Sermon Preached by
The Rev. Fulton Porter, III
Pentecost XVIII
September 14, 2008
at
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Matthew 18:21-35
Forgiven to Forgive
In the name of God the Father, and the Son and the Holy Ghost.
Amen.
As we come to a crucial point in this nation’s history, as we approach perhaps the most important presidential election in our lifetime, it gives us reason to pause and reflect on the journey. It has been a journey filled with fits of injustice and inequality. It has been a long hard journey dampened by the despair and dark days which were caused by a country that called us on 3/5 of a human being. Not only have we as a people been affected by the pain and persecution purveyed through the perilous predicament of chattel slavery, but also we as a republic have been changed forever at the point that when the planes were pointed at the world trade center and the Pentagon. We are changed forever and we as a people have been doubly changed.
We remember the poignant picture painted 7 years ago when the planes hit. And no longer do we think of 9/11 as an emergency phone number but it has become a symbol of pain, mistrust, and perpetual vigilance in the face terrorism and evil. All around the country and indeed the world, we remembered 9/11 with somber and sad reflections at monuments built to never forget our painful past. The President of the United States dedicated the monument to the lives lost at the Pentagon during these horrendous attacks just last week. But even as George W. Bush, our lame duck president who often moves too slow and in the wrong direction, spoke his dedicatory words, we as people, all of us, dedicate our own monuments of painful remembrance, day after day after day. And we go back to them over and over again, and even worship at them. And here is the question? Have we gotten over it yet? Can we forgive those who incarcerated a people in the injustice of slavery or even a terrorist for turning terrible planes into our hopes and dreams?
If I took a poll of the people in this room and I asked you, “Are you happy that God through Jesus has forgiven your sin?” Most of you will say without hesitation, “Yes!” We sing “I’m so glad Jesus lifted me”, and “Love lifted me”, Yet do you know what you are singing? When you pray the Lord’s Prayer and say “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”, do you realize what you are saying?
So let me ask a fair question: If we are so grateful for God’s forgiveness, why do we struggle with forgiving others. Why is it that the sins of others somehow seem more terrible than our own? Why is it that the mercy we sought for ourselves seems too generous to shower on others?
Well, we could argue that we DO forgive others their trespasses, but then I would have to site examples of the obvious opposite. We sit in certain pews with our friends. We work on certain committees with our friends. We serve in certain ministries with those we get along with. We have a selective way of letting those outside our circle of friends know that we aren’t ready to extend the same universal forgiveness and tolerance to everyone. Forgiveness is for everyone.
There is a story of an incorrigible soldier who had been punished so many times for so many offenses that his commanding officer believed he would never make a good soldier. Once again he was under arrest, and the commander presented his hopeless case before another officer and said, “What can I do with him?” The fellow officer replied, “Try forgiving him.” The soldier was brought in before his commander who asked him if he had anything to say for himself. “Nothing except that I’m very sorry.” “Well”, said the commander, “I’ve decided to forgive you.” The soldier stood in dazed amazement for a moment and then burst into tears, saluted his officer, and went out to become the best and bravest soldier in the officer’s command.
Jesus knows that forgiveness does something to a person. It causes him to turn his reflections inward, to examine his own unworthiness. That reflection reveals the stark contrast between the sinner and Jesus Christ. We are greedy, but Christ is pure. We are distracted, but Christ is purposeful. We are cranky, but Christ is pleasant. We are selfish, but Christ is selfless. And all this reflection causes a person to consider the great gift of a clean slate; a chance to start over; a chance to get it right this time by making your heart Christ’s home.
Can a Christian love and refuse forgiveness at the same time? When Leonardo da Vinci was preparing to paint his famous portrait of the Lord's Supper he had a quarrel with a fellow painter just before he began his great work. Da Vinci was filled with ill feeling toward his enemy and decided that the best way to punish him was to paint the face of Judas with facial features similar to his enemy. That way every generation that saw his picture in years to come would scorn his enemy's face forever. He successfully painted the features of Judas bearing the image of his enemy, but when he began to paint the features of Jesus he was stumped and could receive no inspiration. Sensing what was wrong, he blotted out the face of Judas and then began work on the face of Jesus and completed the picture successfully.
And so I just stopped by here on my way to heaven to tell you that it is not possible to paint beautiful pictures of ourselves as Christians while at the same time painting a face of hatred and unforgiveness toward our enemies. As Christians, we are called upon to be forgiving in our nature always willing to "let bygones be bygones." As Christians we ought to "be slow to take offense but always ready for reconciliation." Our faith teaches us to forgive others as we ourselves would like to be forgiven.
It is not always easy to forgive. Maybe you’re struggling with forgiving a neighbor who has offended you. Maybe you are struggling with a co-worker who has talked about you behind your back. Maybe you are struggling with forgiving a family member who has slighted you. Maybe you’re struggling with forgiving a church member who never speaks to you or smiles at you.
Forgiveness can be tough, but it’s not impossible, and furthermore, it’s necessary. Jesus gave us all the motivation we need to forgive others. He said, “And when you stand praying, forgive, if you have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
But if forgiving is difficult, then forgetting is even more difficult. Our quest is to grow in our faith such that we can both forgive and forget, just as Christ forgives our trespasses and forgets them forever.
Our text from the Gospel of Matthew first considers Christ as he gives an age old lesson about the nature of forgiveness. The question was asked of the master, how many times should a brother be forgiven for offenses before that brother becomes unforgivable. The number seven was arbitrarily selected and it elicited an arbitrary response: not seven times a day but seventy seven times or as other translations put it seven times seventy or 490 times a day. The significance in Christ's response is not in the number 7 or in the response of 490. The significance is in the infinite nature of the response. To suggest that any person could offend us 490 different times a day is to suggest that we should always be ready to forgive people who offend us. The number itself is inconsequential and does not imply that if a person makes the 491st offense that we are excused to hate him forever.
