An Uncomfortable Gospel

 An Uncomfortable Gospel

This whole scene today with Mary and Jesus makes me very uncomfortable. The whole idea of a woman wiping my feet with her hair with that amount of perfume in front of the whole vestry the congregation, my wife, family and friends makes me squirm and I think for good reason. It seems awfully personal and frankly a bit over the top. 

And the amount of perfume. The last I checked, and I checked, a 10oz bottle of  Nard Magdalena Anointing Oil bottled in Jerusalem would cost $8.85 from Amazon. My Prime membership guarantees delivery by Friday. But did you know a pound of the stuff would set you back $2,986.62! I checked on that too! 

There’s not a vestry in the Episcopal Church that would’t raise objections if anyone went off and spent that amount of church funds without prior approval. And rightfully so! Can you imagine the debate if someone ventured the idea? I mean even folks who think the world of me would rightly ask good questions about that kind of expenditure especially if it would take away from other valuable programs in the church. We simply don’t have that kind of money to spare; and to what end?

John’s Gospel, in telling this story with the benefit of hindsight sees that Judas was not particularly concerned about the poor. But who among us serving on any vestry could justify such extravagance even if we know that our beloved is destined to die? 

But Jesus tells them to leave her alone. I mean think of it. There she is wiping his feet with her hair and the fragrance fills the entire house. Good heavens a pound of the stuff you could smell half a block away. What is going on here anyway?

Then Jesus mentions his burial as if she alone among them sees what is coming in our Lord’s life. She is preparing his body for the inevitable. She alone sees who he is to the disciples. He is the source of their forgiveness and eternal life. She has seen it time and again and knows of it in her own life. She knows she is personally forgiven and that he has given her eternal life. She alone understands, at some level, that he will die and then will rise again. And she will be there again with the other women to anoint his body for burial and will be among the first to see the Risen One.

The women who follow Jesus play a critical role in the salvation story. The Mary/Martha story is interesting when one is fussing over the cleanup and the dishes while the other sits at his feet hanging on every word that falls from his mouth. Then there is the woman at the well who Jesus meets at noonday. She has had a whole sequence of husbands and the one she had then was not her husband. Another fascinating encounter. And on an on and goes until Easter Day when it is the women who are there front and center to be the first to witness his Resurrection.

When a loved one dies we spare no expense. The average cost of a funeral in Massachusetts is around $10,000. 

By the way, the Book of Common Prayer urges the people to make responsible preparations for death so that the burden of it all does not fall on our families.

Many avoid the subject. Clergy and lawyers are notorious for avoiding the subject. But in my experience families are often thrown into the trauma of dealing with the subject and are left on their own to make arrangements. Aunt Shirley didn’t have a will, durable power of attorney or any other arrangements. When urged to do so she merely said that she was afraid if she did make arrangements something might happen to her. Then yes something did happen to her. Namely she died and the State of Florida made all the decisions about the disposal of her estate because she had not done so. 

Let that be a word to the wise. All this business of death and resurrection and even forgiveness can make us uncomfortable. It is all so personal especially when it happens to us or to a loved one.

But it happens. As the Great Litany cheerily reminds us

“From from violence, battle, and murder; and from dying suddenly and unprepared,

Good Lord, deliver us.”

That’s the key. From dying suddenly and unprepared! In this Gospel Jesus and Mary were embracing preparations and facing facts. Moreover Mary understood that Jesus was doing something new for us. As the Prophet Isaiah reminds us today “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

Jesus is about to introduce the idea of Forgiveness and Resurrection into our lives. Do you not perceive it?

This is what Paul is turning over in his mind in today’s Epistle. He is looking at life and death, suffering and resurrection and his life in Jesus and what that now means as something entirely new. He says; “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

This is Paul’s way of understanding what it means to anoint Jesus with costly perfume. Pure nard. Even a whole pound of the stuff. 

Do you not perceive it, Jesus asks of us? 

Do you not understand what I am doing for you? 

Do you have any idea of how much I love you?

And as to the Resurrection from the dead. 

Do you not perceive it?

