Forgiving Osama - 9/11/05
Matthew 18:21-35
There are two things of momentous significance in the back of our minds today. They are both heavy. They are depressing and ugly. Part of me would like to ignore them, and just talk about today's text in a nice light and fluffy kind of way: "The upshot of Matt. 18 is to forgive those rude drivers who cut you off on Hwy. 40 and you'll be filled with the warm fuzzies of forgiveness. Let's all hug, hold hands, sing "Kum by Yah!" and go to lunch!" And it would all be nice. And we could all race the Methodists to lunch, hoping the local police have heard today's message about forgiveness and mercy!
The thing about the Bible is that when you read it well, it doesn't allow you to ignore the real world; nor your heart's more fundamental concerns.
As much as part of me would like to ignore it, when I read this text there is a little voice that keeps repeating today's date. "9-11, 9-11." We are four years away from the horrendous attack which we all know by those famous numbers. The thought of Osama bin Laden and his hateful rhetoric and his evil work fills us with anger and frustration. We are angry at what he did. We are frustrated at what we haven't done. We would like him to be caught, dead or alive as our president once said. And most of us don't care which. We would love for justice to be done. What is the message of forgiveness that might apply to someone like Osama?
The second thing in the back of our minds is Katrina. The size of that disaster is just beginning to become clear. Potentially 1,000s dead - in any case, likely more than 9-11 of 2001. The winds and the flooding aftermath caused things in America that we never thought we would see. This was not the act of a terrorist, but it was, in the parlance of insurance, an act of God. This doesn't mean that God caused it, of course. Clearly God didn't build the weak levies and God didn't delay sending in help and God didn't cause the extra warm waters in the gulf. But God didn't stop the hurricane either. How do we accept this? What do we do with this?
So here's a provocative question, to match my provocative title: Is there a connection between forgiving the Osama of 9-11and accepting the God of Katrina?
In our gospel text Peter comes to Jesus and asked a natural question. How many times do I have to forgive a brother who sins against me?
This is a very natural, and even smart, question if you listened to Jesus teach. Jesus talked about loving your enemy. At the beginning of his famous sermon: "blessed are the merciful, they will receive mercy." He openly talked to sinful women and publicly went to dinner with sinful men. He talked to tax collectors and drunkards. He taught his disciples to care for the poor, to visit the imprisoned, to look out for the less fortunate.
AND Jesus has just said (a few verses earlier, we read it last week): If your brother or sister sins against you go to him and have a one on one conference. If that doesn't work you take two... The emphasis there is that in our relationships, we need a focus on redemption, not condemnation; repentance, not judgment. Graceful, loving, forgiveness.
So, having heard these ideas, Peter asks, "where oh Jesus is the limit to this forgiveness/love stuff?! Where are the boundaries? Help me know because there has to be an end."
... Don't we humans love our limits?! Our defining rules and our clarifying principles which help dissect and correct the messy lives of our sinful and frustrating friends? Every contract is about setting limits, defining lines, establishing rules.
"Here's the line you can't cross. When you step over this boundary, I get to whack you! When you finally do this, my ultimatum goes into gear! Vroom."
Peter says, "OK Jesus, I get the forgiveness stuff, but there has to be some kind of stopping point. I mean, if not where does it end?"
By this point in his discipleship Peter knows Jesus, and his penchant for radical, even crazy, statements. So he figures the safest route is to help Jesus out. "How about seven? Nice holy number. It's uneven. It doesn't sound stingy like a 3 or 4 might. It doesn't sound ridiculous like a 20 or 30 might, it sounds generous and large-heartedly smart. How about 7?!"
Here's how I think Peter envisioned this working... you cheat me once, I forgive. Twice, I forgive with a grimace. Thrice, I forgive, with a self-pat on my back (aren't I gracious!). Fourth time, I forgive you with a stern look. Fifth time, I forgive knowing that my crown is getting loaded with rubies. Sixth time, I forgive with a 2 minute warning, seventh time, I forgive with an ultimatum, and the eighth time I tell you to jump in the lake.
Sounds generous to me. It certainly did to Peter. And the best thing is that it sets a limit.
But the bad thing is this: which one of us, wouldn't be salivating over number eight? I personally couldn't wait. Ah ha! You did it. Now I can let you have it! Whack.
But that's not where Jesus put the limits. Where are the limits? He put them at infinity. The problem with infinity is that it isn't a place. It isn't a number. It isn't a limit at all. Seventy Seven times - or other translations read: seventy times seven. This is a way of saying - you must always forgive.
I know you aren't used to comics on the front of the bulletin but this gets to the heart of what Jesus intends. Calculation is absurd. Forgiveness must know no bounds.
A few years ago I attended a conference in Paris on raising 3rd culture children. Third culture children are kids raised by internationally traveling expats. It's called third culture because these kids who are raised in one culture at home and deal with another culture in society, have their own 3rd culture. The sociologist was in the middle of saying how important it was to have forgiveness in the family, that teaching our kids to forgive was essential to a person's social wellbeing. A woman stood up. She said, "Forgiveness is a Christian concept. I'm not a Christian, and my religion does not teach the weak concept of forgiveness. I want my kids to be strong, and fight not forgive."