Christ furthers illustrates his point by telling the parable of the servant who owed a debt and was forgiven by his master, but would not grant the same mercy to persons in his debt. Our obligation is to show forgiveness to all that we meet and greet, just as Christ shows forgiveness to us. We have been forgiven in order to forgive.
According to Miriam Webster, forgiveness is the remission of the penalty due for an offense. Forgiveness is not an endorsement for wrong doing. It is not a vote of confidence for breaking God's law. It is the setting aside of any penalty that is due because of the sinful act. When people offend us, our range of responses goes from mere shunning to physical harm. Somewhere in between, the object of our anger receives a barrage of negative comments and responses from us. Without forgiveness our responses against these offenders continue. Without forgiveness we refuse to speak to those who have hurt us! Without forgiveness we work to defeat those who have hurt us! Without forgiveness we bitterly respond to those who have hurt us!
Forgiveness on the other hand requires that the penalty that would ordinarily be exacted against those who have hurt us be set aside. When we forgive we take no acts of revenge! When we forgive, we undertake no acts of retaliation! When we forgive we refuse to respond angrily! And for the most part, once we have forgiven an act, we set aside the penalty that we have imposed for their offense, which might include ostracism and vengeance, and act as if nothing had happened at all. We forgive because we ourselves have been forgiven by Christ himself. We are forgiven to forgive.
One of the underlying factors relating to true forgiveness is our understanding that no one, even our enemies, consciously does that which they believe to be wrong. The human mind is so constructed that a person must convince himself that his action is right or justified before he acts. In short, our enemies believe that whatever they did to us was right or justified in some way. Their feelings are not always correct, but that’s where compassion comes in: to understand the situation from the point of view our detractors. As Christians we strive to exhibit virtue in every aspect of our lives and hope that God will open the eyes of our enemies to see the error of their ways. When we respond to our enemies in love we facilitate the action of the Holy Spirit in their lives. When we respond in hate, our enemies respond to us in the same fashion.
When Christ hung on the Cross, those who made fun of him, jeered him and even those who nailed him to the cross thought they were right. The soldiers saw him as a public menace that was causing unrest among the people. The crowds of skeptics that followed him saw him as a great miracle man who was able to perform mighty works for others but unable to do any great works to save himself. The unrepentant thief saw him as just another law breaker like himself who was claiming super natural powers. Jesus, understanding their feelings and the root causes of their actions, chose not to hate them or to retaliate and pierce the soldier with their own sword or to cause lightning to strike the crowds or the thief to choke on his own words. Instead he uttered words to his father that showed his compassion for them: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Like our Savior we too should strive to be forgiving. When people make fun of our failures, -father forgive them! When people dig ditches for us- father forgive them! When people stab us in the back- father forgive them! When people make our way difficult and tough-Father forgive them for they know not what they do!
There is a famous proverb that says: "To err is human to forgive is divine." And I need to tell you today that central to forgiving is forgetting! Well, you may say “Father, you must be crazy. You don’t know what they did to me. You don’t understand how bad they hurt me. You don’t realize how they betrayed me and dissed me. I may forgive, but I will never, ever, ever forget.”
Well, then the question might come: Is it possible to forgive and to forget? Does forgiveness require us to blot out of our memory any record of offenses made against us? Well, I stopped by to tell you today that while we are not called upon to forget the actual deeds that were committed against us, we are called upon to forget the pain and the agony that is associated with those deeds. To forget is to close the wound and let it heal! Those who forget are no longer angry each time they think of an offense! Some people will ruminate over a hurtful event and re-live it over and over again. Some of us even like being stuck in this rut of ruminating over the remnants of recent and past hurts. But beloved, those who forget have abandoned their desire for vengeance when they see a former enemy! Those who forget have dismissed the offense as a learning experience and closed it away in their past! It's a good thing to be able to forgive and forget!
I'm glad to know that one day Jesus looked down on my sins and was willing to forgive and forget! It's a good thing that the Lord is willing to forgive and forget because: Too often, we are not willing to carry our part of the load! Too often we are not pulling our share of the burden! Too often we are not supporting our end of the program! Too often we are not providing our part of the labor! Too often we are too late to help and too poor to give! Too often we are too tired to attend and too busy to pray! Too often we are too scared to try and too comfortable to move!
And so I'm so glad that the Lord is willing to give me another chance. I believe the word is true when it says "Any man that is in Christ is a new Creature. Old things are passed away and behold all things become new." My sins and your sins were washed away beneath the flood of the blood of Calvary. No wonder the song writer would declare: "There is a fountain filled with blood that flows from Immanuel's vein. And sinners plunged beneath the flood, lose all their guilt and stain!"
I need to let you know today that a forgiven Christian forgives others. God’s forgiveness is only for the forgiving. Let the man who hopes to BE forgiven, forgive and bless his foe. If pride is your foe, put on humility and reconcile with your brother. If hostility is your foe, put on peace and reconcile with your sister. If you are forgiven, your faith is sufficient to solve any dispute. If you are forgiven, your faith is sufficient to resolve any issues. If you are forgiven, your faith is sufficient to rise above any quarrel. If you are forgiven, your faith is sufficient to heal any wound, smooth any friction, end any disagreement, and mend any clash.
Are you forgiven? Then FORGIVE.
Amen!
