Being a born and bred Episcopalian, 

I was confirmed when I was 12 years old.

This was at St. David’s Episcopal Church 

in the then Missionary District of Spokane.

The bishop who confirmed me was Russell S. Hubbard, 

whom I remembered as a giant of a man 

with huge hands that pressed down on my head 

with all the weight and solemnity of the occasion.

I was so impressed by this man as a child 

that I actually listened to and remembered his sermons.

 

One sermon of his that I remembered so well was about the Lord’s Prayer.  

The bishop varied his usual calm, even tones 

to a rise of inflection and stronger volume to tell us, 

“This prayer is the most damning prayer you can pray, 

when you say, ‘Forgive us our trespasses 

as we forgive those who trespass against us.’ 

You are asking God not to forgive you unless you also forgive others.”

 

Thus I learned from early years that forgiveness 

was very important and very central in living out the Faith.

 

Now let me share something with you about the Greek word for forgiveness.

John 11:44  When Jesus called Lazarus to come out of the tomb, 

he then said to those who were there witnessing this 

to loose him and let him go.  

The word in Greek for “let him go” 

is the same word that is commonly used throughout the entire NT 

for the verb to forgive.

In the Greek of the New Testament 

to forgive is to send forth, with the idea of setting free.

Sins are forgiven a person, that is, the sins are sent away, 

so that the person is no longer bound by them.

Someone who is forgiven 

is someone who has had their sins taken from them 

and tossed away, sent away.

The person is liberated.

 

Remember the story of the paralyzed man 

            who was brought to Jesus by his four friends

             who stopped at nothing to get him in front of Jesus?

 

Jesus said to the man, “Your sins are forgiven.”

And the religious experts who were with him there got in a twit 

because Jesus had just pushed their hot buttons.

And he did it on purpose, of course.

Jesus healed the man of his paralysis by saying, 

“Your sins that are binding you are sent away, forgiven.”

And the man, no longer paralyzed by his sins, walked.

 

In today’s Gospel lesson, Peter approaches Jesus with a serious question.

“If another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive?”

            Now, how did the church get into this passage?

            This is the gospel; the time setting is before the church was formed.

Friends, it doesn’t say that in the Greek.

            It is much more specific.

It reads: “If my brother sins against me, how often should I forgive?”

            Hmmm – Andrew has been given his brother Peter some grief.

                        Quite common among siblings, don’t you know.

But we also must remember that around Jesus we are all brothers and sisters.

            We are all family – every single one of us, and not just here in this place.

                        ALL humankind really.

 

Well, how long does Peter have to put up with being sinned against by another?

            Seven times?            How about 77 times, Jesus replies.

He tells Peter 

that he is not to be stingy in how many times he sends away sin.

 

Jesus modeled forgiveness VERY powerfully in healing the paralyzed man,

             and then he instructed his disciples to do this also, 

to set others free from what binds them in their lives.

 

But Peter sees a problem with this.

What if someone thinks they are getting away with something 

and then takes advantage of this free forgiveness 

and just keeps on transgressing, 

especially if it is personally directed at the same person.

It was as though Peter was saying, 

“Jesus, do you want them to think that we’re dumb or weak or doormats?!  

Isn’t there a reasonable limit?!”

 

Peter was expressing a very real issue for the people of that time and culture, 

an issue which is still very much alive today.

 

So Jesus needs to show Peter, and all of us, 

that there is another perspective other than our usual world view 

that reframes the issue entirely differently.

 

So he tells a Kingdom of Heaven story about a bond servant/a slave

who somehow managed to accrue a debt in the millions of dollars,

            far more than the total value of his lifetime work productivity

                                                many times over.

When this servant gets down on his knees and begs for mercy, 

the king (whom the Kingdom of Heaven is like in this parable) 

is moved deeply with pity 

and lavishly forgives the whole debt, 

he sets him free from the debt, he casts out the debt.

 

So this fellow has a brand new lease on life, a whole new start.

And what does he do?

He immediately looks up someone who owes him the equivalent 

of four months wages for a common laborer, 

not unlike the amount of credit card debt that many folks have,

a significant amount but nothing like what he had owed.

