Monday, October 28, 2019

Forgive them...


Sermon
St. Simon’s on the Sound
Proper 25 – Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 18:9-14


In Luke's gospel, Jesus' last words as he hung on the cross were, "…Father forgive them; for they know not what they do." This brief 10-word phrase is one that I have never seriously thought through until late this summer, when preparing for our new Book Study group, I read a sermon given by Martin Luther King, Jr. entitled "Love in Action."

The sermon is found in the small but powerful book, "The Strength to Love." In the sermon King writes, "A second lesson comes to us from Jesus' awareness of man's intellectual and spiritual blindness. "They know not what they do," said Jesus…The men who cried, "Crucify him," were not bad men but rather blind men. The jeering mob that lined the roadside that led to Calvary was composed not of evil people, but of blind people. They knew not what they did. What a tragedy!"

King goes on for the remainder of his sermon to eloquently describe the many human tragedies that have occurred as the result of man's blindness. Tragedies that span time immemorial from the crucifixion of Christ up to and including the world of segregation and hatred in which he found himself.

Wars have and are being fought. People have been and are being persecuted; killed; exterminated. Ignorance and prejudice have caused and are causing irreparable damage to countless men, women, and children. And why, says King – because "They know not what they do." Blindness was and is their besetting trouble…”

This sermon of King's is for me a disquieting reminder of the imperative nature of the church's mandate to take up, with a renewed commitment to Christ, its role as a leader in healing divisions that continue to deepen among people throughout the world. Divisions brought about by blindness - the inability to think and act with understanding, compassion, and love.

The church's mandate to, "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you." (Matt 28:16-20) has never been more relevant.

It is a mandate to counteract blindness, and to bring about “good will among men.” It is a mandate to heal divisions that stem from entrenched positions assumed through ignorance, prejudice, and fear. Divisions that create an atmosphere of blaming, anger, and hate. An anger and hate that has, and is, creating pain, suffering, and chaos throughout the world. It is a mandate to bring about healing through forgiveness and love.

Last week, in his opening address to the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said,

“The United States is being torn asunder within by the inability to be in deep relationship with each other and yet hold differing positions and convictions.

“I really believe that Jesus was right. That the Way of Love, doesn't mean the way of agreement. But it means the capacity to love each other, and therefore, to seek the good together. Whether we agree or disagree.

Dr. King once said, “History is replete with the bleached bones of civilizations that have refused to listen to (Jesus),” who said love your enemies, bless those who curse you.

This country must not become a valley of dry bones. And frankly, the only way is the way of love.

There is no other way.”

Now is the time for us, the church, to leave behind the comfort of home; to go into the world as both disciples and prophets; to enter into conversations and ways of being that will forge paths that lead to healing the wounds of hatred and divisiveness that grow more evident with each passing day. Conversations and ways of being that point us to God's grace – God's desire for his beloved children to live lives of peace and abundance.

What does all of this mean for those of us sitting here in Ft. Walton Beach and those Episcopalians who reside throughout the entire Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast?

How do these messages from Martin Luther King, Jr. and our Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, impact our day to day lives if our goal is to go forth into the community as disciples and prophets? What is it that we can do that will facilitate healing in our chaotic and divided world?

To be effective, our conversations and ways of being should listen to Jesus' words, "Forgive them; for they know not what they do." Our conversations and ways of being should reflect the knowledge that reconciling these divisions can only come from recognizing that God alone, not we, but God alone, is the judge of all mankind.

Luke's gospel reading today points to this reality - that God alone is the judge of all mankind. Luke begins with the phrase, "He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt.” (Lk 18:9)

The parable goes on to describe two people praying in the temple. A Pharisee who is giving thanks that he is "not like other people" who, in essence, are flawed, not worthy; in some way "bad." And, a tax collector who, in humility and shame, has hidden himself at the far edge of the Temple courtyard, unable to look up – to look God in the eye, so to speak, as he asks for mercy.

The contrast between these two men is quite evident. The Pharisee makes a claim to righteousness based on his own assessment of his accomplishments as a man of God, while the tax collector, knowing he has many faults, relies entirely upon the Lord's benevolence to forgive his sins.

The pharisee appears to have no need for God. Rather than being grateful for his blessings, the Pharisee appears smug to the point of despising others. In his mind there are two kinds of people: the righteous and the those who are sinners - those who are not worthy. He is grateful that he can place himself among the righteous - those worthy of God’s blessing.

The tax collector, on the other hand, isn't so much humble as desperate. He is too overwhelmed by his plight to take time to divide humanity into sides. All he recognizes as he stands near the Temple is his own great need for forgiveness. He stakes his hopes not on anything he has done or deserved but entirely on the mercy of God.

That's a big difference – One man is judging his worthiness through his own eyes; the other, is asking God for mercy.

How easy to fall into the role of the Pharisee. Indeed, do we not find ourselves in this category every day - see ourselves through the judgement of our own eyes - no one else’s, let alone God’s? How easy to think, “I go to church. I pray on a daily basis. I donate to causes that help the needy. I am a good person.”

Sound familiar?

I certainly am no different than anyone else. I frequently find myself in the Pharisee category. However, more and more, the Pharisee category makes me very uncomfortable. When I feel that discomfort, I say to myself, “Clelia, you are blind. Your blindness is preventing you from being a true servant of Christ. You need to forget about yourself and seek God’s way for you, not his congratulations for your personal achievements, which, by the way, matter little in this troubled world.”

The link here between King’s sermon and his observations about blindness and Luke’s gospel is, of course, righteousness. Through our sense of righteousness, our self-satisfaction, we become alienated from God. And, when we are alienated from God, we no longer see the “other” through the lenses of discipleship. The lenses of forgiveness and love. We see the world as “us” versus “them.” We are the right ones, the good ones. Everything is fine on our side of the fence. It’s those “others” who are the problem.

And thus, acts committed in blindness, the blindness that King refers to when he points to the importance of Christ’s words, “Forgive them, they know not what they do,” acts of violence are brought about.

There are two important points here. The first is Christ’s cry to God, “Forgive them.” The torture and sadness of the cross was an act of love carried out for us. Our promise of eternal forgiveness given in a moment of torture and suffering. Through an act of love and forgiveness, we are forgiven - loved and forgiven, eternally.

The second is the sin of our righteousness and the obligation we have to the cross to get beyond our righteousness and into the world to offer the same forgiveness and love that we have received from God.

God sent Jesus so that we might receive eternal forgiveness and love. Jesus sends us to do the same.

This is not easy work - going into the world to offer forgiveness and love. To understand and participate in the healing of the other. But it is the work that God has given us to do.

Let us not be blind. Let us not fall into the way of those who know not what they do. Let us have the humility, courage and discipline needed to lift the scales from our eyes and, with God’s help, to know what we are all about as we forge the path of discipleship - the path of forgiveness and love.

In his book, Journey to the Common Good, Walter Brueggemann, as usual, eloquently paints for us a picture of what prophetic life entails when he writes, “Those who sign on and depart the system of anxious scarcity become the history makers in the neighborhood.”

With God's help, let us know what we do. Let us become “history makers in the neighborhood.” AMEN