Reverend Ref +

Sermon
17 Pentecost
Proper 19A
(Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 27:30 - 28:7, Romans 14:5-12, Matthew 18:21-35)

In your opinion, what is the hardest doctrine of Christianity to follow? Self-sacrifice? Hospitality? Good works in response to grace? In my opinion, it's forgiveness.

Forgiveness is a common theme throughout the bible and Christianity. We ask for forgiveness twice during each service, once at the general confession and once during the Lord's Prayer. We also acknowledge baptism as a forgiving act during the Nicene Creed. We say the words, but do we really act on those words?

Today's readings are full of forgiveness. We can start with the gospel when Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive somebody. Depending on your translation, it's either 77 times or 70 times 7. Either way, that's alot of forgiveness.

To illustrate how important forgiveness is, Jesus tells the story of a rich king and one of his slaves. The slave begs for forgiveness and the king forgives the debt. The slave immediately goes out, runs into another slave who owed him money, and threw him in prison for non-payment. The king, slightly miffed, then takes care of the problem. This parable that Jesus tells can be directly related back to the lesson from Ecclesiasticus (or, for the polysyllabically challenged, Sirach), "If one has no mercy towards another like himself, can he then seek pardon for his own sins?"

Sirach is one of my favorite books, for many reasons. One of those reasons is because it has the ability to take common sense sayings and smack you between the eyes when you least expect it. Today is one of those days.

Today, our lessons all speak directly to, or touch upon, forgiveness. Today, of all days, this is important. Four years ago today, terrorists flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. Four years ago today, thousands of people were killed in an act of war on our soil. Four years ago today, our nation was under attack. Four years ago, our government declared a war on terrorism and vowed to avenge the deaths caused by the actions of the terrorists. "If you aren't with us, you're against us," declared President Bush.

You may think the war in Iraq is justified. You may think we were right in overthrowing Sadaam. You may not care that weapons of mass destruction were never found. You may think we need to spend more resources hunting down Osama. You may think it's okay for President Bush to center his whole presidency around the actions of 9/11. But the gospel and the reading from Sirach say different.

Anger and wrath are abominations, yet a sinner holds onto them. How long will we, as a government, as a country, or as individuals, hold onto the anger and wrath generated by the events of 9/11? If God is willing to remove our sins as far as east is from west, should not we also be willing to forgive our neighbors for the wrongs done to us?

Forgiveness is not necessarily the same as forgetting; sometimes, however, forgiving does entail forgetting. There are many things for which I've forgiven my wife and daughter that I have forgotten. And I'm sure that there are one or two things that I've done that have been forgiven and forgotten by them. However, I think forgiveness boils down to the ability to say, "I will not continue to be hurt by what you did to me." Sometimes that can take a long time.

The best example I have of this comes from my own life. Some of you may know that my relationship with my father was not ideal; and if you didn't know that, you do now. From my point of view, I was lied to, used as a pawn, belittled, manipulated and generally mismanaged. Because of that, I refused to speak to him for 20 years. The relationship was ruled by anger and an unwillingness to forgive.

And then I started what we in the business call "The Process," that long road towards ordination. It was during this time that I was forced to confront all of those issues by my discernment team and COM. I began writing to him. We began e-mailing on a semi-regular basis. I met with counselors about the situation. And eventually I came to the point where I could forgive him, where I could say, "I will no longer continue to be hurt by what you did to me." I haven't forgotten, but I have forgiven.

I can't harbor anger against him and expect to be healed. And neither can you, whomever that "him" is. Whether it is a parent, child, spouse, ex-spouse, former friend, Islamic fundamentalist terrorists, right wing Christian fundamentalists or left wing Christian liberals, we eventually must come to a point where we are willing to forgive. There is a lot of anger and hate out there, and we are called to rise above it. Because if we do not have mercy towards others like ourselves (other people), how can we expect mercy from someone who is so totally unlike ourselves (God)?

Today is September 11. Today is the fourth anniversary of one of the worst attacks against the United States in history. Today we mourn the deaths of innocent people killed by fundamentalist terrorists. Today our scriptures tell us to not hold onto anger and wrath. Today our scriptures tell us to have mercy on others. Today Jesus commands us to forgive from our hearts. Today, of all days, we are asked not to combat our enemies with anger or wrath or vengeance or hate, but we are asked to forgive our enemies and all those who persecute us and wish us harm.

I pray we have the courage to do just that.