forgiveness. Rom 14:7-9 teaches that none of us lives or dies for himself: we live and die for the Lord. Mt 18:21-35 answers Peter’s question about how many times he must forgive: not seven, but seventy times seven.

And the parable of the servant who was forgiven ten thousand talents and who was imprisoned for not forgiving his fellow servant a hundred denarii. The three texts converge: the forgiveness God offers is disproportionately greater than what is asked of us. And not to forgive, after having received so much forgiveness, is an incongruity that destroys the very one who was forgiven.

I. The first reading: Sir 27:30-28:7

Sirach begins with a diagnosis: “Wrath and anger are abominable things: the sinner holds them within himself” (Sir 27:30). Resentment does not harm only the relationship with the other: it harms the one who keeps it. And the link with the divine: “Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done you, and then, when you pray, your sins will be forgiven” (28:2). The prayer of the Our Father lives here: “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Sirach adds a pragmatic argument: “Remember the end of your life and cease from enmity” (v. 6). The memory of death drains resentment: in the face of the end, the offenses received shrink. “Remember the commandments and do not bear a grudge against your neighbor” (v. 7). The memory of the covenant with God is the antidote to the breaking of the covenant with one’s brother.

II. The second reading: Rom 14:7-9

Paul states a fundamental principle of orientation: “None of us lives for himself, and none dies for himself” (Rom 14:7). Human existence is not a private project: it is inscribed in a network of relationships that culminates in God. “If we live, we live for the Lord. If we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s” (v. 8).

And the Christological foundation: “For this very reason Christ died and rose again: to be Lord of both the dead and the living” (v. 9). Whoever belongs to the living Lord cannot bear a grudge against a brother who also belongs to the same Lord. The limitless forgiveness of Mt 18 has its foundation here: if we belong to the same Lord, a brother’s offense is not the final horizon. The horizon is Christ, who died to be Lord of all.

III. The Gospel: Mt 18:21-35

Peter asks: “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? As many as seven times?” (Mt 18:21). Peter’s proposal is already generous: rabbinic tradition spoke of three times. Jesus answers: “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy times seven” (v. 22). The number is not literal: it is the dissolution of the limit. And then the parable that explains why. A king wishes to settle accounts with his servants. One is brought before him who owes him ten thousand talents, an astronomical sum, impossible to pay. The servant pleads. The king “had compassion on him, set him free, and forgave him the debt” (v. 27).

Going out, that servant meets a fellow servant who owes him a hundred denarii, a tiny fraction. He seizes him by the throat. The fellow servant pleads with the same words. The servant refuses and has him imprisoned. The other servants are distressed and tell the king. The angry king hands the unmerciful servant over to the torturers. Conclusion: “So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart” (v. 35). The disproportion, ten thousand talents vs. a hundred denarii, is the heart of the parable: what God forgives is immensely greater than what we are asked to forgive.

IV. Mary and forgiveness from the heart

The Gospel records in Mary no complaint, no resentment, no accusation against anyone: not against Judas who betrayed her Son, nor against Peter who denied Him, nor against the soldiers who crucified Him, nor against the leaders who condemned Him. This silence is eloquent: it is not an absence of feeling, but the presence of forgiveness. Mary lived Sir 27:30-28:7 without having read it: she did not hold on to wrath, did not feed anger, remembered the end, and ceased from the enmity that others could have caused her. Rom 14:7-9 says that none of us lives or dies for himself: Mary lived this in a radical way.

Her whole life was for the Son and for the Father. And the Assumption was the “dying for the Lord” that became fullness of life in God. The parable of the unmerciful servant raises the question of forgiveness “from the heart” (Mt 18:35). Mary forgave from the heart because the Magnificat reveals a heart that did not accumulate offenses of its own: it rejoiced in the mercies of God, and whoever rejoices in the mercy received cannot be unmerciful toward a brother.

Read the readings: Sirach 27, Romans 14, and Matthew 18, in the Ave-Maria Bible.