"Forgive"  Proper 19A (10^th Anniversary of 9/11), Year A, The Rev. Adam J. Shoemaker, Rector

Matthew 18:21-35

Instead of an opening prayer this morning, I’d like to begin with some silence - which none of us get enough of but that can help to remind us of God’s loving presence as few things can. So, as we gather together today, with the memory of the terrible events that transpired ten years ago weighing heavily on our hearts, let us pause (with our eyes closed and heads bowed if you’re comfortable doing that) and let us be deliberately silent together and remember - in the silence - not only the victims of the 9/11 attacks but all those who have died since then (and I‘ll end this silence with the word, “Amen“). AMEN.

I feel compelled to begin today with an acknowledgement that there are no words that can adequately describe or speak to the horrific acts of violence that marked this day ten years ago.  As a proud American and a proud New Yorker, who now has to return home just as all New Yorker’s do only to be confronted each and every time with that bare skyline absent the familiar visage of the twin towers, the terrorist attacks of 9-11 are forever seared into my memory.  The memory of this difficult day brings to the surface all sorts of emotions and feelings that I felt deep down inside me as I watched in horror at the sight of planes full of innocent people being used as weapons of war. I felt, in that moment, as I’m sure many of you did as well, not only shock and grief but also anger and rage.

In the wake of this violence that was carried out against us all, I not only wanted to know who was responsible for the devastation but also how quickly it would take our government to respond in kind.

This is the natural, human response. This is the gut-level reaction to the magnitude of what was done to us. And yet, as Christians, I believe that we’re called to try and respond differently than that as difficult as this may sometimes be. We’re called, at the very least, to ask of ourselves and to prayerfully discern just how God would have us respond to an experience like this one?

It is remarkable to me that the Scripture readings assigned for this morning are what they are given the circumstances. It is remarkable that, of all days, we would be asked on this day to reflect upon this particular Gospel reading which speaks to us not of vengeance but of forgiveness.

Jesus spoke a lot about forgiveness during his life and ministry as he traveled with his disciples through the hot and dusty villages of the Galilee teaching and preaching to anybody willing to listen to him.  He talked about it so much in fact, that he started to make his disciples begin to wonder what he was really trying to get at because his teaching on forgiveness or on loving our enemies, or on “turning the other cheek,” were no less difficult to digest for the people of his day as they continue to be for us.

And so, as they traveled along together, Peter decides to come to Jesus and ask him, “Lord, if my brother keeps on sinning against me, how many times do I have to forgive him? Seven times? No, not seven times, answered Jesus, but seventy-seven times” (Matthew 18:21-22) In others words, what Jesus essentially tells Peter here, as the theologian N.T. Wright once noted, is that

“If you’re still counting how many times you’ve forgiven someone, [then] you’re   not really forgiving them at all, but simply postponing revenge. ‘Seventy times seven’ is a typical bit of Jesus’ teaching. What he means, of course, is ‘don’t      even think about counting; just do it’” (Matthew for Everyone: Part Two p.40)

“Just do it.” Practice forgiveness every chance you get! Again and again. This is what Jesus immediately tells Peter in response to his question. Not, “forgive when you’re good and ready” or “forgive only if the person who wronged you asks for forgiveness” but rather, “forgive” (full stop). As the wise sage that He was, Jesus implies here that, like any spiritual discipline, forgiveness takes practice so we’ve got to keep on doing it - again and again - even when it is really hard to do, perhaps especially when it is really hard to do because, the more we do so (the more we manage to forgive), the more we make room in our hearts to more readily forgive the next time and the more our hearts are enlarged in the process.

But there’s more that Jesus has to say to us this morning about forgiveness in the parable that he goes on to tell Peter.

It’s a parable sometimes referred to as “the parable of the unforgiving servant” in which a servant who is enormously indebted to his king has that debt completely forgiven solely because of the mercy of the king. But then, that same forgiven servant immediately turns around and refuses to forgive another who owed him far less than that hard-hearted servant had owed the king.

 So when the king hears news of this from others, he angrily summons the servant to come back before him and says, “you wicked slave! I forgave you the whole amount you owed me, just because you asked me to. You should have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you” (Matthew 18:32-33) Then the king, in his anger, sends this unforgiving servant to jail - to be punished - until he pays back the whole amount that he owed the king.  And then Jesus concludes with a very difficult saying; “That is how my Father in heaven will treat every one of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart” (Matthew 18:35)

There are a few things going on this parable that I think are important to note to get at what Jesus is trying to tell us about the spiritual practice of forgiveness and all that flows from it.

First, I think he is trying to say that we must always remember that we are asked to forgive just as mercifully and just as abundantly as God forgives each of us. “Forgive us our trespasses,” we ask God each and every Sunday morning when we pray together using the word’s of the Lord’s Prayer, “as we forgive those who trespass against us.” The two go “hand-in-hand.” We cannot expect forgiveness if we are not ready to forgive others or, put another way, the forgiveness that we manage to grant another is usually a natural extension, flowing out of the heart, of the forgiveness that we have really come to feel, deep down inside, from God and from those around us. 