But he just can’t let that amount go, 

after all he himself is now starting over from scratch.  

He has his wife and kids to provide for. 

He wants to get on with his life.

            So he insists that this colleague of his pay up – now.

 

This time there is not the same compassion and valuing of his coworker

            that had been shown to him.

First he grabbed him by the neck, 

                        his hands around his windpipe cutting off vital air, 

            and then throws him into debtors prison.

That’s how much he values his coworker;

            he only sees him as 100 denarii.

That is all he is worth to him.

 

He is totally disconnected from the act of mercy shown to him, 

            but those around him can see clearly the blatant disconnection, 

and they are so scandalized by his action that they go tell the king.

 

And this man is then held accountable for his actions.

It was not his debt, but his own lack of mercy  

that brought him to a dismal end.

 

What Jesus is saying to Peter 

is that we may not realize just how much mercy we are shown by God, 

how much grace we live by.  

There is abundance of this mercy, 

and we are disconnected from the realization of it.  

 

To withhold mercy and forgiveness 

then shows that we are blind to what we ourselves have received,

             and this places us in a very shaky position spiritually.

We have got to forgive!

 

In the parable the king goes ballistic when he is told what happened.

The King commands that he be 

            “handed … over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt.”

But remember how this parable started?

            The Kingdom of Heaven is like a king 

                                                who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

 

And Jesus concludes, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you,             if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart."

 

Do this sound like a threat to you?

Then think of it in terms of a consequence.

But the point is this:

            The wickedness of the unjust bond servant

                        was in separating himself from the community 

                        and missing entirely the importance of the brother, the sister.

 

If you do not forgive, if you do not take away the debt owed you,

            you will be put into a state of suffering, like being tortured.

And then when you are feeling so bad 

                                    that you feel as though you are being torn apart, 

            then God will show you that there is no separation with God, 

                        no possible separation from others, 

            and God will show compassion.            That is how mercy works.

The brother or sister cannot be made an object,

            cannot be quantified with a price, a monetary value.

 

And the forgiveness, the taking away of the debt, must be from the heart,

            Jesus says.

God who knows the thoughts of our hearts, as the Collect for Purity states,

            is always looking at the heart and its struggles.

                        Is the heart clean and open?            Or is it choked and cramped?            

For always we can count on this:

            We are worth more to God than the value of our debt.

            We are worth more to God than the value of our debt.

 

Knowing that and remembering last week’s Gospel, 

            what is the value to us of the one who sins against us?

Forgiving frees you, and it also frees the one forgiven.

            It opens the way for you both to be brought back into communion, 

                                                                                                into community.

And so, dear people, 

be mindful of the incredible abundance of mercy shown to you.

And if today in this place, the shoe fits,

                                                put it on.

You may never have heard this before

 It would be rather difficult to avoid talking this morning about today’s Gospel.

It is one of those that demand paying attention to, 

and this Gospel in particular 

is one that has been notoriously abused in history.

 

This abuse, this misuse and misreading of the text 

happens because it is taken out of context.

Taken out of the setting of this chapter and this Gospel, 

withdrawn from the thematic development 

                  of the whole book of Matthew,                                                      

and separated from the witness of the ministry and teaching of Jesus, 

the intention and purpose of this text 

has been turned around to the opposite meaning.

It has been perverted.

It has been used as a weapon for dividing the Church of Christ.

It has been used as a justification for exclusion and for excommunication.

Its application has been used to sunder the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

If this sounds like I am on a rant, it’s because I am.

I want no mistake in understanding  

that here is a passage of scripture 

that has been used to bring damage rather than reconciliation.

 

So this morning I plan to put this passage back into its context 

and show you that it means just the opposite of what some have said.

…Just the opposite…

Let’s look at Matthew 18, the whole chapter.

 

The chapter begins with a discussion about 

who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

And the answer Jesus gives 

is to take a child and put the child in the midst of them and say,

          “Unless you become like a child, 

you will by no means enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”

 

The reality of the Kingdom of Heaven is described 

in terms of relationship with children and their openness of heart.