As uncomfortable as this moment between Jesus and Mary may make us feel, it remains a moment of pure innocence in the Gospel. Mary loves Jesus unlike anyone else gathered there that day. It had nothing to do with money but everything to do with the intimacy of her devotion to him and his love for her. No matter what she had done or not done in her life, Jesus loved her. Everything stood forgiven but more than that he gave her something entirely unexpected; Eternal Life. It was a life that had already begun and that she was living in the very moment she anointed his feet with her hair. There was nothing uncomfortable for Mary or Jesus in that moment. It was a moment of organic authenticity and fit perfectly into the plan of salvation Jesus prepared for her and for all of us. 

Which bring us finally to the words of today’s Collect; 

“Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found”

In the Name of God; the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen. 

Fr Paul

Below the readings appointed for the Fifth Sunday in Lent and highlights that speak to my heart and soul

Fifth Sunday in Lent

The Collect:

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

First Lesson: Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Psalm 126

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, *
       then were we like those who dream.
Then was our mouth filled with laughter, *
      and our tongue with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations, *
      “The Lord has done great things for them.”
The Lord has done great things for us, *
      and we are glad indeed.
Restore our fortunes, O Lord, *
      like the watercourses of the Negev.
Those who sowed with tears *
      will reap with songs of joy.
Those who go out weeping, carrying the seed, *
      will come again with joy, shouldering their sheaves.

Epistle: Philippians 3:4b-14

If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ

and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel: John 12:1-8

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?” (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, “Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”

Gone Fishing!

Third Sunday After the Epiphany

January 22, 2017

In the Name of God the Holy Trinity.

This is the very name in which you have dedicated yourselves and this church. You have dedicated and consecrated this place to the strong name of the Trinity.

God 

Jesus

The Holy Spirit.

God as our Creator.

Jesus as our Savior.

The Holy Spirit, the Hagia Sophia, she who is our Holy Wisdom from on High. You do know that the word Spirit is “Sophia” in the Greek language and means “Wisdom”. She is a beautiful name and reflects the feminine side of God. Yes, of course you do.

And so you have dedicated yourselves and your church to all that is creative within and among you, all that saves yourselves and others, all that grants us wisdom, the holy wisdom from on high.

It is within the context of this very Holy Name that we begin our ministry together; 

In the Name of God; The Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity.

Cindy and I thank you for your welcome and are grateful to be in your midst here at Trinity Church. We are grateful for all those who have come before us, whose generosity and dedication have built this place. We thank God for all of them, for all of the Clergy who have dedicated themselves here including Fr. Phil, for all the laity who have given so selflessly to build this holy place. And I thank God for each and every one of you. It now falls to us to continue building up the body of Christ.

So lets get right down to it. 

Lets go fishing!

That’s how Jesus puts in today's Gospel to Simon Peter and Andrew; to James and John the fishermen. They cast their nets in Galilee as the old hymn sings it. Now, we are to go fishing for people. 

Let’s go see if we can “catch” some people for God. Each and every one of you, Jesus says; “You, I want you to go fishing for people!” Obviously Jesus wants us to bring the Gospel to the people. So, what do you suppose that means?

Let me put this very simply. The prophet Isaiah says: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”.

What is this deep darkness?

What is this great light?

It is very simple. You know the darkness of sin. Crime, violence, drugs, hatred, prejudice, oppression, inequality. In short; the darkness of our time is that so many of us live without purpose or hope.

This present darkness in which we live and the great light that has dawned upon us are reflected in the events of the past week. We celebrated Martin Luther King Day, then there was the Inauguration of the President of the Untied States of America, and following that yesterday there were marches in Washington, DC; Boston and all throughout this great land of ours. It is in the interplay of darkness and light that a divided nation now takes a sober look at the realities in front of us. I will leave it to you to figure out which of these events has to do with the Light and which with the Darkness. God help us! 

Similarly, as I look around this church and take a sober look at the work that lies ahead of us, I must confess all I can say is the same thing; God help us!

It is in the context of these realities; the reality of my country, and the one of my church that I look to God for help. That's when Jesus speaks to us through the Scriptures and the Sacraments. Jesus invites us to ministry.

Jesus wants us to bring purpose and hope to the people who are walking through the darkness.

The Gospel proclamation is simple.

“Christ has died 

Christ is risen

Christ will come again.”

