2023 09 17 Proper 19a Pentecost 16
Genesis 50:15-21 Psalm 103:(1-7),
8-13 Romans 14:1-14 Matthew 18:21-35
The
key message in all our readings today, can be summed up as this; We are not to
look down in judgment on one another and we must forgive. Wow! What an easy sentence to write, and
what a difficult reality to live…. In fact, it feels like a condescending thing
to say, because it gives no indication of how hard it is for all of us, to
actually live it.
However,
some have been able to live it in extreme circumstances. Do you know the story of Rachael Scott? April the 20th, in 1999, Rachael
was the first person shot in the Columbine Massacre. She was a Christian and her parents’ book
about her life, including her Journal entries and writings to relatives state
that this was widely known at her school and a reason for her being shunned by
some – even possibly the reason she was targeted first. A letter of hers that she wrote just days
before her death says; “Now that I have begun to walk my talk, they make fun of
me. I don't even know what I have done. I don't even have to say anything, and
they turn me away. I have no more personal friends at school. But you know
what, it's all worth it." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Scott)
On
14th August 2019 Rachel’s father was at Deer Creek High School
teaching staff about forgiveness, kindness and overall mental well-being. Indeed, many of the stories about that
shooting involve prayers and forgiveness and this includes the mother of one of
the boys who did the shooting.
I
recently saw the movie, “The Sound of Freedom” – A true story about children kidnapped and
sold as sex slaves. Some of these were
rescued by a Christian policeman and a few others who risked life and
livelihood. How is it possible to
forgive such horrible evil?
We
have been following the story of Joseph, sold into slavery. Not kidnapped but sold by his family. He forgave.
If
there was one word out of the readings that I think best describes today’s
society it would be that word, found in Saint Paul’s letter to the Romans… and
the word is “Quarrelling”. We quarrel
about so many things, and we forget to love.
One
thing for certain, there are no shortages of things to pray about at the
moment. There are so many strong
opinions about the political decision making in our society and as Christians,
we find ourselves in a very interesting place.
While there can be pressure to speak for one side or another, there are some
who would say that the church needs to stay out of politics, but if Christians
never got involved in societies’ matters, slavery would still be legal, and
many other injustices would still be so prevalent. Have you noticed that we don’t seem to have
made much headway with bullying? When I
look at the behaviour of our media and our Politicians I can understand why
this is – they don’t seem to know how to disagree without it becoming a
personal attack.
I
recently read a facebook post that said, “God loves the you, but…” and then it
had correction marks on it, that crossed out the “but” and said, “this cancels
out that” and a line and circle was drawn around the word “loves”. This was a post to explain that those who say
“God loves the sinner, but hates the sin”, were diminishing the love of
God. What do you think? To some extent they are correct. When we read a sentence with “but” in it, we
do tend to focus on that latter statement.
For example; the post is correct, but there is more to it. Hmmm… you see… I just did it. And now that I have you convinced that we
shouldn’t judge – because after all, that seems to be a message in today’s
readings, let me just add something more.
If
“someone” is being unjust to another person, that “someone” is loved by
God. BUT that does not mean we don’t
call that “someone” to cease their actions.
AND that doesn’t mean that we can’t name that unjust action as sin.
As
Christians we need to be a voice for the voiceless and speak for those who are
suffering an injustice. We can make
judgements about actions. They are
either life-giving, neutral or life-taking.
Ethics in Christianity is complicated and the reason we have so many
denominations. We need to hold our
leaders up in prayer, because these people have a responsibility which isn’t
just about being loving and life-giving to some, but about understanding the
long-reaching effects and benefits or pitfalls for the many.
The
reality is that on both sides of an arguments there will be valid points, and
there are people on all sides who are hurting.
It is a grown-up version of the argument of two children who come crying
to Mum with their own side to the sad story and in the end, Mum can only
recommend that both of them drop the matter because only God knows who is in
the right and who is in the wrong. Well…
that is what Ms Niki the teacher sometimes has to tell the kids, but those are
simple matters, which can be dropped.
