Service September 13, 2020 Leighmoor Uniting Church
-Rev Barbara Allen
Suggested hymns
TIS 100: All creatures of our God and King
TIS 161: Tell out my soul
TIS 129: Amazing grace
TIS 607: Make me a channel of your peace
TIS 609: May the mind of Christ my Saviour
Prayers of Adoration, Thanksgiving and Confession
Loving God,
We marvel at your works, which delight us as we embrace these warmer days of spring.
We see your power in the wind, as gales dry our washing and make the trees dance, we are reminded of the gift of your Spirit.
We delight in delicate blossom, bulbs shooting up through the earth, worms continuing their work of aerating the soil, birds greeting us at dawn with their angelic song.
Oh there is so much to delight us, if we take time to be still: to see, to listen.
Oh God, even though we are not permitted to travel far, we can remember what our favourite places are, and the blessings they have been in our lives
-for weekends away, for family holidays, for a day in the hills, a picnic in the gardens, a stroll through the park, a dabble in the Bay, a cycle along the Yarra,
we give you thanks.
You have given us so much, one other gift being that of forgiveness.
Lord, we turn to you now, with heavy hearts, for during the past week, we have fallen short.
Forgive us.
You have forgiven us, teach us to forgive as you forgive.
We nurture our past hurts, cherish old wounds.
We tend to magnify the wrongs that others do to us and minimize the wrong that we do towards others.
Forgive us.
You are the restorer of relationships, help us build bridges with outstretched hands, and open hearts.
And in a time of silence, we remember other things for which we seek forgiveness
(silence)
God is love.
Through Christ our sins are forgiven
(thanks be to God)
Take hold of this forgiveness and live your live in the power of the Holy Spirit,
as forgiven people, loved by God,
Amen
Bible Readings:
Romans 14: 1-12
Matthew 18: 21-35
Sermon
‘When we extend our hand to the enemy, God reaches out to both of us. For it is God first of all who extends our hand to the enemy.’
-Thomas Merton
‘Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord…how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” And Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.”
(Matthew 18: 21-22)
Forgiveness.
I touched on the topic last week.
Yet-it crops up again, in today’s reading from Matthew.
-so-it must be a pretty important topic!
OR
We are hard of hearing!
-slow to get the message.
It is as though we have missed the point back in verse 15, so we have to come to it again in verse 21!
Jesus is addressing life in the community of faith-leaders and followers.
Peter-representing the church, asks:
“Lord…how often shall I forgive?”
Jesus answers, as was his custom-with a story.
We remember stories rather than lectures
Peter asks a valid question, and even supplies a possible answer-7 times.
The answer is part of tradition. At the time, rabbis advocated 4 times (maybe taking the number from the book of Amos, where it says ‘for three transgressions…and for four I will not punish…’ (repeated 8 times in this short book)
SO-Peter has increased that number.
Maybe Peter has another biblical tradition in mind-back in Genesis where Cain is to be avenged sevenfold (Genesis 4:15), Peter proposes a sevenfold forgiveness.
One can almost imagine a twinkle in Jesus’ eye- “Well done Peter-but I’ll outdo that.”
When Jesus names a number that is so much bigger than Peter’s-70 x 7 (the answer is 490) Jesus is not playing a mathematical game.
Jesus is not involved in multiplication sums, BUT in the nature of forgiveness.
The bottom line here is:
Whoever counts, has not forgiven –rather, they are biding their time.
Think for a moment.
How much can we remember?
As we get older, this may be harder.
We might remember 2 or 3 instances, perhaps, with practice, 7-but can we hold 490 instances in mind? 70 x 7?
Grocery shopping…at what point do you have to make a list, rather than relying on your memory?
IF we have to try to remember the number of times we have forgiven someone-then forgiveness has not really happened, has it?
Then Jesus, in his best teaching manner, tells a story about the kingdom of heaven.
In the story, the servant is forgiven a huge debt. HUGE!
A debt that he owes to the king, the most powerful person.
BUT
The story continues, because this servant, freed from this enormous debt, is unforgiving of a debt a fellow servant owes him.
Once this is reported to the king, the king is angry.
Let’s consider the first debt-the servant owes the king 10,000 talents.
This is an IMPOSSIBLE figure! One talent equals about 15 years wages for a simple labourer
SO
10,000 talents = 150,000 year’s wages! One commentator estimates it to be approx. $7.04 billion (calculated using the minimum wage in the United States)
So when the king orders the servant to pay back this amount, or he, and his family and all his possessions will be sold, the servant pleas for more time, promising to pay everything (how could he ever do this?). The big surprise here, is not only does the king agrees, BUT out of pity for him-he cancels the whole debt.
He cancels the debt of 150,000 year’s wages.
Wow!
Now, this would be a good place to end the story, wouldn’t it? Perhaps with ‘so go and do likewise’ added at the end, so we get the message.
But the story continues, with the servant running into another servant, who owes him 100 denari, and demands instant payment of this amount. Labourers received about 1 denarius per day, so 100 denari is about 3 months pay (I think my maths is right here. Others put it at 4 months-roughly $11,700).
The second servant asks for his patience, even using the same words as the first servant did when addressing the king-BUT this time, the result is different. He is put into prison until the debt is fully paid.
Another group of servants, outraged by the unfair treatment, tell the king. The king, understandably, is furious, taking back the cancellation of the debt and placing the first servant into prison until the while amount is paid.
Jesus tells these stories, these parables, so that we can see ourselves in them. He is an excellent storyteller. He doesn’t introduce the story, saying, “Today I am going to tell you a story about a king and two servants, but it is really about you.” He doesn’t have to, because in the parable, the story, we see ourselves.
