September 11, 2005

     (Jimmie Johnson)


Matthew 18:15-20

“If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is such a big difference between God and us, isn’t there? God is infinite, and we are finite. God is the Creator, and we are the creatures. But, I believe the biggest difference shows itself in forgiveness. If Jesus is our clue of clues for understanding the mystery of God, then clearly God finds forgiveness more joyful than we. God seems to be a natural at forgiveness.

I’d say based on my 58 years of life and my 30 years of being a Presbyterian pastor that the hardest thing in the world for us is to enjoy practicing forgiveness. Don’t misunderstand, we enjoy being forgiven; it’s the passing it along that grinds our gears.

Well, it’s that way for everyone, not just you and me. You and I aren’t the only people in the world who have a hard time with forgiving those who have wronged us, hurt us, or used us as a Kleenex and then tossed us. It is a universal human condition. It is unnatural to forgive. It is natural to get even. And then there is just the whole confusing aspect of corporate forgiveness. Can a nation forgive? Can a people who have been oppressed and exploited forgive? Can a congregation forgive? Can we forgive what was focused on Louisiana? Today is the fourth anniversary of 9-11, and is anyone here ready to forgive for that horror?

Peter comes to Jesus and wants to know about forgiveness. “Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Seven times?” Had I been there, I probably would have popped off even before Jesus had a chance to speak. “Seven times! That’s pretty generous. Seven times. I think maybe two or three times myself. That’s about my limit. You can fool me once, you can fool me twice, but after that I am not going to be nice.”

“Jesus, what do we do when someone in the church has royally messed up? What are the rules, the guidelines, the policies? Do we pretend nothing has happened? Do we kick them out? When is enough, enough?” And Jesus says something about seven times seventy, which was a Jewish colloquial way of saying “to infinity.” Jesus is saying to us, “My followers, you live forgiveness. It is a way of life. Forgiveness isn’t dispensed with an eye dropper. It doesn’t come with an expiration sticker. Forgiveness is a lifetime. You forgive forever. To infinity. Just like God.”

Ugh. Yeah, ugh, and that’s why if we jump to the end of the parable we see unlimited forgiveness gets changed. Early Christians, including scripture writers, couldn’t handle a Jesus who was so extravagantly merciful. So, they do a switcharoo and set Jesus straight with their own ending for the story. The parable starts out with God granting unlimited forgiveness, but by the end of the story, God is torturing people. Hmmm. It sounds like God has a split personality. Not really. It is just a case of the first Christians being just like us. Unlimited forgiveness is an idea we can’t stand. And they couldn’t either.

A guy who washes cars for a living owes Bill Gates 150 million dollars. Now why a guy as sharp as Gates lends the guy who cleans his car that much money is a puzzler in itself. But Jesus doesn’t tell us. He just says Gates gave him the money. Then the car wash dude blew it all. And now Gates is wanting to settle up. It’s the good American way. You pay your debts, or you and your family suffer the dire consequences. But the car washer begs Gates. “Please give me some time. I’ll pay you back every dollar of the 150 million.” And Gates says, “I’ll do more than that. It’s all forgiven. You owe no more debt.” This is crazy, of course. First, no matter how rich Gates is, he wouldn’t forget 150 million. And, the whole notion the car washer can repay 150 million is absurd. But the gospel is crazy. The gospel is absurd. It makes no sense at all by our human standards and calculations. And this might be the rub of the parable.

Who is in a position to condemn us? Only Christ. Who is Christ? Christ is the one who died for us, who rose for us, who reigns in authority for us, who prays for us. Friends, I declare to you your ten billion dollar debt is forgiven. All this is from God! But the truth is this doesn’t comfort us. Rather, it provokes us.

And, look what happens in the development of the parable. The big mogul’s generosity in this story doesn’t last long. The car wash guy who has his 150 million debt forgiven is going about his business when he sees another guy, a guy who owes him some small change compared to 150 million. The car washer has the small time debtor arrested.

We blow a gasket when we see this guy who has been forgiven so much being unwilling to forgive. We want the rich mogul to punish the car washer for being so hypocritical. The guy was forgiven millions, and he won’t forgive a hundred bucks? He should be taught a lesson. He should get what’s coming to him. So we get in touch with Bill Gates. We find somebody who has a contact with Mr. Gates, and we get word to him. Mr. Gates hears us and agrees. “You rotten employee. You are a first-class jerk. I am going to see to it that you owe me forever. I am going to see to it that you are locked up and they throw away the key.”

We relax. We set the world right. The moguls are in charge, after all. And we little guys can rejoice that the rule “you get what you sew” is back in place, which is crazy--crazier than forgiveness. But, nevertheless we prefer “you get what you deserve” to a world where you don’t!

The problem is, yes, we can set the world right. We can reinstate the fairness doctrine. We get what we deserve. And, when we do so, when we get the right beliefs and convictions back in place, we get a God who threatens us! We got that old time religion back where all is right with the world.

So what’s the answer? Don’t play God with your religion or your life. We are not good enough for the part. The answer is to live full time in the mercy of God. Listen, mercy is not something we get and give like cash in a business deal. We don’t dole out mercy like cookies to the good little children. What we want down deep inside is forgiveness for us but limits in regards to others. And, it makes perfect sense to me. But what we end up with is a puny god, a puny congregation, and a puny faith and heart. We end up with a parable where we change the staggering news of the gospel so that it will make more sense to us and let us keep playing God.

You know what terrorism is in any form? It’s revenge, making sure you get what is coming to you. It’s eternal cycles of vengeance and repayment: Arab-Israeli, rich-poor, Indian-Pakistani, Korean-Japanese, Black-White. It’s pay back time. It’s treadmills of retribution and no way to get off.

And then one Friday, after he had been stripped of his dignity, after his friends had abandoned him, after he had been spit upon and laughed at and hung up to dry, bleeding to death, he looked down to us and said, “Father, forgive them. They don’t know what they are doing.” It all hinges on whether or not you believe Jesus got his prayer answered and God won’t weasel out regarding forgiveness whether we like it or not or can even practice it.

Way back, way back, a cross was set up on a hill. There are no unforgiven, except in my heart and yours, but not in God’s.