We are in this Together (Part II)

September 14, 2014 Matthew 18:21-35 We are in this together (Part II) Year A 14th Sunday After Pentecost Forgiveness Is Not Innate William Willimon writes: "The human animal is not supposed to be 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." Peter and forgiveness. Relatedness to the scripture. Not natural, so would comeup with laws to forgive. He is expecting Jesus to say: “Excellent Peter. You go to the head of the class. You get A+.” According to Jewish law, Peter had the right to think that he had done something good. Scribal law clearly read: “If a man transgresses one time, forgive him. If a man transgresses two times, forgive him. If a man transgresses three times, forgive him. If a man transgresses four times, do not forgive him.” What Peter has done is to take this law of limited forgiveness, multiply it by two and add one, and then sit back with a smile on his face and say: Now how is that for being a great guy? And he surely must have been taken aback when Jesus said you must forgive seventy times seven. Forgiveness is key to our relationship. Sometime in life we have to forgive. On order to be a community we have to be able to forgive. Not to forgive as our minds tell us, but as God tells us. Jesus says that you should forgive people 7 x 70 times. How many times is that it is 490. That is a lot. I think that it may be hard for one person to sin against us 490 times. But if they do, does that mean that the 491st time we have permission to stay mad and not forgive them? More important, Jesus tells us that we need to stop keeping score. Get rid of the score card. Stop worrying about what others owe us. He gives the example of a slave who gets mad at another person for owing him, but he is thrown into jail for a debt so large that he can never repay. On his salary, 2000 years later, he would still be trying to earn the money.and yet he was forgiven. We have a lot to be forgiven about, and God paid it all. Forgiven: Too Poor to Pay (A good sermon closer) When the books of a certain Scottish 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 proceeded to sue 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 in the land 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. But I that was last week’s sermon. This week I think Jesus is telling us to go even further. Forgiveness is not about what God has done for us. I think Jesus us really trying to tell us that we need to throw away the score card. We have to stop keeping score of all of our wrongs and all of our rights. God does not keep a score card, with the intention to make us pay up. That person who cut us off on the road this morning, is a child of God, just like we are, God is in their life as God is in ours. The score is even for us all in the eyes of God. You still keeping score? There's a scene from a movie a few years ago called "Nobody's Fool." There's a working man named Donald Sullivan. 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 . . . Sometimes we have to make to decision do we want to be right, or do we want to be well. Tending to Spiritual Wounds Human beings created in the image of God need to be held accountable. If a shark bites you while you are swimming off the California coast, you would never talk about forgiving the shark, much less of trying to find ways to communicate why what he did hurt you. He's just a shark! He thought you were a seal. That's that. But it's very different when a person acts like a shark and takes a bite out of your soul. Here is someone who must be dealt with as a responsible moral agent. Here's someone who needs to know the damage she did, including if that means your saying, "I can't forgive you right now. I am that hurt. I've got to recover before I will have a chance to rally the resources I'll need to forgive you." If someone is mangled in a car accident, the first priority is to get the physical wounds healed. If there are mental wounds like post-traumatic stress syndrome or the like, then they need to be healed with therapy eventually. But even if you are a therapist who passes by the accident, you'd be a fool to kneel down next to the wrecked car and say, "Let's talk about this accident so you can deal with it in a healthy psychological way." Of course not! Even a therapist would need to grab a hankie and staunch the flow of blood first. Get to the other stuff later. So also with great spiritual wounds: the immediate injuries need to be tended to first. Then, sometime later, you may be in a position to move on toward forgiving the one who inflicted the wounds. And, of course, there are any number of phenomena that can make forgiveness a long, tortured process. It is exceedingly hard to forgive people who refuse to admit they were wrong. It is very difficult to proffer