The
Rev. Joseph Peters-Mathews
September
17, 2017
St.
Joseph-St. John, Tacoma
Pentecost+15;
Proper 19, A
Matthew
18.21-35
When
I was 21 or so,
I had a disagreement with my
youngest brother
over some chores Mom had
asked us to do.
We
went to our mother for adjudication,
as children are wont to do.
My
brother is six years my junior,
and in the course of presenting our
cases —
the 21-year-old and the
fifteen-year-old —
Andrew said,
“Well,
he’ll just go to the mall
and make me cut the grass.”
Andrew
has never been known
for his segues in conversation
but
he was referencing something specific.
Some
time when I was 17 and had needed to run errands
I directed him to cut the grass
a task that usually fell
to me.
Four
years later he
was bringing it up in another disagreement.
This
was not the first time.
I
looked at him and said what my mother had said to him before
and what she’d said to me countless
times
and what she’d said to
her teachers when she was a principal:
Take a deep
breath….and let it go.
For
the second week in a row,
we have a passage from Matthew’s
Gospel
where Jesus is telling
his followers
how to act
in community,
how
to act as church.
I
hope that as we begin our new time together as community
we remember Jesus’ teachings
both last week and this.
Last
week, if you remember,
Jesus told us to confront those who
wrong us.
If
they don’t repent and seek reconciliation,
Jesus tells us to take members of
the church with us
and explain our hurt
again.
If
they still don’t repent and seek reconciliation,
Jesus tells us to take not just
members of the whole church with us
but to bring the issue
to the entire church.
If
they still don’t repent and seek
reconciliation,
Jesus told us that parting ways,
breaking
relationship,
would
sometimes be necessary.
This
week Jesus forces us to deal with
the fact that sometimes
hurts last a long time.
Peter
asks how many times
he has to forgive someone.
Peter
doesn’t ask about how many times
hurtful people should apologize
but rather how many times he should
let the feelings of hurt go
after
the apology.
Peter
thinks he’s being generous by suggesting seven.
Jesus
says that’s not even close.
Jesus
expects Peter — and us —
to forgive those who hurt us 77 times.
You
may remember it as “70 times seven.”
Peter
is looking for a rule,
something to check off as a box
and be finished.
Jesus
expects there to be no limits to our forgiveness,
no boundaries on how many times
we’re willing to let go
of the hurt.
Jesus
expects us to always be open to reconciliation,
and tells us there will be set
number of times
before we’re finished
forgiving.
He
knows that we may feel those stabs of pain
from past wrongs
over and over again.
Jesus
know that pains from wrongs linger.
He
expects us to acknowledge the pain,
to notice it,
to take a deep breath….
and
let it go.
He
expects this teaching
to stick around for a while, too.
Specifically,
forever, and to be a core part
of living the Christian life:
abundant,
limitless forgiveness.
That’s
what the story about
the forgiving master — God
and the unforgiving
servant — us
is about.
Our
actions of forgiveness
or refusing to let go of hurt
have impacts on us
forever.
Some
of you have been making church here
for decades.
Some
of you have been making church here
for just a few weeks.
Brandon
and I are new here.
There’s
been a lot of time
to celebrate growth
or new calls
or new births
or new marriages.
There’s
been a lot of time
for hurts to build and fester
even after people have
apologized.
There’s
been a lot of time
for hurts to build and fester
when people haven’t
apologized,
perhaps because they don’t know
how they’ve wronged someone else.
There’s
a lot of time
for hurts to build and fester
because I’m new here.
I
don’t know everything there is to know.
I
will make mistakes.
You
will make mistakes.
We’ll
all make mistakes,
and hopefully we’ll all
keep coming back to this Table.
We’ll
all make mistakes,
and I hope we can learn together
how to be St. Joseph-St.
John
in new
incarnations.
We’ll
all make mistakes,
and I promise that I will seek your
forgiveness,
offer you mine,
and assure
you of God’s forgives
and God’s
love.
As
we begin our time together as church and community,
I bid you to evaluate your hurts,
think on giving and
receiving forgiveness,
and look
forward to what’s new.
I’ll
be using the words of the Exhortation
found on Page 316
of the Book
of Common Prayer.
Re-read
it in the silence before the General Confession.
Beloved
in the Lord:
Our Savior Christ, on the night before he
suffered,
instituted the Sacrament of his Body and Blood
as a sign and pledge of his love,
for the continual remembrance of the sacrifice of
his death,
and for a spiritual sharing in his risen life.
For
in these holy Mysteries
we are made one with Christ,
and Christ with us;
we are made one body in him,
and members one of another.
Having
in mind, therefore, his great love for us,
and in obedience to his command,
his Church renders to Almighty God our heavenly
Father
never-ending thanks for the creation of the world,
for his continual providence over us,
for his love for all [humanity],
and for the redemption of the world by our Savior
Christ,
who took upon himself our flesh,
and humbled himself even to death on the cross,
that he might make us the children of God
by the power of the Holy Spirit,
and exalt us to everlasting life.
But
if we are to share rightly in the celebration
of those holy Mysteries, and be nourished by that
spiritual Food,
we must remember the dignity of that holy
Sacrament.
I
therefore call upon you to consider how Saint Paul
exhorts all persons to prepare themselves
carefully
before eating of that Bread and drinking of that
Cup.
For,
as the benefit is great,
if with penitent hearts and living faith
we receive the holy Sacrament,
so is the danger great, if we receive it
improperly,
not recognizing the Lord’s Body.
Judge
yourselves, therefore, lest you be judged by the Lord.
Examine
your lives and conduct
by the rule of God’s commandments,
that you may perceive wherein you
have offended
in what you have done or left undone,
whether in thought, word, or deed.
And
acknowledge your sins before Almighty God,
with full purpose of amendment of life,
being ready to make restitution
for all injuries and wrongs done by you to others;
and also being ready to forgive those who have offended
you,
in order that you yourselves may be forgiven.
And
then, being reconciled with one another,
come to the banquet of that most heavenly Food.
And
if, in your preparation, you need help and counsel,
then go and open your grief
to a discreet and understanding priest,
and confess your sins,
that you may receive the benefit of absolution,
and spiritual counsel and advice;
to the removal of scruple and doubt,
the assurance of pardon,
and the strengthening of your faith.
To
Christ our Lord who loves us,
and washed us in his own blood,
and made us a kingdom of priests to serve his God and
Father,
to him be glory in the Church evermore.
Through
him let us offer continually the sacrifice of praise,
which is our bounden duty and service,
and, with faith in him, come boldly before the
throne of grace.
I
am here to make Church with you,
and I look forward to all the ways
we will live in community together.