This very bright sociologist was caught a bit off-guard. He clearly hadn't expected this reaction. But he replied, "Yes, we inherit the ideal of forgiveness from Christianity. But I can't imagine having a healthy family without it." And neither could Jesus, who teaches that in the family of God there is no limit on forgiveness.
To make sure that Peter gets his rather radical, unlimited point Jesus tells this classic "kiss up, kick down" story. The man who owed the King loads of cash, begs and pleads his way out of his debt. But seeing his own debtor, he demands the pennies he is owed, and then has the underling thrown in jail when he won't pay up. The man kisses up to those above and kicks down on those below.
You've met this at work, where you've seen a boss kiss up, and then kick you in the shin - or somewhere. You've seen the temptation in your own life. The theological point is that our debt to God is always greater than the debt someone owes us. So our forgiveness ought to be as limited as God's grace.
So now, back to my central question. Can we speak of forgiving Osama? And what might this have to do with accepting God's providence in our lives?
This is answered in the power of the story. The stupid villain refused to give in a manner as it had been given to him. To for-give, to forward give as God has given to you. To forward the grace that has been forwarded to you. The woman in Paris was right about forgiveness being a Christian concept. You forgive as you have been forgiven. You know that your relationships with other creatures, radically impacts your relationship with your Creator.
We forgive and accept because of who we are. We are humans totally dependant on grace. We don't control the actions of others, and we can't account for all of the actions of God. Understanding that, embracing that is a huge step towards peace.
This is the essential idea that Paul expresses in Rom. 14. "Accept the person with weak faith, without passing judgment... Who are you to judge someone else's servant?! To his own master he stands or falls." The point: it isn't ours to judge God's other servants. This is the Master's job. It is only ours to accept them. Now, we may hate their behavior (as we rightly do Osama's), and we may demand earthly punishment, but ultimately we must recognize AND accept that God judges. AND only God determines the winds and tides and earthquakes. We will never know fully why, but we will always know fully THAT we are called to live in the light of God's ultimate goodness.
Forgiving others, accepting circumstances beyond our control - these are not easy, nor will they happen over night. C. S. Lewis wrote, "Last week while at prayer, I suddenly discovered that I had finally forgiven someone that I had been trying to forgive for over thirty years. I have no explanation, my friends, for this kind of thing except to turn to the words of the Apostle Paul, written over two thousand years ago: 'All of this is from God.'"
I close with the words of Paul: "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."
There are two things of momentous significance in the back of our minds today. They are both heavy. They are depressing and ugly. Part of me would like to ignore them, and just talk about today's text in a nice light and fluffy kind of way: "The upshot of Matt. 18 is to forgive those rude drivers who cut you off on Hwy. 40 and you'll be filled with the warm fuzzies of forgiveness. Let's all hug, hold hands, sing "Kum by Yah!" and go to lunch!" And it would all be nice. And we could all race the Methodists to lunch, hoping the local police have heard today's message about forgiveness and mercy!
The thing about the Bible is that when you read it well, it doesn't allow you to ignore the real world; nor your heart's more fundamental concerns.
As much as part of me would like to ignore it, when I read this text there is a little voice that keeps repeating today's date. "9-11, 9-11." We are four years away from the horrendous attack which we all know by those famous numbers. The thought of Osama bin Laden and his hateful rhetoric and his evil work fills us with anger and frustration. We are angry at what he did. We are frustrated at what we haven't done. We would like him to be caught, dead or alive as our president once said. And most of us don't care which. We would love for justice to be done. What is the message of forgiveness that might apply to someone like Osama?
The second thing in the back of our minds is Katrina. The size of that disaster is just beginning to become clear. Potentially 1,000s dead - in any case, likely more than 9-11 of 2001. The winds and the flooding aftermath caused things in America that we never thought we would see. This was not the act of a terrorist, but it was, in the parlance of insurance, an act of God. This doesn't mean that God caused it, of course. Clearly God didn't build the weak levies and God didn't delay sending in help and God didn't cause the extra warm waters in the gulf. But God didn't stop the hurricane either. How do we accept this? What do we do with this?
So here's a provocative question, to match my provocative title: Is there a connection between forgiving the Osama of 9-11and accepting the God of Katrina?
In our gospel text Peter comes to Jesus and asked a natural question. How many times do I have to forgive a brother who sins against me?
This is a very natural, and even smart, question if you listened to Jesus teach. Jesus talked about loving your enemy. At the beginning of his famous sermon: "blessed are the merciful, they will receive mercy." He openly talked to sinful women and publicly went to dinner with sinful men. He talked to tax collectors and drunkards. He taught his disciples to care for the poor, to visit the imprisoned, to look out for the less fortunate.
AND Jesus has just said (a few verses earlier, we read it last week): If your brother or sister sins against you go to him and have a one on one conference. If that doesn't work you take two... The emphasis there is that in our relationships, we need a focus on redemption, not condemnation; repentance, not judgment. Graceful, loving, forgiveness.