forgiveness to people who slap the gift of grace out of your hand saying, "Keep your forgiveness! I don't want it!" It is difficult to forgive the person who won't speak with you, refuses to look at you or meet with you. Scott Hoezee, The Long Haul I think that Jesus is trying to help usto understand that it is only when we understand what it means to forgive greatly, that we come to understand the value of God’s great mercy. When we are able to forgive others, then we can appreciate what God has done for us. Why Forgive? Two decades ago (1981) there was an attempt on the life of Pope John Paul. Fortunately, the Pope lived. After he recovered, he shocked the world when he made a visit to Rome’s Rabbibia Prison to see the man who had attempted to assassinate him on Christmas day. Millions watched on television as the Pope visited with Mehmet Ali Agca, who only two years before had tried to assassinate him. The white-robed Pope and jean-clad terrorist huddled in the dark prison cell for 20 minutes, talking in low voices that could not be heard. When he emerged John Paul explained, "I spoke to a brother whom I have pardoned." I will never forget the headline the next week in Time Magazine, "Why forgive?" That is a good question, one that has been asked for centuries. It was asked by Peter in verse 21 of the passage that was read this morning. If you have not asked the question; wait, you will someday. Adapted from Randall H. Perry, ‘Who Me? Forgive Who?’ Text Illustration: Forgiveness is not about making the other person right in what they did… forgiveness is about 2 things, first it is obedience to your calling as a Child of God, and 2nd it is an instrument that frees you from the bondage of resentment and revenge. Matt 18:21-35 Bobby Stults (Aug 2007) How Many Times? by Brett Blair Passage: Matthew 18:21-35 · Lectionary: Proper 19 Item 6 of 19 | Back to Results Exegetical Aim: There is no limit to forgiveness Props-Suggested: A portable marker board (or writing pad), a marker, and eraser. Lesson: Good morning. Hold up the board. I want to do a little math this morning but first let me ask you a question. What does "I forgive you" mean? (response) What does it mean when I say, "I forgive you?" (response) I've been wondering this week how many times I am so suppose to forgive someone. As you count up to seven write each number along the top of the board. The children will probably allow two or three but no more. If they allow five make six and seven too many. What if someone does ONE bad thing to me? Should I forgive them? (response) What if they do the same thing to me again? Write the number 2.(response) Ok, I should forgive them TWO times. But let's say they do something else to me that's bad. That makes THREE bad things they have done to me. Should I forgive them three times? (response) Alright, one more time I'll forgive them. But they do four things now. Do I forgive them? (response) Now they do FIVE. What do I do? (response) What's the next number? (six) That's a big number. What if this person does SIX bad things against me? Should I forgive them that many times? (response) What comes after six? (seven)Now, I can understand forgiving someone 2 times or even three but if they do something bad to me seven times am I suppose to forgive them that many? (response) How many times am I suppose to forgive them? (response) Why? (response) Jesus said something that is pretty amazing. Someone asked him, "Lord, how many times am I suppose to forgive my brother when he does something wrong to me? Am I suppose to forgive him seven times?" Circle the number seven. Jesus said to him, "No, not seven times but seventy times seven." Does any one know how many times that is? (response) Let's find out. Let's do a little math. Write the equation out and solve it-some of course will need help solving the math problem: 70x7 490 7x0 is how many? (response) and 7x7 is how many? (response) that comes to 490. Now what is Jesus saying? Is he saying we are suppose to forgive 490 times and no more or is he saying something else? (response) What is he saying? (response) We are always to forgive. You see that is the way God deals with us. He always forgives us. Every time. No matter how many times you come to him-seven times or 491 times-he will forgive. And since God is so forgiving he asked us to be forgiving as well. Let's Pray: Dear Lord you forgive us of all the bad things we do help us to forgive others too. Brett Blair, ChristianGlobe, 2000 Back to Results | Item 6 of 19 Will Willimon Two Million Dollar Mistake John D. Rockefeller built the great Standard Oil empire. Not surprisingly, Rockefeller was a man who demanded high performance from his executives. One day, one of those executives made a two million dollar mistake. Word of the man’s enormous error