Sermons for the Month
The Transforming Power of Forgiveness
DATE: September 11th, 2005
SERVICE: 17th Sunday After Pentecost
TEXT: Genesis 50:15-21 and Matthew 18:21-35“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN Did you pick out the scoundrels in today's readings from Genesis and Matthew? I thought we would start by focusing on them in order to ease ourselves into today's message.
In the Genesis account there are 10 scoundrels who are immediately apparent. The brothers of Joseph prove once again that transformation is a slow process. You remember them, don't you? These are the same guys who were jealous of their younger brother because not only was he their father's favorite but because he had this bad habit of sharing his dreams in which he was in a position of power over his family. So, they sold him into slavery and told their father that he had been killed by a wild animal.
As it turned out, Joseph not only survived, but prospered. He ended up in the second highest office in Egypt where his brother came when they were starving and in desperate need of food during a famine.
The story takes many twists and turns with the end result being that Joseph reveals himself to his brothers as the one who they had rejected and mistreated so many years ago. The brothers were at first afraid of retaliation, but Joseph welcomes them with open arms and eventually the entire family, including the father Jacob, are resettled in Egypt.
Today's text shows us that the brothers are still feeling guilty and are not quite on the "up and up". When their father dies they are afraid that Joseph will turn on them. So, they come to him with a message from the grave, a request from their father - which he probably never made - that Joseph forgive his brothers and not retaliate against them.
The text says that Joseph wept at their words. I've always felt that's because he knew they were manipulating him and that they just did not "get it". You see, Joseph believed that God was at work in the midst of their mistreatment of him, that indeed God had transformed their evil actions into something good. Because of Joseph's leadership thousands of people had survived the famine.
Joseph was able to see the big picture, but the brothers could not do so. So, Joseph had no reason to hold a grudge against his brothers because he was able to see how God had worked in the midst of tragedy.
It occurred to me this week that Joseph must have let go of any resentment toward his brothers long before they showed up at his door asking for food. I say that because if he had remained consumed by bitterness it might have been difficult for God to use him. Then, other people would have suffered because of his focus on getting even. And, he would have never been reunited with his father in a happy way.
It's just too bad that those scoundrel brothers had not let go of their guilt. Because they had not fully received Joseph's forgiveness, they were unnecessarily worried after Jacob's death and they found it necessary to lie once again in order to protect themselves. That's why Joseph wept; they had not been transformed by the forgiveness they were offered.
There's also weeping going on in the Gospel lesson. Jesus tells a parable in response to Peter's question about forgiving fellow Christians. He's making the point that no effort is too great when it comes to restoring peace in the church, or a believer to the life of faith.
There's a scoundrel in this story too. He's easy to identify; he's the one that owes the equivalent of a working man's wages for 200,000 years. In other words, it is absolutely impossible for him to pay what he owes, which is why his begging for mercy is so ludicrous. The situation is hopeless.
But, miracle of miracles, the king grants not just a little more time, but forgives the entire debt. What amazing grace this is!
However, like Joseph's brothers, the servant didn't "get it". He had been forgiven; he had been shown unmerited favor. That certainly should have a positive impact on his life. But, no, there is no transfer of grace in this man's life; he too has not been transformed by the forgiveness that has been offered him.
Someone owes him an infinitesimal amount of money compared to what he had owed the king, but the scoundrel has his debtor punished. The king's hears of this injustice and his response is extreme. We all squirm a bit at the words, "…his Lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt." (That's why it's important to remember that the story is not an allegory; Jesus' intention is not to say that the king is God, but to convey a message.)
In fact, both stories offer a message. We learn from Joseph that God often is at work even when we have been wronged, and forgiving - that is, letting go of our bitterness - opens the way not only for God to use us, but for us to see how God is using us.
From the parable of the unforgiving servant we learn that since we benefit from God's amazing grace, the expectation is that we will show some small portion of that grace in our relationships with our Christian brothers and sisters.
In other words, forgiveness has the power to transform.
That does not mean, however, that it's easy to do, which perhaps is why it's so easy to forget that we all are forgiven children of God. As one writer put it, "The one who forgives dies to the world as we know it in order to usher in the world as God wants it." (1)
That's why, just as we cannot have faith on our own, we cannot forgive on our own. It is the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our lives that makes it possible for us to offer forgiveness. I can think of three ways that forgiveness manifests itself. Sometimes it is more of an internal than external thing; we let go of hurt and bitterness without ever saying anything to another person. Or, forgiveness can become action, as is the case if someone who lost a loved one in a car accident becomes involved in Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) or a person who has a difficult childhood campaigns for awareness of child abuse. Other times we must be willing to interact with someone to bring about reconciliation. The result in all cases is transformation.
And equally important, is accepting forgiveness. That takes the Holy Spirit's presence too. We must be willing to acknowledge our faults and believe it when someone - or God - says to us, "I forgive you." To continue to feel guilty or worried, or worse, to continue negative behavior, negates the transforming power of forgiveness. And, I would add, it impacts our ability to forgive since only gratitude for forgiveness makes it possible for us to forgive from the heart.
There is no way around it, for Christians forgiveness is necessary. It's not an option. But, as is always the case when we are asked to do something hard it's not just a whim of God to test us or make our lives difficult. Like many other difficult imperatives in the Christian life, giving and receiving forgiveness is what is good for us. It's what transforms us into the people God wants us to be so that we can be a transforming force in the world.
But, while forgiveness is a gift, it also involves choice. Like Joseph we can choose to forgive and open the door for God to work powerfully in our lives, or like the brothers we can fail to fully receive the forgiveness that we are offered and hold onto guilt and fear and negative behavior, or like the Unforgiving Servant we can gladly receive forgiveness and its benefits, but then be unchanged by it, refusing to forgive others so that everyone suffers. Only God has the power to transform what was intended for evil into something good, but we decide how and when that happens.
(1) Sermonwriter materials for Proper 19, Matthew 18:21-35, pg. 9. AMEN