So, having heard these ideas, Peter asks, "where oh Jesus is the limit to this forgiveness/love stuff?! Where are the boundaries? Help me know because there has to be an end."
... Don't we humans love our limits?! Our defining rules and our clarifying principles which help dissect and correct the messy lives of our sinful and frustrating friends? Every contract is about setting limits, defining lines, establishing rules.
"Here's the line you can't cross. When you step over this boundary, I get to whack you! When you finally do this, my ultimatum goes into gear! Vroom."
Peter says, "OK Jesus, I get the forgiveness stuff, but there has to be some kind of stopping point. I mean, if not where does it end?"
By this point in his discipleship Peter knows Jesus, and his penchant for radical, even crazy, statements. So he figures the safest route is to help Jesus out. "How about seven? Nice holy number. It's uneven. It doesn't sound stingy like a 3 or 4 might. It doesn't sound ridiculous like a 20 or 30 might, it sounds generous and large-heartedly smart. How about 7?!"
Here's how I think Peter envisioned this working... you cheat me once, I forgive. Twice, I forgive with a grimace. Thrice, I forgive, with a self-pat on my back (aren't I gracious!). Fourth time, I forgive you with a stern look. Fifth time, I forgive knowing that my crown is getting loaded with rubies. Sixth time, I forgive with a 2 minute warning, seventh time, I forgive with an ultimatum, and the eighth time I tell you to jump in the lake.
Sounds generous to me. It certainly did to Peter. And the best thing is that it sets a limit.
But the bad thing is this: which one of us, wouldn't be salivating over number eight? I personally couldn't wait. Ah ha! You did it. Now I can let you have it! Whack.
But that's not where Jesus put the limits. Where are the limits? He put them at infinity. The problem with infinity is that it isn't a place. It isn't a number. It isn't a limit at all. Seventy Seven times - or other translations read: seventy times seven. This is a way of saying - you must always forgive.
I know you aren't used to comics on the front of the bulletin but this gets to the heart of what Jesus intends. Calculation is absurd. Forgiveness must know no bounds.
A few years ago I attended a conference in Paris on raising 3rd culture children. Third culture children are kids raised by internationally traveling expats. It's called third culture because these kids who are raised in one culture at home and deal with another culture in society, have their own 3rd culture. The sociologist was in the middle of saying how important it was to have forgiveness in the family, that teaching our kids to forgive was essential to a person's social wellbeing. A woman stood up. She said, "Forgiveness is a Christian concept. I'm not a Christian, and my religion does not teach the weak concept of forgiveness. I want my kids to be strong, and fight not forgive."
This very bright sociologist was caught a bit off-guard. He clearly hadn't expected this reaction. But he replied, "Yes, we inherit the ideal of forgiveness from Christianity. But I can't imagine having a healthy family without it." And neither could Jesus, who teaches that in the family of God there is no limit on forgiveness.
To make sure that Peter gets his rather radical, unlimited point Jesus tells this classic "kiss up, kick down" story. The man who owed the King loads of cash, begs and pleads his way out of his debt. But seeing his own debtor, he demands the pennies he is owed, and then has the underling thrown in jail when he won't pay up. The man kisses up to those above and kicks down on those below.
You've met this at work, where you've seen a boss kiss up, and then kick you in the shin - or somewhere. You've seen the temptation in your own life. The theological point is that our debt to God is always greater than the debt someone owes us. So our forgiveness ought to be as limited as God's grace.
So now, back to my central question. Can we speak of forgiving Osama? And what might this have to do with accepting God's providence in our lives?
This is answered in the power of the story. The stupid villain refused to give in a manner as it had been given to him. To for-give, to forward give as God has given to you. To forward the grace that has been forwarded to you. The woman in Paris was right about forgiveness being a Christian concept. You forgive as you have been forgiven. You know that your relationships with other creatures, radically impacts your relationship with your Creator.
We forgive and accept because of who we are. We are humans totally dependant on grace. We don't control the actions of others, and we can't account for all of the actions of God. Understanding that, embracing that is a huge step towards peace.
This is the essential idea that Paul expresses in Rom. 14. "Accept the person with weak faith, without passing judgment... Who are you to judge someone else's servant?! To his own master he stands or falls." The point: it isn't ours to judge God's other servants. This is the Master's job. It is only ours to accept them. Now, we may hate their behavior (as we rightly do Osama's), and we may demand earthly punishment, but ultimately we must recognize AND accept that God judges. AND only God determines the winds and tides and earthquakes. We will never know fully why, but we will always know fully THAT we are called to live in the light of God's ultimate goodness.
Forgiving others, accepting circumstances beyond our control - these are not easy, nor will they happen over night. C. S. Lewis wrote, "Last week while at prayer, I suddenly discovered that I had finally forgiven someone that I had been trying to forgive for over thirty years. I have no explanation, my friends, for this kind of thing except to turn to the words of the Apostle Paul, written over two thousand years ago: 'All of this is from God.'"
I close with the words of Paul: "For none of us lives to himself alone and none of us dies to himself alone. If we live we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord."
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