In the very heart of today’s Eucharistic prayer we will say the same thing  with a slightly different turn of phrase;

“We remember his death,
We proclaim his resurrection,
We await his coming in glory”

That’s it in a nutshell

In our Baptism, we believe that not only has Jesus died, but we have died with him in a death like his, in order that we might rise with him in a resurrection like his.

Throughout our lives we are broken by sin, defeat and by many moments of death like disappointment. But with Jesus at our side and with God in our hearts, and with friends and family around us, we rise again.

It is our experience that no matter how many dreadful moments there are in our lives, we rise again, again and again.

In the darkest days of the Blitz in London, when the Nazis bombed the people, innocent people, unarmed people, Winston Churchill the old English Bulldog stood by their side to say. “When you are going through hell, remember, keep going!”

“Christ has died,

Christ is risen

Christ will come again, and again, and again”.

We never loose hope.

If this is the Gospel what then shall we do about it? This too is pure simplicity;

Love God

Love one another

Love yourself.

Yes I want you to go fishing. Jesus wants you to go fishing. 

Do you have any idea of how dark this world is? 

Of course you do. 

You know how desperate life is for so many. 

How dangerous life is when it is not filled with the fullness of God.

This is why you are here.

You are to show the world how much you love God, love one another and above all, love yourself.

Do not forget to love yourself.

Jesus did not say; “Love your neighbor instead of yourself”.

He said “Love your neighbor as you love yourself”.

If you have ever gone flying you know that the crew teaches us that if there is a loss in cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop down from above. So whose face do you put that mask on first? You or your baby? If you said; “your baby” you are tragically mistaken. 

You have precious little time in an emergency to save your life first and then your baby’s life. For if you minister to your baby first you may loose both the baby’s life as well as your own.

First save your own life and then you will have the wherewithal to save the lives of those around you.

This is how the Gospel works. First, be forgiven. That’s why Jesus died for you. This is the great news of the Gospel. You are forgiven. Now, live as though you are forgiven. This may take a while. It may take a lifetime but as you grow into your forgiveness, at the same time, forgive so that all may know of the power of God and the Gospel of Christ for yourselves well as for others.

Daily we die to sin, daily we rise to new life in Christ. This is how we are to live Baptized lives. You see, in the Gospel context we are the forgiven forgivers. This is the first sign we have hold of eternal life.

By the way, when you go fishing you may sit there hour after hour, day after day, week after week, and you won’t get so much as a nibble. When the warmer weather comes back and I take my evening walk, all the fisherfolk are down by Red Rock Park in Lynn where I live, and there they are hour after hour, day after day. To me, this is utterly boring, but not to the fisherfolk. One day I found out why. Suddenly there it was; “Fish on!”. It took three big men to haul this huge codfish in, and what excitement it caused. It was all worthwhile!

“Everybody’s coming over to my place for dinner tonight", said the fisherman.  "Everybody’s coming over to my place for the next week. There is enough fish here to feed everybody as much as they want for days on end!”

This is how it is with the Gospel. It may take days, weeks, months, years before you get a nibble, but when you finally hook one for Jesus, and by that, I mean when you save somebody from the brink of disaster, what joy there is in heaven and on earth. Then we summon everybody to Gods table. There is plenty for us all to eat and we feast on the power of Jesus’s resurrection. This is what makes it all worthwhile!

Christ has died

Christ is risen

Christ will come again

Love God

Love one another

Love yourself.

And finally, what does God give you in the Gospel life?

Forgiveness

Eternal life

And joy without measure.

Depression, the pandemic disease of our time is gone. All the darkness is gone now when we take the Gospel into our own lives and when we bring others into the knowledge and love of God and one another. 

So now, I want you to go fishing.

Jesus wants you to go fishing. 

All the fish in the sea, by the way! The Baptismal Covenant requires of us that we respect the dignity of every human being. All the folk on the planet without regard to race,, class, gender, orientation, or national origin.

This above all rejoices the heart of God. This is eternal life as God would have us live it.

This above all brings joy to all our hearts that you bring yourself and someone else to the knowledge and love of God.

Lets go fishing!

In the Name of God the Most Holy, Undivided and Everlasting Trinity. Amen.

Fr Paul.