As such, I believe that this parable also shows us that the act of forgiveness is often as much of a gift - if not more so - for the one who is truly able to forgive than for the one who is forgiven because to forgive from one’s heart - even if that forgiveness has to be unilateral in the face of an unrepentant person – to truly forgive from one’s heart can bring about a great deal of healing because the act of forgiveness always helps us to let go of all of the anger and pain that we so often tightly hold onto inside of our hearts when we feel truly wronged by the actions of another.  

To forgive does not mean to entirely forget. But, it does mean, to a certain extent, that we are prepared enough to move forward with open hearts and minds and that we are prepared enough to move forward without the soul crushing spirit of vengeance that still infect our everyday relationships, our society, and our world today and that still threatens to diminish all of us people of God.  

To truly forgive means to be truly open-hearted towards all of our “brothers and sisters;” all of our “fellow slaves” as Jesus puts it to us today.

I’ll be honest in saying that I don’t really know how to even begin to think about forgiveness when it comes to the 9/11 attacks on our country. How does one forgive such horrific acts of violence perpetrated against so many innocent people? And who would we really be forgiving, anyway, given how difficult it seems to ascertain the identity of our “enemies” these days? Osama bin Laden, and the terrorists who died ten years ago in NYC, Washington D.C. and Shanksville, PA, are certainly identifiable but, unlike ages past when our enemies occupied clearly defined borders, our country’s enemies today are far less easy to point towards. It’s simply vey hard then to comprehend what forgiveness means in this instance.

But I think that Jesus would tell us that one place we can start this process of forgiveness is by starting it with those who we know personally. Jesus would tell us to more readily forgive our family, our friends, our neighbors, even our fellow parishioners, and all those with whom we can really communicate with face-to-face (which, in my experience, can be a pretty hard thing to do in its own right because of many of the reasons I outlined in my sermon last week on conflict); it’s much harder have to deal with forgiveness when we keep running up against a person who has wronged us on a daily basis!  And yet, how many relationships in our own everyday lives have been impacted – for the worse – by an inability to forgive?  

As just one example, my maternal grandmother got into a fight with her sister over a number of issues, a long time ago, right around the time that my great-grandmother was dying, and neither my grandmother or her sister were ever able to forgive the other. And as a result, I have grown up never knowing that side of my family. My family, in this case, was literally torn a part by an inability to forgive. I wonder if you have a similar story to tell.

This, ultimately, is what I believe Jesus is getting at towards the end of the parable that he tells Peter in our Gospel reading today: that, when we fail to forgive our brother or sister from our heart, we end up suffering as a consequence; we are punished by our own inability to forgive or to ask for forgiveness. And when we fail to forgive, our hearts are hardened and we’re all the more likely to lash out in anger in indiscriminate and irresponsible ways which is what I think has unfortunately happened far too often in our country since 9/11.

 Although I am a proud American, most of you here know that I am also of Middle Eastern descent. I am an Egyptian and I have many Muslim family members - even brothers and sisters – who, while living on the other side of the world, are still very much a part of who I am - of who God made me to be as a person. To a certain extent, one could even say that I would not be here today, standing before you in this pulpit as your rector, if it were not partially for this Arab family of mine that helped to give me life - a family that, while I know is very different from me, I also know is still very loving and faithful in their own way.

And I have always been aware, even in the midst of my anger at what happened ten years ago in this country, that had I not legally changed the last name I was born with - Haggagi - to my stepfather’s last name of Shoemaker or had I been born with slightly darker skin or black eyes instead of blue, I may very well have had all sorts of painful experiences over this past decade, not of my own choosing, because of many individuals who sadly have had their hearts hardened and who have indiscriminately lashed out in hatred out of just the same sort of hatred that fueled the attacks against our country in the first place.

And yet, as Christians, we do not lose hope; we do not lose hope even in the face of a world like this one. As Christians, we’re called not only to try and practice forgiveness in our own lives and in the world around us but we’re also called to try and work for a more peaceful tomorrow; a tomorrow more akin to what Jesus envisions for us in the Gospels.

I recently heard a very moving story of one such Christian act, that occurred ten years ago today, that truly embodies this kind of spirit. As the first tower began to fall because of the impact of the airliner that directly hit it and as the debris and chaos began to pile up down on the streets below, a small group of Christians huddled together at Trinity Church, Wall Street, the Episcopal Church closest to the towers, decided amongst themselves to do something pretty remarkable given all that was transpiring around them; they decided to read the Beatitudes as a faithful response to the violence that they were experiencing - a response just as powerful - if not more so - than the bombs, bullets, and bloodshed that continue on because of what transpired that day.

In the Beatitudes, Jesus gives us a vision for God’s kingdom come right here on earth as it is in heaven. It’s a vision of what could one day be possible and that all of us Christians are called to try to continue to work towards not just today but on all the days to come.  

So I want to close this morning not with my words, but with Jesus’ which invite us on a solemn occasion like this to rededicate ourselves in the cause of peace and to both honor the memory of those who have died, and to push back at all that terrorism tries to do, by working for a more peaceful world - a peace which can only come about when we learn to leave the judgment to God and increasingly practice forgiveness. 

Congregation reads Matthew 5:1-12

Works Cited

 The Holy Bible NRSV 

Wright, N.T. Matthew for Everyone: Part Two, Westminster John Knox Press, London. 2002