Sermon for the 15th Sunday after Trinity- 17th September 2023: MATT. 18:21-35, GENESIS 50: 15-21

Deacon Chris Saccali – St Paul’s Athens

 

FATHER FORGIVE THEM

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit

I’ll never forgive myself! How often have we uttered or muttered this phrase to ourselves? It is usually followed by the word if according to the particular circumstances we find ourselves or others in, often stressful ones. This sermon appears to be the third in an unintended series of how we as church members treat each other and our behaviour following on in Matthew from last week’s reading in chapter 18 that Reverend Boukis preached on.

Forgiveness is spelt out for Christians at the beginning of the gospel passage we heard and the parable which follows but how often do we act like this? And how often do we forgive ourselves first so we can forgive others? It is an essential part of loving ourselves and fellow human beings as a Christian. It is also part of God’s saving plan on the cross . We know that Christ cried out to His Father, ‘Father, forgive them’ and that the thief was forgiven. God forgives and Christ tells his followers to forgive not seven but seventy times so why can’t we let go of hurt and grudges?

In last week’s sermon we heard of the modern Greek word for forgive sinhoro – the Greek word in the original for forgive is actually afiemai, a middle voice verb, in other words a reflexive verb which means let go from myself which is a helpful way to look at hardness of heart the opposite of loving for if we store it up and dwell on it, the bitterness consumes us.

My Spiritual Director and I have been working on this as she gently guides me to let go of relationships and issues that are harmful and eating me up. I have thought of Pooh sticks in this context floating down the river under the bridge, making me think of water under the bridge and the Greek phrase na ta parei to potami. I wonder what you have found is helpful to you? What is helpful to us as a church community in vacancy to let go of the old and embrace the new that God intends for us?

Let’s look together at how our scriptural passages can assist us. I wish I could read the Hebrew to know the original of this part of Joseph’s and his brothers’ story, containing in our translation, bearing a grudge and forgiveness on both sides as well as tears. The Genesis story is an epic family one and a good example of restorative justice. The forgiveness Joseph extends to his brothers is comprehensive but not unconditional. Ηe first tested them in chapter 44 to see whether they have learnt from the past and changed. Here, we see reconciliation after long years of conflict, separation and hurt, united in grief for their father. A good ending here.

However, the Gospel passage is somewhat troubling . Are we to forgive because we are forgiven, transformed by grace? Or are we to forgive on pain of punishment? Verses 34 and 35 with their reference to torture are chilling.

It helps to appreciate the hyperbolic, exaggerated tone of the parable. Perhaps it is not meant to be heard literally and soberly but is using an extreme illustration to gently poke fun at Peter and drive home the central point: we are all sinners, we are all forgiven, we are to live in the light of this, breathing in and exhaling grace. Evidence of exaggeration that we might miss can be seen in the amount of money spoken of. Ten thousand talents was an ridiculous, inconceivable amount for a slave to owe his master. A single talent would have constituted many years’ wages for a labourer. And the slave’s treatment of his fellow slaves is absurd. Jesus is not describing God as a fickle, furious debt collector rather he is being a storyteller using language of excess to lampoon Peter’s suggestion that there ought to be a limit to forgiveness.

What does a society look like that has endless forgiveness and does not keep score? Does it mean letting evil and injustice go unchallenged? No. The theme for Creationtide which we are in the middle of celebrating is Let Justice and Peace flow reflecting the verse in the book of the prophet of Amos.

 

Both the Old Testament and the parable talk of slaves and their relationship to God. Being in relationship with each other automatically means being in relationship with the Creator and all of Creation and should direct our every action, thought and movement. It is a Franciscan outlook on life. Think about what happens when we are not in synchronisation the scenes of flood and fire this summer and the extreme heat and that is just what we have seen and experienced in Greece.

Today 17^th September the Orthodox Church celebrates a big festival of female saints Pisti Faith, Elpida Hope , Agapi Love and Sophia Wisdom.  We need all of these qualities in Church and our lives. In the Anglican calendar we celebrate Hildegard of Bingen, a lesser known anchoress of the eleventh century, who is well worth reading about. She was a visionary like Julian of Norwich; in our vacancy we need vision to see and pray for the future of St Paul’s and for a priest to be called here.

One of Hildegard’s sayings was ‘we are all a feather on the breath of God. We are all a feather on the breath of God.’ God holds us just as a feather in the palm of His hand not tightly otherwise we will be crushed and a feather is delicate just as all life is. We are all fragile, if we remember that about our own frailty and that of others, it follows that we will be a forgiving people.

I often give out feathers to people and ask them to remember how vulnerable we all are but how great God is in His care for us and provision. I have a jar of feathers I have found on my prayer table. Here is one I found at limni Beletsi near where I live. I marvel at it and how wonderful is the created world. Today as you leave I will be outside with a basket of feathers do take one and pop it somewhere to remind you of Hildegard but also of God’s Kingdom and our church community; how we all need to support each other but how in all we do and are we are held gently by God .

AMEN