Good Morning Friends,
Jesus final words in today’s Gospel parable are very instructive and chilling for those who refuse to listen regarding the importance of forgiveness from the heart. It is about not being bitter. It is about not sowing seeds of bitterness and sin. It reminds us that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ, but that without a sacrifice of forgiveness offered up, hard justice inflicted might well perpetuate a cycle of violence. And so, this morning we contemplate the success and sacrifice of Jesus and ask: How Do Forgiveness, Repentance And Love Converge On Our Hearts To Reconcile Us To God?
Scripture: Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 55:6-7 (NRSV)
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
Romans 14:7-9 (NRSV)
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Matthew 18:21-35 (NRSV)
Message: Today we ask a tough question about what connects our lives and defines our relationships. And yes, the answer is the love of Jesus experienced in the fullness of our repentance. So, it is a little bit sad if we have not submitted to receiving and offering up forgiveness from our hearts for all those things that need forgiveness. For without that our connection to the love of God is not complete. Sometimes we need to dive into the deep water and out of the shallows to realize the relationship lived in the fullness of life. To help us understand this we have a Gospel passage about Jesus training up Peter in leadership with a focus on the need for forgiveness to complete our lives. And when we combine today’s lectionary selection from Romans, we begin to see the role of forgiveness in freeing us from our past and also freeing us to our future because of Christ’s actions. Here forgiveness with faith frees up space within us to create the life and the love we really want and that is what makes our lives reconciled in Jesus as we glorify God. And now today we have a call to cross over into a land of unlimited forgiveness. The juncture is at the corner of Peter’s question about forgiveness and the Gospel story demonstrating that social good comes before individual gain. So too for us, only when our hearts forgive will we be freed to love and discover a completeness of glorifying God. Friends, Jesus teaches us that asking forgiveness is not a simple apology, it is to be an awareness of the sin, of the idolatry that we commit when we close the door to God’s forgiveness. Even at Calvary the case for Christ is presented with the grace of a King who loves abundantly. In this place of three crosses, we see rebellion, repentance, and redemption. We see the gift of second chances. At the very moment that Jesus was dying for that criminal’s sins on the cross, He was offering all of us an unconditional pardon. Here a symbol of shame and terror and death is replaced with a symbol of God’s profound love for us. Jesus invites us home and is waiting to see if we will extend grace to others.
And So, the challenge is to have a civility of thoughts that avoids exchanges condemning others. Instead, we should continue to listen to Paul when he said we are to bless those who persecute us. We are to live in harmony and not claim to be wiser than we are. We are not to repay anyone evil for evil but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. We are to live peaceably with all. And that means we are to forgive. Now forgiveness is a difficult concept in practice because we want to retaliate. Anger in us enrages us and if we are honest the last thing on our mind is repentance. But in doing this we have judged the other person. Thankfully the scripture today is designed to teach us to grow in faith and not to seek an eye for an eye. The thing is that there is a relationship between love and forgiveness, and repentance connects them. When Jesus preached the Good News, He said… “Repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” It was all about love and forgiveness. So, we need to recognize the revolutionary significance of the primary demand these words bring for those seeking the Christian life. We need to realize that repentance is not a call to a remorseful way of thinking but an invitation to change one’s basic attitudes about God, self, things, and others. It is a call to learn to love and forgive. Initially one might think about forgiveness being just between the two people involved in a dispute, but we need to remember that in forgiveness there are three parties, the one who has been hurt, the one who caused the pain and God. But if we refuse to forgive, this causes issue for us, because none of us are perfect, and as we would want to be forgiven for things we have done, then we must also do the same. We must find forgiveness for other’s actions in our hearts, so that we can move on. Our responsibility, if we are the ones who have been hurt, is to ensure that if restitution is offered, that we have found that peace, and come to a place where that gift of forgiveness can be offered, just as it is offered to us, freely and with grace. To be a Christian means to forgive the unpardonable the indefensible and unjustifiable actions of others because God has forgiven the inexcusable in us. The world expects us to condemn others, to do otherwise is counter-cultural and the world cannot accept that there is another, a better way. Christ and Paul remind us today that there is a better way and if we pray the prayer that Christ taught us, it is staring us right in the face.
Pray we do not grieve the Holy Spirit. Pray we forgive. Pray we mature to accept Christian forgiveness over a demand for unlimited vengeance. Pray we pass on the mercy we have received from Jesus. Pray we crossover into an opportunity to conquer our fears. Pray we never consider mercy a weakness. Pray we forgive from the heart. Pray we know that some of the best parts of our lives are just fragments and glimpses of God and that the completion of their effects may well extend beyond the time we are alive on earth. Pray we realize the importance of how our hearts remember the events of our lives. Pray we realize the importance of keeping the dream alive in our hearts. Pray we have the courage and commitment to trust God. Pray we realize we are loved. Pray we share the love we have received. Pray we are confident in God’s care. Pray we are committed to God’s purpose. Pray we are controlled by God’s will. Pray that we pardon by faith, that we set at liberty even our enemies to enjoy peace, fellowship, joy, and the hope of God’s glory. Pray we understand the chief end of humans is to glorify God. Pray we are united under God. Pray we realize that each of us are related to God. Pray we realize that nothing can be separated from God’s love, and nothing limits God’s authority over the lives of his children. Pray we embrace the drama of redemption and live a sanctified life of active discipleship.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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