September 11, 2005

Forgiveness

When I was growing up as a Catholic, there were many things about the church that were defined as mysteries. In fact, that’s what the Rosary consists of, groups of incidents from the story of Jesus referred to as mysteries, such as the Sorrowful mysteries and the Joyful mysteries. I’m not here to bore you with Catholic theology this morning, but I want to talk about some parts of the Bible that qualify as mysteries, things that don’t make any sense to us so-called modern people. For example, from the Old Testament:

• How did Noah get all those animals on the Ark?

• How did the water of the Nile become blood?

• How did the Red Sea part allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land?

• How did the millions of people and animals survive for 40 years wandering in the desert on their way to the Promised Land?

• How did Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego survive in that fiery furnace?

• How did Balaam’s donkey talk?

• How did the shadow of the sun go backwards ten steps? (That’s from the story of Hezekiah in the Book of 2 Kings if you were wondering or if you want to look it up.)
   

That list could go on and on.
Then there are the accounts of the miracles of Jesus.

• Healing the sick.

• Giving sight to the blind.

• Making the lame walk.

• Feeding over 5000 people with just five loaves of bread and two small fish.

• Driving out demons.

• Walking on water.

• Raising people from the dead.

I want to tell you in all sincerity that as your pastor I don’t care whether you believe in a single one of the above incidents. I don’t care if you believe that such things occurred, or whether they or nothing but metaphors that help human beings get a grip on the awesome power of God. To me, faith in such stories, even though we all have heard them from the days when we were small children, is not an essential of our spiritual development. But as your pastor, as someone who loves you, this is what I care about, this is what I care that you believe, this is how I care that you take into your heart and make a standard for your life:

That a man named Jesus Christ, a man who was entirely without sin or blame of any kind, was convicted for our sins, was tortured and hung on a cross to die, and yet as he did he looked down on his tormentors from the cross and said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they’re doing.” That is essential. For our own salvation, it is an absolute must to believe that our own sins are forgiven, and it is an absolute must to forgive others of their sins, no matter how black. That’s not me saying it, it’s Jesus Christ saying it.

  Which brings us to Sept. 11. Today, as you all know, is the fourth anniversary of the attacks of 9-11, but the first time that the anniversary has fallen on a Sunday. Little has changed in this country, I think, in the four years that have passed. They say time heals all wounds, and a few wise guys say time wounds all heels, but I somehow doubt that many Americans, if they had Osama Bin Laden in front of them, would be able to say “I forgive you.” I preach often about forgiveness, and there’s a reason why—because I see the corrosive effects that an unforgiving heart has on those who will not let the past go.

  William Willimon, a great contemporary preacher, says that “The human animal is not good at forgiveness. Forgiveness is not some innate, natural human emotion. Vengeance, retribution, violence, these are natural human qualities. It is natural for the human animal to defend itself, to snarl and crouch into a defensive position when attacked, to howl when wronged, to bite back when bitten. Forgiveness is not natural. It is not a universal human virtue." So when we talk about forgiveness, and especially when we talk about forgiving a horrendous crime like 9-11, how are we supposed to do it? This is a mystery.

    Every time I talk about Jesus and his statement “You must forgive 70 times seven,” I can always see some people doing the math in their head. “Okay, let’s see, that means 490 times.” But lots of people can run the numbers in their head. The question is, how many can do it in their hearts. The question that Jesus posed was one of conduct, not arithmetic. Anybody can forgive a trivial offense.

You’ve probably said “Oh, don’t mention it” to someone who committed some minor infraction against you. But could you forgive someone who slandered you? Or stabbed you in the back? Or flew an airliner loaded with innocent lives into the side of a skyscraper?

One of the distinctive elements of the message that Jesus brought to the world was the need to forgive your brother. In the kingdom of heaven forgiveness of sins will be conditional not just on repentance and faith, but also on how we forgive others. This is expressed in the Lord’s Prayer, the parable of the unforgiving servant, and in the example of Jesus as he forgave his tormentors from the cross. And it is found in response to Peter’s question. When Peter asks if seven is enough, Jesus responds with the infinite: “not seven times, but seventy times seven.”

 And then he tells the story of a man who owed 10,000 talents, a ridiculous sum, and begged for mercy, but would not show mercy to someone who owed him what was in essence, pocket change. You can see Jesus shaking his head sadly, even as he tells this story. And then he adds, “But if you don’t forgive your brother, neither will your father forgive you.”

 Jesus used the utter financial bankruptcy of this servant to illustrate our total bankruptcy to sin. It is hard to grasp the debt we truly owe God. In our minds, we are generally good people. We judge ourselves by comparing our actions to other people. Even a murderer thinks he is a generally good person. There are some things we all do that make us feel good. Al Capone, one of the most notorious gangsters in US history fed the hungry and gave to the needy. You know what Al Capone liked to do for fun? Beat his enemies to death with a baseball bat.

We all can find comparisons that make us feel righteous, but that doesn’t make us righteous. It isn’t until we compare ourselves to God’s standard by which we will be judged that we get a glimpse of our debt. We can’t grasp the magnitude of our debt. We can’t understand the impossibility to repay even one sin. The Bible says that all of our righteous acts are rotten rags in God’s sight. The word translated literally mean that our deeds turn God’s stomach.