New Testament scholar Dan Via, said that parables are a bit like looking through a window…for a while we just see the outside…then there usually is a moment when we catch a reflection of ourselves…THEN the window becomes a mirror.
Isn’t that an accurate description of the nature and function of a parable?
The window becomes a mirror.
In today’s parable, we see ourselves.
We are those who have been forgiven-BUT we are not good at forgiving.
Let’s be quite open about this-humans are NOT good at forgiveness, it isn’t an innate quality that we can draw on.
It requires work.
Think of non-human animals-it is natural for them to defend themselves…even snarl, and show their teeth
-to howl when wronged
-even to bite if bitten!
Aren’t we like that too?
Forgiveness is not natural, and it is certainly not a universal human virtue.
If it were-wouldn’t the world be a different, and much better place?
Jesus’ parable begins as we began as Christians-forgiven a huge debt.
God did for us that which we could not do for ourselves.
-God cancelled our debt.
Knowing we have been forgiven, helps us to forgive.
BUT because forgiveness is not normal, not natural, not easy, we need to go over this again and again and again…70 x 7
70×7
Which part of this story do you find the most difficult: to be forgiven, or to forgive?
The first part, when the king forgives the servant, sounds wonderful
-who doesn’t want to be forgiven?
BUT
forgiveness demands a response
The king rightly expects that the forgiven servant will act differently, as one given an incredible gift, -and is angry when the servant does not act that way.
While forgiving someone may be tough-perhaps accepting our forgiveness from God can be even more difficult.
Forgiveness begins with humility
-when we realize and truly believe that we have been forgiven.
Forgiveness is a gift-a gift which is first offered to us before we can offer it to others.
BUT
There is a warning with this parable.
When the king finds out that his servant has not forgiven the other’s debt, his grace turns to vengeance.
Grace turns to vengeance
THEREFORE
We must never say that this king represents God.
Jesus does not tell us that this is a story about God.
The danger is –we could see God as a God who takes back his forgiveness.
-OR
that we have to earn God’s forgiveness first.
NO
This is a story about our shocking ungraciousness, rather than the graciousness of God.
Can you detect the difference here? The really important distinction?
Having been forgiven of our high debts by God-we remain incredibly ungracious to those who owe us.
We are in the central role of this parable as both the forgiven, AND the unforgiving.
We are Christian because we have been forgiven, and because we are so loved by Christ on the cross-yet we can be so unloving and unforgiving in our own lives.
Many of you know the story of Corrie ten Boon, of how Corrie and her sister Betsie were in the Ravensbruck concentration camp during the Holocaust, imprisoned because they had helped Jews. After the war, Corrie, a Christian, wrote a number of books, and gave lectures, telling of her experiences. In 1947, in a church in Munich, one of the former guards of the Ravensbruck camp was in the audience. Corrie was speaking about forgiveness, saying that God casts our sins into the deepest ocean, when we confess our sins. Afterwards, the former guard, whom she remembered, made his way to her, asking for her forgiveness. Corrie wrote*:
‘And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand…It was the first time since my release that I had been face to face with one of my captors and my blood seemed to freeze.’
The former guard said that he was now a Christian, had been forgiven by God, “…but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fräulein”–again the hand came out–“will you forgive me?”
And I stood there–I whose sins had every day to be forgiven–and could not. Betsie had died in that place–could he erase her slow terrible death simply for the asking?
It could not have been many seconds that he stood there, hand held out, but to me it seemed hours as I wrestled with the most difficult thing I had ever had to do.
For I had to do it–I knew that. The message that God forgives has a prior condition: that we forgive those who have injured us…And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion–I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.
“Jesus, help me!” I prayed silently. “I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You supply the feeling.”
And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
“I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart!”
For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.’
Go and do likewise,
Amen
13/9/20
Prayers of the People
We pray for our community here at Leighmoor UC, for those who are ill, for Alan and Fredrica, Rohini and Jaya, for Joan, Ed, and Marg, for John, for those who are struggling through grief, particularly the family of Sid and Jean, for those who are anxious, for those who are experiencing job losses, and for those who are dealing with home schooling. During this time of lockdown, may we all be aware that you are present, as is our love for our church family.
We pray for our nation and its leaders. During this time of covid 19, may this crisis bring them together, rather than pull them apart.
May we, even in this time of challenge, remember that we have much wealth and bounty compared to other parts of the world.
We may continue to share our resources with the homeless, the hungry, and with those who despair.
May we be able to continue to support charities.
Strengthen our leaders that they may serve with vision and purpose, reflecting your will for us.
We pray for the world.
We pray for peace in every country, and that justice is there for all.
We give thanks for the safety of the lives of the two Australian journalists, evacuated from China.
We pray that aid agencies are able to continue their aid effort and feed the hungry, inoculate the sick and vulnerable, teach farmers about sturdy, sustainable crops, dig wells, and provide schools for the children.
May those who live daily under the threat of war be protected, and that barriers that divide be destroyed by the power of your love.
In a time of silence we remember other situations, or people, who need our prayers…
(silence)
In the words our Saviour taught us, we are confident when we pray to say:
‘Our Father in heaven…
Amen’
Blessing
May the love of Jesus Christ
bring us wholeness,
the grace of God the Father
grant us peace,
the breath of the Holy Spirit
instill passion,
and the unity among them
give us strength
for this and every day.
Amen
(Blessing adapted from John Birch, 2016)