Resurrection & Reality

The Business of Eternal Life

Part I-Beginning with Reality

Clergy often take a break after Easter. And so my wife and I went to see our son Joshua who recently moved to Charlotte, to see my brother and his wife and their daughter, and to see friends at St Mark's Church, in Saint Albans WV. We covered quite a bit of territory. 

While we were at St Mark's we met up with Chris and his beloved and their daughter. What a joy that was. As a parish priest, I had been through some good times and bad times with Chris. But then one day I reminded him that his name "Christopher" means, literally, "Christ Carrier". I am so proud of what Chris is doing with his life. He has chosen the way that leads to life.

Chris had told me of two friends who OD's on heroin on Easter day, leaving three children motherless and fatherless. They were good people. They were friends but they made some bad choices. And then they died. Their bad choices led to the way that leads to death.

This is precisely what I had preached on Easter Day. The Early Church taught that there are only two ways; the way that leads to life and the way that leads to death.

This is reality.

When we speak of Eternal Life and Resurrection, which I plan to do in the weeks to come, let us always begin with Reality. This is the only place for spirituality to begin. In the REAL.

Reality. The present world clouds any hope we have of seeing eternal life or resurrection.  We live in a world filled with warfare and terror, inequality and injustice, religious fundamentalism and extremism which justifies violence in the name of God. We live in a world that is so secularized that we ourselves have our doubts of the Easter proclamation. We find ourselves often sympathizing with Thomas. “Not till I see it with my own eyes, not till I touch it with my own hands, will I believe it.”

We live between two realities; there is a way that leads to life and a way that leads to death. The Way that Leads to Life is the Easter Reality and the Way that Leads to Death is the given reality of the world we are born into. This is why the Church teaches that we must undergo a Baptism to a second birth so that we can die to sin and rise again to newness of life.

This is such an urgently vital teaching. It is a matter of life and death, and particularly of the many millions of us whose lives are so vulnerable.

How can we even begin to talk about eternal life and the resurrection of Jesus in such a world? 

Lets try Easter on as a Reality too! Peter claims to have been a witness to it as do the other disciples in today's first lesson. 

In today’s Gospel, we have an account of Jesus’ resurrection. He begins with these words; “Peace be with you”. A startling beginning! In the reality of the disciples’ experience there had been so much turmoil; from the jarring moments when Jesus entered the Temple precincts to overturn the tables of the money changers, to his trial and crucifixion; and then to the reports that the women brought to his rising again and then this: his first resurrection appearance! In the midst of all this overwhelming intensity of inner wonder and amazement, Jesus comes and stands in their very midst and says to them “Peace be with you!” Shhh, Peace, be still and know that I am God, as the Psalmist puts it. ~Psalm 46:10.

This is the second Reality. There is the Reality you and I live with every day. Then, there is the Easter Reality. I wondered how I would approach the Easter reality since the reality we live with every day is so much at dissonance with who Jesus is for us and for the sake of the world we live in. The Gospel’s mandate is that we proclaim forgiveness of sins to all nations beginning with Jerusalem. And I wondered, how well are we doing with that job?

Therefore I am preparing a series of reflections on the Reality of the world we live in as well as the Reality of the Resurrection of Jesus. I will be sharing these reflections with you in the coming weeks.

But let me begin with the simplicity of my own experience of resurrection and eternal of life.

What is Eternal Life?

For me, it is a life focused on the care and love of the I-Thou relationship within and among us all.

What I mean by that is precisely this; when I pray I become aware of the Other within me. The "Thou" within my heart. It is what the 12 Step programs call the “Higher Power”. It is what I call God. 

When I pray I become aware of a Peace that is within me, I become aware of the fact that I am not alone but that there are many with me who also pray near and far away.

But more immediately, I become aware of the I-Thou relationship within me. And then of course by extrapolation that I-Thou relationship is not only within me but also among us all. 

Eternal Life then for me is a focus on the care and love of the I-Thou within and the I-Thou among us all.

It is indeed the Way, the Truth, and the Life. It is an indicator of Eternal Life and Resurrection. 

The Love of God, the I-Thou within and the love of all our neighbors, and the love of the I-Thou among us all.

We are, in this way connected to the All in All and forever by reaching out our hands and hearts to one another in  every small and significant way we can find or discover. 

This is the All in All forever.

This is how I begin to think of Eternal Life. It is alive within us now as we dare to Love. Love God, Love our neighbors, and love ourselves as God loves us. 