  God does not require any payment for his mercy, but he does require us to show mercy to others. When someone goes into bankruptcy, their assets are surrendered. A bankruptcy judge would never allow someone to keep funds while declaring they can’t afford to pay their debts. Jesus is using this to illustration to help his disciples understand God’s mercy. How can I plead for mercy and then declare those indebted to me as guilty? We all have to let go of the past, no matter how painful.

There's a scene from a movie a few years ago called "Nobody's Fool." There's a working man named Donald Sullivan, played by Paul Newman. Everybody calls him Sully. He's about sixty years old, and spent his whole life in the same town. When his parents died, he inherited their house. He never moved in. Instead he left it alone.  It was the house where his father beat him as a child. So he has left it alone, and every day he drives by to watch it slowly fall apart.  One day he takes one of his friends, a builder, through that broken-down house.

The builder says, "Sully, you could have saved this place. You could have fixed it up a little bit, rented it out. You could have sold it and put the money in your own pocket. Instead you stick it to your old man. What's it been - - thirty, thirty-five years? You still keeping score? Well, here's the good news: you won." Meanwhile the house is falling down .

    Should we forgive those who harm us?  Always? Never? Only

sometimes under certain conditions? These are important questions because forgiveness is important. If Peter Ustinov is right to say that “love is an act of endless

forgiveness,” then forgiveness is very important indeed. So I’d like to share several observations about forgiveness before we close today.

  . 1--With small things it really is best to forgive and forget. Sometimes the damage is more lasting: acts of betrayal, acts that  produce permanent physical or emotional scars, acts of cruelty or deception. It is harder in these kinds of circumstances to forgive. There are some who will feel that they cannot forgive, and that is understandable.

  2--Forgiveness is a vital part of human experience. Everybody needs to forgive. The Jewish tradition wisely recognizes this in its annual observance of the Ten Days of Awe, which begins with the New Year, Rosh Hashanah,  and concludes with the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. This observance is an occasion for Jews—for all of us who choose to do so—to dwell upon our own failings of the past year and to acknowledge our responsibility to forgive those who have failed us.

    3--Deep hurt leaves deep scars. Forgiveness isn’t easy. Forgiveness is hard. Especially in a long term relationship with friends, family or even work relationships that have been plagued with past troubles. Forgiveness would be easy if it didn’t hurt so much. Especially when it must be extended to someone who we feel doesn’t deserve it. It hurts to forgive. Forgiveness costs. Especially when it means accepting the wrong instead of demanding repayment for the wrong done; where it means releasing the other instead of exacting revenge; where it means reaching out in Gods love instead hoping for the other person to get it for what they have done.
    4--It costs to forgive. We have to give up on seeing the other person punished for the terrible wrong they did. When we say we can’t forgive someone, we are saying that we hate that person. We are saying we have judged them guilty and they deserve punishment. General Oglethorpe once said to John Wesley, "I never forgive and I never forget." To which Wesley replied, "Then, sir, I hope you never sin."

   5—Despite, 1, 2, 3 and 4, sometimes forgiveness is our only means to escape the hell of an unforgiving heart. One of the most powerful stories I have yet encountered on the subject of forgiveness was written several years ago by the father of one of the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995. The father mourned the loss of his beautiful young daughter who worked in the federal building in Oklahoma City, a girl so sweet and helpful that she was literally a friend to all who knew her, and her father spent years in a deep depression laced with anger at her killers. He had, quite literally, descended into hell.

   But then one day on TV he happened to catch a glimpse of the father of Timothy McVeigh, the primary Oklahoma City bomber. Just a glimpse, before the man escaped from the TV camera, but the thought flashed through his mind: “This man has lost a child, too.”

The man resolved that he had to meet the father of Timothy McVeigh and express forgiveness. He drove to the town where he lived, found his modest house and knocked on the door. And there he stood, the father of a mass murderer. Just a very average guy, except for the sunken eyes that revealed a pain that was inescapable and terrible. When the two fathers sat down to talk, they discovered they had much in common. McVeigh’s father was an outcast in the community. His daughter had to change her name to get a teaching job. Both families had much to forgive, and with tears streaming down their faces came the start of healing for both of them.

Is it possible to forgive a terrorist? Is it possible to forgive Osama Bin Laden? On our own, not so much. But when we remember that God our Father lost a son in a terrorist act, all things are possible.

When the books of a doctor were examined after his death, it was found that a number of accounts were crossed through with a note: "Forgiven--too poor to pay." But the physician's wife later decided that these accounts must be paid in full and she sued for money. When the case came to court the judge asked but one question. Is this your husband's handwriting? When she replied that it was he responded: "There is no court that can obtain a debt once the word forgiven has been written."

And that is the good news that the Gospel offers us this morning. God's attitude is not "I'll forgive but I won't forget," but rather, "Forgiven, Forgotten Forever." Across our debt has been written the words, "Forgiven--too poor to pay." Once a debt has been cancelled there is no one who can collect on it. God wipes it out of his mind. Oh, if we could only do that. If we could forgive others like that; If we could forgive ourselves like that.

This is a prayer that has been attributed to St. Francis and I invite you to join me now in praying it.

Lord, make us instruments of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let us sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is discord, union.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console, To be understood as to understand, To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive,

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned, And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.