Mercy

A sermon preached at St. Francis by the Lake Episcopal Church, Canyon Lake, Texas.

The lectionary readings for the sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost are here.

One Sunday, not so long ago and in a church probably not much different from the one we are in, after a time of prayer, praise, hearing a well crafted sermon on the power of God’s Love, and receiving the gracious gift of pardon and renewal, a parishioner told the priest, “you should preach more on sin” The priest replied, “OK, tell me your sin and I’ll try to preach on it.” The parishioner, a bit flustered, said, “no, I mean, I want you to preach on …” the parishioner leaned in and whispered the rest of the sentence. The priest, thinking an impromptu confession had just occurred, asked softly “is that your sin?” The parishioner stepped back and hastily blurted, “no!” looking and sounding quite indignant. Confused, the priest looked the parishioner in the eye and asked, “why would you want to hear a sermon on someone else’s sin?”*

Why, indeed? Most of us would much rather focus on other people’s need for forgiveness than our own. If we focus on what everyone else gets wrong, we don’t have to do the hard work of changing ourselves. It seems we’d rather attempt the impossible task of changing others rather than the difficult – but possible – task of improving our own character.

In our gospel story today, Jesus speaks of forgiveness in a parable about mercy – a real life illustration of the psalm we read today and the words of the prayer Jesus taught us. Peter’s question that begins our reading comes in response to Jesus’ words about how to strengthen our relationships through conflict resolution that is life-giving; about living in a way that fulfills God’s law rather than using it as a weapon against others.

When Jesus tells Peter to forgive seventy-seven times, he isn’t instructing him to keep a tally but offering a non-transactional understanding of forgiveness. Jesus’ use of the number 77 is, most obviously, a reference to the Old Testament character named Lamech, Cain’s great-great-great grandson. Early in the book of Genesis we have the story of Lamech boasting about killing a man for wounding Lamech and justifying it by saying if Cain is avenged sevenfold than I am avenged seventy-seven fold. Lamech has confused avenge with revenge. God’s promise to Cain is that God will impart vengeance on anyone who may kill Cain. Lamech took revenge for himself. In using the same number, Jesus is redeeming the mindset of vengeance to forgiveness.

In Hebrew numerology, if you take the letters assigned to the numbers seventy and seven you get the word ‘oz’ (oze) which means ‘strength’. Forgiveness isn’t about giving in or being weak or even letting someone out of the consequences of their behavior but having the strength to love beyond the wrongs committed.

You’ve probably heard the definitions of grace and mercy: Grace is getting what we don’t deserve and mercy is not getting what we do deserve. But even these definitions put it in human perspective, not divine perspective. God doesn’t see us through a lens of what we may or may not deserve. Life in God’s Kingdom isn’t about earning. It is about the generous abundance of life lived in the way of love. We are God’s beloved children. If we humans don’t consider whether or not our children deserve our love, and give it freely, imagine the power and strength of God’s freely given love. This parable is meant to turn our transactional way of thinking into a relational way of living.

Peter asks his question the wrong way around. Forgiveness isn’t about quantity but about the quality of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Forgiveness is holding both justice and mercy as the standard, with mercy always having the final word, loving as God loves, living as Jesus shows us in flesh and blood.

Forgiveness is about healing first ourselves and then stepping into the possibility of reconciling with the other person. Forgiveness is letting go of the hurt and choosing to see the other through the lens of God’s Kingdom.

Forgiveness, as Jesus shows us in flesh and blood how to forgive, is not about judging or condemning the other or forcing the other to change, it isn’t about getting even or getting revenge or about requiring the repentance of the other. Jesus doesn’t teach us to forgive in order to “fix” another person but to let ourselves be shaped and formed by God’s merciful love in the power of the Holy Spirit.

God’s forgiveness isn’t about how good or bad we are but about the Goodness of God. God’s forgiveness is a given. It is the gift of being FOR us not against us, staying with us regardless. We don’t earn it or deserve it. God offers it to us freely and generously and we choose to receive it or not. When we don’t feel forgiven, I assure you that it is because we haven’t forgiven ourselves or that we have chosen not to be forgiving toward others, not because God hasn’t forgiven us. When we say that we or anyone else isn’t worthy of forgiveness, we’ve misunderstood what forgiveness truly is, what love is.

Love looks for and sees the good in others. Love is about being for and with, not against. “[L]ike a loving parent, God continually calls us to be our best selves, and at the same time generously forgives us when we fall short. And this generosity itself is also a call for us to do the same with one another … When we withhold forgiveness**” from ourselves or others we go against who and whose we are.

In settling issues with each other, forgiveness is our most valuable commodity. Our purpose, as Followers of Jesus, is to reveal God to others, not so that they can become just like us but so that they, too, can be shaped and formed by God’s love to be whose and who they are. This is the freedom Jesus speaks about. Mercy and forgiveness are the keys to setting ourselves free from the bindings of anger and guilt and hate and shame in this world.

So, you won’t hear me preach much on sin, mine, yours, or anyone else’s. I know this may disappoint some of you. I prefer to focus on how we should live, not how we shouldn’t. In the few golf lessons I took years ago, my instructor told me to keep my eyes on the pin, not the sand traps and hazards, because what I look at is where my ball will go. (He had much greater faith in my golf ability than was realistic.) But his words rang true. What we aim for, what the eyes of our heart are set on is what determines our trajectory.

Accepting God’s unconditional love for ourselves and all others is the antidote to all that is harmful in this world. When we keep our eyes on Jesus we will walk in love so that forgiving isn’t something we do, it is part of who we are as God’s children, receivers and givers of mercy, living on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.