Jesus then goes on with a long teaching 

about what can get in the way of this openness of heart, the traps.

His examples are extreme:

If your hand, representing power, 

         is a trap to being open to the Kingdom, 

         cut it off.

If you eye, representing envy, 

         is a trap to divert you from the reality of the Kingdom, 

         pluck it out.

 

And above all, those who are little in the faith, 

who are vulnerable, 

         are the very ones God seems to have the most investment in protecting, 

for Jesus says that their angels, messengers, 

always behold the face of God;

                           they always have an audience with God.

 

Then he tells the parable of the man having a hundred sheep 

and loses one of them.

Jesus says that he leaves the 99 on the hills

and goes in search of the one that went astray.

Jesus is saying that the lost sheep is so important 

that the other 99 are left at risk, until this one is found!

The concluding verse, the one just before today’s reading begins, is this:

          “Thus it is not the will of your Father in heaven 

that one of these little ones should perish.”

 

That is the context for today’s Gospel.

 

Now, if your brother (or sister), a little one in the faith, sins…

                  And it doesn’t say, “sins against you.”

         …first go speak to that person alone.

Just a nice personal conversation 

to help bring the stray back to the paths of life.

If they don’t get it, don’t quit there; 

bring one or two others into the conversation.

This little one is too important to let him wander off, keep going astray.

Others with you can help clarify the communication.

If he still hears amiss (that’s what the Greek verb here means),

if he still fails to listen 

or disregards the words shared with him, 

then get everybody involved, the whole congregation.

And if even with all these voices pointing clearly to the way, 

he still hears amiss, doesn’t get it, 

then he is like the gentile and the tax-collector.

 

Well, let’s look at Jesus’ relationship 

to tax-collectors, sinners and even gentile foreigners/outsiders.

What did he do?  

He ate with them!  

He healed them!  

He called them to follow him!  

Matthew, remember! the one who recorded this Gospel.

 

So what is the teaching of Jesus according to his example 

for our relationship with sinners and outsiders such as these? 

The greatest love and service of ministry.

 

Therefore those who are being considered as outsiders/Gentiles 

and as tax-collectors/sinners 

are those whom we are to go after 

until they are found 

and brought back within the fold of the Good Shepherd.

 

It only takes two or three 

coming together in harmony with the Spirit of God, 

asking in the will of the Father, 

for it to be done.

 

What if a whole congregation were of like mind in the Spirit?

Then truly we might know what it would be like 

to be agents of binding up 

what has already been bound up in heaven 

and to loose 

what has already been set loose in the will of the Father.

For that is what this part of the reading means –

         that we are to reflect and cooperate in our actions 

                           with what is already the will of the Father in heaven.

 

Is this a different way of reading this passage 

than you may have been familiar with?

 

In case you need anything more to show that this way of reading the text

                   is consistent with the context, 

look at the next verse following the selection for today.

It happens to be the first verse of next Sunday’s Gospel.

 

Peter listens to all this about going the extra mile for the lost sheep, 

and says to Jesus, 

“Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him?”

Isn’t there a limit; do I just keep going on forgiving forever?

 

 

So you see, this is a passage about going to all means and lengths 

to keep inclusion in the household of faith.

This is the way of the Kingdom of God.

This is the reality of living out life in Christ.

This is the context for Paul too in the Epistle reading for today.

 

He writes:

“The commandments, 

‘You shall not commit adultery; 

you shall not murder; 

you shall not steal; 

you shall not covet’; 

and any other commandment, 

are summed up in this word, 

‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  

Love does no wrong to a neighbor; 

therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.”

 

This is the way of love, 

the way of God who is love, Immeasurable Love.

This is the love that does not separate, does not divide,

but that brings together in union 

hearts who have found their identity in Christ.

 

Is this a message we hear in this congregation today?

         in this town, in this state, in this nation? in the world?

 

No, but we need to hear this message, now more than ever.

         We have been scattered and separated enough just by COVID

                  let alone by our own ideological divides that fuel divisions.

