Sunday, September 17, 2017

Sermon on Matthew 18.21-35

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.