Proper 19 (A) The Forgiveness Initiative

 

Proper 19 (A)
The Forgiveness Initiative


September 16, 1990


The theme of Sunday’s propers is forgiveness. With that in mind I would like to begin my sermon with a
confession.

When I sang in the Men and Boys’ Choir at Christ Church Winnetka, I can remember hearing sermons on sin. After several sermons, I figured out that sin was bad. I also know that bad people were put in jail. I was not in jail; therefore, the sermon, I presumed, was not for me. What was my sin? I was in a spiritual coma. A coma is a physical condition in which one is conscious of nothing. It is a very serious state and can lead to death.

From a spiritual point of view, according to Louis Evely in his book The Word of God, there are innumerable souls in a state of “coma.”

The process of sin goes something like this:

  1. We think of something that will not be good for us, or some other person.
  2. We savor the possibilities.
  3. We act upon the idea.
  4. We form a habit of acting.
  5. We fall into a spiritual coma. The “happy medium” in which we are quite unaware of our sins.

The first sign of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our soul is our recognition of our culpability. We remember that WE are to blame. As soon as St. Peter saw Jesus as the Christ, he cried out, “Depart from me for I am a sinful man.” When we come to confession, we should learn to say, “Father, rejoice with me, for God has given me this special grace. I have at last discovered that I have sinned. Father, congratulate me for I am now aware that I am a sinner.”

Like the servant in today’s Gospel, we have by our sin, accumulated an impossible debt.

Example) Tell the story of a little girl’s lie – that floats out into the world like feathers in the wind that can never be retrieved.

The “hell” of it is, that no one has figured out a way to sin alone. And sin is so sticky! My sin sticks on you, your sin sticks on me, and the only effective solvent is a word of forgiveness and accepting behavior to match. If the forgiving word and accepting behavior don’t match, we are still stuck with our sins.

In today’s Gospel a man is called to account and asked to pay a huge (really impossible) debt that he had somehow accumulated. Realizing that the debt was impossible, he begs the King for patience. The King grants far more than patience, he totally FORGIVES the debt.

Think of how you would feel if you were about to lose everything…. Job, Home, Reputation…. Because of our financial plight. Then, word came that ALL our bills had been forgiven. How would we feel? Stunned – Overwhelmed — In a state of joyful disbelief?!

That’s why it is so shocking to hear in today’s Gospel on…. forgiveness…. that the now debt-free servant went out and grabbed a friend who owed him money by the throat and refused to forgive him a penny.

“To forgive” in the Greek means “to let go,” to “set free.” It means to re-establish that relationship between two beings which had been broken by some offence.

Forgiveness does not mean that total trust is automatically restored. It means that a relationship is re-established, out of which a trust may be restored. Forgiveness opens the door so trust can come in. I imagine that the King’s servant is still on the staff, but I would guess that his obligation to give account would be a bit more frequent.

When forgiveness is denied, it strangles any opportunity for future growth and development.

That brings me to the most difficult aspect of forgiveness, but by far the most important. Our Lord is teaching us in today’s Parable that His disciples must learn, when it comes to forgiveness, not to count. He is also teaching us that forgiveness must take the initiative. Do you think that the King was moved to forgive his servant’s impossible debt because of his moving pleas for mercy? Or, do you believe as I do, that the King knew what he was going to do before his servant came in the door.

Ideally it works like this – I am offended, if the offender does not offer to make amends, I present my hurt prepared to forgive, and, AND, accept the pain. Then to get on with the relationship where trust can be nurtured.

The business of forgiveness is by no means a simple thing. It is hard because in our mania to be just, we proceed to divide the burden of forgiveness between both people. We say, “Very well, if the other fellow is sorry and begs my pardon, I will forgive him; then I’ll give in.” We make of forgiveness the law of reciprocity – and this never works! Forgiveness…. And this is the secret of it…. is never merely following suit when the other person has led with regret; forgiveness is always taking the initiative.

The Gospel lesson means that God has broken the inexorable law of sin and retribution, has cut straight through the world’s tragic entanglement, and made a new beginning with us.

How many potential new beginnings do we hold in our power to create? How many new beginnings are stopped because we withhold forgiveness?

Our motivation for taking the forgiveness initiative is simply the acknowledgment of the price of our forgiveness paid in full by our Lord.

We boldly pray,

Forgive us our trespasses

as we forgive those

who trespass against us.




Resources for further study:

The Lectionary Page:

Track 1orTrack 2
Exodus 14:19-31
Psalm 114
or Exodus 15:1b-11,20-21
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35
 Genesis 50:15-21
Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13
Romans 14:1-12
Matthew 18:21-35


 

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