 

This is not a matter of trying to convince others about orthodoxy of belief,

          to convince others to believe right doctrines.

 

 

This is a matter of giving witness to our own faith with sufficient clarity 

so that others can come to a realization 

about their own life dilemmas 

where they are entrapped, 

blindsided by their own going astray.

 

We are all being called to the ministry of reconciliation by this Gospel today,

          challenged to address a multitude of dilemmas and problems 

that people struggle with.

And, of course, our role is not to solve their problems, 

but to share the light we have experienced 

in our trust relationship with Jesus, 

so that hopefully they too will discover for themselves 

the transforming grace of God.

 

The ministry of reconciliation – 

Heaven knows the world needs it.

With all the media attention given to deep divisions within the nation,

                  law and order versus racial justice

                  personal “rights” versus the common good 

there is a profound need in the world 

for a word that can unite peoples in reconciling love 

rather than further divide, isolate and separate.

 

When all else fails, the Gospel proclaims, 

treat them as a foreigner and tax-collecting sinner.

Good heavens, and just how do we treat the foreigners among us?

Where is the reconciliation work going on in the prison systems

                                             where “sinners” are warehoused ?

Who really are the lost sheep?

         Maybe it’s me.                  Maybe it’s you.

 

If not, I want to be treated like Jesus treated Matthew

                           and the alien gentile foreigners:

         not deported or excommunicated 

                                                               but sought by the love of God.

Lament and Temper Tantrum

 As I was preparing for this morning and looking at the liturgy

            and how what I wanted to say in the sermon

            linked in and overlapped with the liturgy itself,

I decided to do something different 

                                                and change the order of things this morning.

I’m putting the sermon first.

            First, the rubric for the placement of the sermon within the Office

                        allows options, one of which is outside the Office, usually after,

but I want to begin with the sermon today

            in order to set the stage for the message

                        that the readings and canticles and prayers will bring us,

and this is especially important for us here and now 

                                    with all that each one of us is dealing with.

So I will now begin with the sermon.

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts 
            be acceptable in your sight, 

                        O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. 

 

During my vacation I got in touch with how weary I felt.

It wasn’t just being tired.

            not tired from working too many hours

            or too much physical exertion

            or the lethargy from sleeping in and doing nothing.

Rather I have felt weary,

            weary from change, from uncertainty, from fear and anxiety,

                        from grief, from knowing that things just won’t be the same.

I think a lot of us are experiencing this different kind of exhaustion

            that doesn’t come from doing too much or too little

but comes from all these changes and adjustments and uncertainty

            that require new ways of living, being, doing, coping.

 

Each of you can name for yourself what is making you weary.

            Go ahead.  Get in touch with that right now.

                        What is weighing you down?

And it’s not just one thing but layer on layer,

            pandemic, climate, economy, civil unrest,

            not being able to be together at church, with friends, 

                                                                        with family members even.

Weary even from caring for others: spouse, parent, child, 

            because we often do that better for them than we do for ourselves.

We need to hold ourselves with compassion in all of this.

 

There are two ways of responding to all this.

            One is to lament, and that is a good biblical response.

                        So many of the Psalms, for instance, are laments.

 

 

We can pour out our grief to God, complain to God even,

            and, understand this, 

those biblical laments also include the element of hope.

                                    Lament – grieving and hoping.

 

The other way of responding is the temper tantrum, 

            where the anger and frustration boils over.

How many temper tantrums have we seen lately through the media,

            behavior in public of grown adults quite reminiscent of two year olds.

The temper tantrum happens when the lament has not been acknowledged,

            whether that acknowledgement is sought from others

            or hasn’t been brought to consciousness and acknowledged in the self.

 

So let’s look at the liturgy of Morning Prayer for today

            and see where the words are that can touch us             

                                                                        and help us be with ourselves,

            where we can lament and find hope,

            where we can be enabled to be compassionate,

and how all this can bring us home to God,

            where we can climb into God’s lap for a loving embrace

                        and hear God’s sweet whispers in the ear.