Amid
our current social climate, God gives us some direction about how to live. “14:1 Welcome those who are weak in
faith, but not for the purpose of quarrelling over opinions. 14:2 Some believe
in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables.” The argument of that day being over the
eating of meat. The Jewish people had
many rules about what they could and couldn’t eat and in the Jewish tradition, allowable
animals needed to be slaughtered in a certain manner, with strict
guidelines. I doubt that the Roman
community cared very much about those guidelines and much of the meat available
to the Roman Jews and Christian Jews may have been offered to other “gods” or
demons.
Some
thoughts to ponder; God did give specific requirements about food to the Jewish
people. God did also give a definite
vision to Saint Peter showing him that all foods were permissible… a whole
different understanding to all that Peter had previously known. By faith, Peter knew that faith was nothing
to do with what we eat, but those early Jewish people would have found this
idea very strange.
We
have this same issue today in the church.
What rules should we follow?
Those who want to please God, read their Bibles and see that Daniel
abstained from eating meat and was rewarded for his faithfulness with great
health and wisdom and so there are some Christians who think we should all be
vegetarians. This stands in stark
contrast to a book I read many years ago that was written by a Christian convert
who had previously been a satanic priestess who said that the cult group
promoted vegetarianism because it kept people weak and vulnerable to
suggestion.
We
have whole denominations built on some of these legalistic beliefs. Consider the Seventh Day Adventists and
others who believe we must honour Saturday as the Holy Day. Hmmm… I think Jesus dealt with this one… but
obviously he was not obvious enough! These
people who follow these traditions are totally sincere in their faith. Although, note that this sincerity is regarded
as those who are weak in their faith.
How could Saint Paul call such dedicated and sincere people weak in
their faith? And are we likewise weak in our faith, trusting in our theology
rather than trusting in God himself?
Saint
Paul understood well the mercy of God and he understood that God chose him not
because he had kept the Jewish commandments – and let me tell you, Saint Paul
had kept all of them! He was a Pharisee
of Pharisees in his pre-Christ encountered life and it didn’t stop him from
killing and persecuting. Saint Paul knew
well that simply keeping the commandments was not enough to be saved. Then when he encountered Christ, Saint Paul
knew that only one thing mattered; Accepting Christ as his Saviour and following
him with all his heart, mind and strength – and that he did.
By
accepting Christ as our saviour, we find that this is the only real thing that
matters. Christ gives us his Holy Spirit
and His Holy Spirit leads us and teaches us.
We too have been saved by Jesus Christ.
We follow this truth, but without such a dramatic conversion as Saint
Paul, we may take it a little for granted and be like the servant in our Gospel
story. The servant, after being forgiven
a great debt by the Master, went and demanded payment from another servant,
throwing that one in jail and holding them accountable. Had the servant forgotten the mercy of his
master? Have we forgotten the mercy of
our God?
We
need to forgive and forgive completely, understanding that there, but for the
grace of God, go I. Joseph forgave his
brothers a great injustice. He was no
longer in a position where they could hurt him.
Joseph now had the power. For
some of us, without this kind of power, we may need the help of others or even
the law of the land, to protect us from being hurt again. This forgiveness doesn’t mean that we allow
those who have hurt us to continue hurting us, but that we understand God’s
love for them and God’s love for us.
Saint
Paul realized how much God had forgiven him.
John Newton, who wrote the song, Amazing Grace, was formally a slave
trader. John Newton realized how much
God had forgiven him. Neither of these
simply said, “God loves the sinner”… they knew that the sin needed to
stop. They had to dramatically change
what they were previously doing. In the
case of John Newton, he went on to fight for justice for the enslaved. He fought to abolish slavery.
Saint
Paul vigorously spread the truth, the message about Jesus Christ. Previously he had fought against this truth
and considered it a lie. Now that he
knew it to be true, he was willing to lay down his life for it and all his life
was about it.
Today
we are called to recommit to this purpose.
To remember the great saving Grace of God and to accept Jesus Christ as
our saviour. The overflowing of this in
our lives will mean we will not look down in judgment on one another and we
will forgive.
When
we come to our communion time the statement made is; “Body of Christ” – this is
our weekly invitation to recommit. Amen
– we accept the Grace and love of God.
May he so fill us with His love and the Holy Spirit that we can serve
him with all our heart, mind and strength like Saint Paul, John Newton and
Joseph, fighting for justice, but yet forgiving, knowing the love of God for
all.
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