Scripture/Sermon of the Day. September 17, 2023
Matthew 18:12-35
Forgiveness
21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother or sister sins against
me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him,
“Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven[a] times.
The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
23 “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished
to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 When he began the reckoning, one who owed
him ten thousand talents was brought to him, 25 and, as he could not pay, the
lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his
possessions and payment to be made. 26 So the slave fell on his knees before
him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ 27 And out
of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.
28 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.’ 29 Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience
with me, and I will pay you.’ 30 But he refused; then he went and threw him into
prison until he would pay the debt. 31 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. 32 Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You
wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Should
you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ 34 And in
anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire
debt. 35 So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not
forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
Reflection/Sermon:
I. One of the big concerns I had when I began my new life as a minister was
this right here — what I’m doing now — preaching. I wondered how I’d say
something new every week, from a book that is so old — thousands of years old.
And not only that — but — the message from the Bible is so simple — love one
another. Every sermon is a variation of that message. So the challenge of
preaching is — how do you say “love one another” differently, about forty times
every year. And when you add to that the Scripture of the Day messages — every
day — that’s three hundred sixty five times a year to hear the same message, but
in slightly different ways: “Love one another.”
II. And there’s another challenge — or difficulty. People who call
themselves “Christian” know what Jesus said — BUT THEY DON’T DO IT!!!!!
Isn’t that crazy? The whole Bible can be reduced to three words, Love One
Another — and yet we write millions of books about it, we study it, we learn
Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic — we go to seminary for three or more years, etc., etc —
and we still have such a hard time just simply doing what Jesus says: “Love one
another.”
III. By now — when you come here every Sunday — or Zoom in — you know what
I’m going to say. Maybe we keep coming back because as simple as the message
is, IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO DO. It’s as if I were standing here and saying,
“Alright — we’re going to try it again. Today — I want you all to fly. Come on
— use the power of your mind. At least — float in the air a foot over the
ground. Come on — think! Imagine! On the count of three, everyone FLY!”
IV. It’s impossible, isn’t it. And that’s the reason we pray. We can’t do
this by ourselves. Even something as simple and wonderful as love — we can’t do
it without God’s help. Today is another variation on love — forgiveness — and
we can’t do it! Jesus says we MUST forgive one another. And Christians know
this, we’ve heard it since we were children! Peter asks Jesus, “If my sister or
brother sins against me — do I have to forgive? Even seven times?” No, Jesus
says, “Not seven — seventy-seven!” This is crazy. No wonder the churches are
so empty. Who wants to do this? We would rather follow people unlike Jesus who
say “I am your retribution!” A MESSAGE OF HATE. Can you imagine someone in one
of those crowds saying, “You know, I was wrong. I’m not your retribution. I’m
not your revenge. I’m your peacemaker. I want you to love one another — love
the foreigner crossing the border, love the person in the other political
party. Love the United Auto Workers going on strike, and love the rich CEOs who
want to keep the profits for themselves. Please — we must forgive our sisters
and brothers who think differently from us, and who do not look like us. I AM
YOUR FORGIVENESS.”
V. Sadly, even though most of the people in that crowd were “Christian” —
that message would fail. BECAUSE WE WANT REVENGE! WE WANT BLOOD! ONCE when
the church service was over, in the days when I stood in the rear of the church
and greeted people as they left, a member said, “Do you realize that some
Mexican or South American is going to the school your daughter is attending and
they’re not a U.S. citizen and your tax dollars are helping him do that? Your
tax dollars are helping foreigners with their education and health care and food
stamps!” And I said something like, “Jesus wants us to love the Mexicans and
South Americans and foreigners. Jesus wants us to share.” And he said — really
angry — “You don’t believe everything Jesus said, do you??!!”
VI. I think many Christians have an identity problem. They’ve forgotten who
they are — and they don’t seem interested, really, in Jesus. Christians want a
vindictive and hateful savior who will punish people not like them and make them
SUFFER! A lot of Christians don’t really want Jesus. They want to be
Christians — WITHOUT JESUS. Let’s make red baseball caps with those letters on
them and give them out at political rally’s — hats with CWOT printed in big
capital letters: Christians WithOut Jesus.
VII. I wonder how many people, in those days when people left after the
service and I’d greet them afterward in the narthex — and they said, “Good
sermon.” I wonder how many really were thinking, but not saying: “Good sermon
— but you don’t believe all that stuff Jesus said, do you?”
VIII. And yet — the message today is the one we’ve heard since we were
children: We must forgive — each other, ourselves, even God. The woman who
helps take care of my mother, Cata, is 60-something, from Ghana. While I was
there, she was in a car accident. Last Wednesday, while she was waiting at a
red light, a car hit her from behind, so hard, it totaled the Nissan Rogue that
hit her — a tow truck had to take it away. The woman, who was not injured, got
out of the car and apologized to Cata, while she gave her insurance information
to her. Then Cata noticed that, while waiting for the police, the woman was
talking on her cell phone. When the police arrived, the woman lied and told the
police it was Cata’s fault — that Cata was changing lanes suddenly and that’s
why she drove into her. The police believed the woman — who was young, and
white, like the policeman — and gave Cata a ticket. The next day, Cata told me,
“How can people lie like that? And why did God let that happen to me.” Look
who Cata had to forgive: the policeman, the woman who crashed into her — and
God! Cata even has to forgive herself for not taking pictures of the accident
which would have shown her innocence!
IX. But when we don’t forgive, Jesus said, we torture ourselves — with anger
and rage — and obsessively thinking about retribution.
Jesus said when we don’t forgive — we torture ourselves.
Better, he said, to let go of all that emotional poison — and give it to God.
Give God the poison of rage and revenge, and drink the living water of
forgiveness and love Jesus offers.
Only this living water Jesus gives us each day will heal us.