 

We begin with the Confession of Sin, 

            this one from Enriching Our Worship, the prayer book supplement.

God of all mercy, we confess that we have sinned against you,

            opposing your will in our lives – 

                                                this is a universal and mutually shared fault.

We have denied your goodness in each other

            - every time we divide ourselves into them and us - 

We have denied your goodness in ourselves

            - every time we have shut down compassion within us -

And we have denied your goodness in the world you have created.

We repent of the evil that enslaves us,

            the evil we have done, and the evil done on our behalf.

It’s out of our control.  We are caught up in a helpless situation

            where even while trying to resist evil 

                        we see all around us ways 

                        in which we unwittingly participate to our own benefit.

So we need to get that out in the open and into awareness 

            so that we can let go of it                        and be healed            

                                                be reconciled with God and self and others.

 

Then on page 7 there is a new Canticle: a song of God’s strength in mercy.

After our lament, these are words of comfort and hope.

            Your care, O God, encompasses all creation!

            … your dominion makes way for your mercy …

            Although you rule in boundless power,

                        you administer justice with mildness;

            you govern us with great forbearance …

            You have taught your people …

                        that all who would be righteous must be kind.

            You have filled your children with good hope

                        by stirring them to repent for their sins.

 

And then notice, please, how this canticle flows seamlessly 

            into the next reading from Paul’s letter to the Christians in Rome.

Here is balm for our sin-sickness,             here is the prescription:

Let love be genuine – the passage begins – Let love be genuine.

            Let love be authentic.

And how do we discern what is genuine, what is authentic?

                        Read on in the passage:

Let love be genuine; 

hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; 

love one another with mutual affection; 

outdo one another in showing honor. 

Do not lag in zeal,             be ardent in spirit,             serve the Lord. 

Rejoice in hope,             be patient in suffering,             persevere in prayer. 

Contribute to the needs of the saints;         extend hospitality to strangers.

Bless those who persecute you;              bless and do not curse them.

Rejoice with those who rejoice,                         weep with those who weep. 

Live in harmony with one another; 

do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; 

do not claim to be wiser than you are. 

Do not repay anyone evil for evil, 

but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. 

If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, inasmuch as it lies within you, live peaceably with all.

                        And the passage goes on.

 

There it all is – a whole plan of action, a moral standard, a Christian life style.

You should tear out this page from the liturgy booklet 

            and take it home and put it on the refrigerator door

            or tape it to the bathroom mirror

            or on the inside of the front door so that every time you go out

                        you can see these words and remember to take them with you

                        in your behavior, your action, your praxis.

 

Let love be genuine,

and then everything else that follows in Romans 12 will be possible.

Because love that is genuine comes as a gift from Jesus 

            to enable us for effective discipleship.

“We love, because God first loved us.” 1 John 4:19

            That’s one of those Bible verses everyone should memorize.

 

It is because of that love with which God first loved us

            that we can be able to take up the cross, 

            deny the old self so overwhelmed and prone to temper tantrums 

                                                and follow Jesus.

Keep that in mind as we come to the prayers on pages 14 and 15 especially.

            That beautiful prayer #61   A Prayer of Self-Dedication

                        and perhaps we can actually pray that prayer with an open heart.

And follow that up with the prayer attributed to St. Francis.

Now let me conclude this displaced sermon 

                                                with a reference to the Exodus passage.

Within this familiar story of Moses and the burning bush

            is a profound secret about who God is and what God’s Name is.

God says to Moses:

            Thus you shall say to the Israelites, “IAM has sent me to you.”  

                                    Tell them, “I AM,” that’s all the Name they need.

In fact, not even a name, but simply put, “I AM,” Life, being, consciousness.

 

In Hebrew it is the word Eh Yeh, the sound of breath.

            Breathe in Eh, breathe out Yeh.            The sound of breath.  Eh Yeh.

That is how close and how intimate God is with you,

            for your very breath is what God breathed into you 

                        in the moment of your birth

And it’s never gone away, never left.  So keep breathing – Eh Yeh – 

            and God will carry you through.

 

            Let us now begin our worship.