quickly spread throughout the executive offices, and the other men began to make themselves scarce, not wanting to cross his path. One man didn’t have any choice, however, since he had an appointment with the boss. So he straightened his shoulders and walked into Rockefeller’s office. As he approached Rockefeller’s desk, he looked up from the piece of paper on which he was writing. “I guess you’ve heard about the two million dollar mistake our friend made,” he said abruptly. “Yes,” the executive said, expecting Rockefeller to explode. “Well, I’ve been sitting here listing all of our friend’s good qualities, and I’ve discovered that in the past he has made us many more times the amount he lost for us today by his one mistake. His good points far outweigh this one human error. So I think we ought to forgive him, don’t you?” Dale Galloway, You Can Win with Love, in The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, Charles Swindoll, Word Pub., p. 215. www.eSermons.com, Staff Forgiving As God Forgives Someone once said that the scariest, most sobering word in the entire New Testament is that tiny little word "as." "Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." That vital connection between God's abiding forgiveness of us and of our in turn forgiving others tells us that we must forgive. This is not some weird demand on God's part, however. This is not some hoop we must jump through to earn our salvation or to perform like some trained dog just because God enjoys watching us do tricks. No, the reason for the connection between God's forgiving us and our forgiving others is because of the sheer power of God's forgiveness. It is so great that it simply must and will change us. The reason God expects us to forgive as a result of our being forgiven is the same reason you can expect to be wet after diving into Lake Michigan: water is wet and when you immerse yourself in it, you get wet. So also with forgiving grace: grace is magnetic and beautiful. When God immerses you in grace and saves your life eternally by it, you will be dripping with grace yourself. You will be full of grace and truth and so spread it to others. Scott Hoezee, The Long Haul Keeping Score William G. Carter, The Arithmetic of Forgiveness DO YOU WANT TO BE RIGHT, OR DO YOU WANT TO BE WELL? Dr. David Seamands tells the story about a young woman he counseled in college several years ago. She had suffered every kind of abuse in her own home--psychological, sexual and physical. The very place that was supposed to be nurturing was instead a frightening and brutal place. He had been counseling with her several times. At last she said she was ready for him to pray for her emotional healing of the past. But as he was praying, she suddenly let out a scream that chilled him to the bone. It was so loud that he was concerned about what the secretary and people in the hall of the church might think. He turned to her and said, "What is happening? Why did you cry out like that?" She said, "I can't give them up." He was unsure of what she could not give up and said, "Please explain what you mean." She said, "My resentments. I cannot give them up." Dr. Seamands said, "Why not?" She said, "They are all I have." Twice more they met for counseling, but it was evident that her heart was no longer in it. She had come to a fork in the road and gone another way. She never returned for counseling after that. Years later, Dr. Seamands was preaching a series of meetings in another state, and at the close of the last meeting a woman came up to him who looked older than her years. She said, "Do you remember me?" He said, "I'm sorry, but I am afraid I don't." She told him her name and said, "Surely you remember the counseling session we had where I screamed in the middle of your prayer." Then it all came back to him, and she said through bitter tears, "Two divorces and one nervous breakdown later, I should have given them up." And then she walked away, and would not turn back. There is a question I sometimes ask people: "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be well?" Do you want to insist that you were not wrong and hold on to your pride, resentment and bitterness, or are you willing to let them go and be healed? Do you want to cling to the things that are destructive to you or do you want to bThere is a question I sometimes ask people: "Do you want to be right, or do you want to be well?" Do you want to insist that you were not wrong and hold on to your pride, resentment and bitterness, or are you willing to let them go and be healed? Do you want to cling to the things that are destructive to you or do you want to be well? You can be sick, or you can be made whole. The choice is up to you. (From a sermon by Rodney Buchanan, From Death to Life, 4/10/2011) ________________________