Daily Gospel Reflection for August 11, 2022

Join us as we reflect, ponder, and pray together inspired by today's Gospel.

Today's Gospel: Matthew 18:21-19:1

There is much to be said about human relationships, both fallen and free, in this Gospel. We see in the first debtor the person who approaches life from a stance of entitlement: I shouldn’t have to pay for the things I want when I want them. I shouldn’t have to suffer for spending my master’s money. I shouldn’t have to show mercy to someone who owes me anything. I’m entitled to get what I want, when I want it.

The human who repeatedly grasps for that which he cannot actually afford lives life not from a place of generative relationship but from transactional entitlement. As humans who image a Trinitarian God when we give freely in relationship, there is nothing more destructive to our souls than interacting with our fellow image-bearers from a sense of what that person owes me.

We serve a master Who pours out impossible levels of mercy on the repentant but Who refuses to coddle the hypocrite. Some things we can never pay back. Act like everything you do will be reported back to your master.

Ponder:

What kind of servant do I want to be, and how does that servant act when in need of mercy—or when wronged?

Pray:

God, this day I beg You to remove all sense of entitlement from my heart, mind, and soul. Help me to live with the understanding that You see all.

Click to tweet: We serve a master Who pours out impossible levels of mercy on the repentant but Who refuses to coddle the hypocrite. #dailygospel

Copyright 2022 Erin McCole Cupp