But the problem is that I still find myself living in the first Reality, where warfare, terror, disease, inequality, and oppression still exist and exist with a vengeance. 

And I find myself quite vulnerable in this Reality. That vulnerability makes me doubt the Easter Reality to tell you the truth. I know what Jesus says of all the conflict, violence and vulnerability we experience as a matter of daily truth. How can I love my enemy? How can I turn the cheek when he or she so violently strikes me on the first. Even more urgently how can I stand by when we face Genocide among Armenians, the Holocaust of the Jews, starvation among the millions of our brothers and sisters near and far away, or a thousand other indignities inflicted upon humankind by the agency of Evil. 

How can I stand by and watch Greed go hog wild, or the planet we live on be put to death by our own self indulgent appetites? How can I stand by and watch those I love die to the inevitability of one disease after another. And how can I stand by and live with my own vulnerability knowing where that ultimately goes to?

So we begin with the first Reality. It is there. It will not go away.

But there is Easter. There is the way that leads to Life just as there is the way that leads to death. This is serious business. Easter is a matter of urgency. The survival of humanity depends on it as does the survival of the planet as does the survival of young people or older people caught up in the snare of violence, despair, drugs, disease and depression.

Reality is with us but there is not just the first reality.

We have Easter too. We have the Resurrection of Jesus and Eternal Life. We are known down through history as the Easter people because we know this; Alleluia, Christ is Risen. Christ is Risen indeed, Alleluia!

And now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.

Fr Paul

The Forgiven Forgiver

Forgiveness

We begin the new Christian Year today with the First Sunday in Advent. Advent is a season of expectation. As an expectant mother awaits her unborn child, so the Church awaits the birth of Jesus. We eagerly look, yet again, toward this wonderful season of celebration. At no time of year is the Church more beautiful than at Christmas. At no time of year are our families more excited. At no time of year is the sense of the sacred more in the air.

Yet, for so many, Christmas is also a time for depression, anxiety and alienation. If ever there were a time when our brokenness becomes more apparent, it is now in this holy season. The fact of violence in our cities involving police and our young people is obvious. Poverty is still with us. And the unjust concentration of wealth continues unabated. Internationally tensions also break out all too frequently in violence and in Congress gridlock has just become the mainstay of our daily political diet.

The Church knows this and names it for what it is; Sin and Darkness. 

We begin this season with the great collect for Advent; “Almighty God give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility”.

Jesus knew the Darkness of Sin. He came to us in utter humility. Born, I remind you of an unwed mother, homeless and poor in a stable among the animals. This is how it all began. The more Jesus loved us and taught us, the more abuse he took, until ultimately he took it all in upon himself at the cross, stretching out his loving arms so that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. 

In the same way that that we pray for Godly intervention in our own history, so too the Prophet Isaiah prayed in his time; “O that you would tear open the heavens and come down, so that the mountains would quake at your presence”

Last week I began my ministry with you focusing on three great Gospel words. Clearly a time of great darkness needs these words as we move forward into our new life together. The words you remember are Forgiveness, Reconciliation, and Love. This week and next I will focus on the first two of these words. Bishop Bud Cederholm will be with us on the third week in Advent when we will continue our conversations between the congregation and the diocese, and then I will conclude the Advent season with some the idea of the Love of God.

We begin in a difficult place; with the word Forgiveness. First comes an acknowledgment that something has gone terribly wrong. In theological terms we call this the Fall. Things were going along well enough in the Garden, and then somehow our willful self centered disobedience kicked in and everything went out of kilter. We were expelled from the Garden and things then went from bad to worse. Cain killed Abel and fled to the East. All of this Biblical imagery invites us to understand that it is in the nature of human nature to get it all wrong and then hide. Only when we acknowledge that and come to our senses we can look to the source of our redemption.

In today’s First Lesson, for instance, the Prophet Isaiah names the sin as twofold. God has hidden away from us somehow and we turn away from God as well. The order in which that occurs is interchangeable, interestingly enough. What is clear is that we become alienated from God and one another.

“But you were angry, and we sinned;

because you hid yourself we transgressed.

We have all become like one who is unclean,”

and again, 

“We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls on your name,

or attempts to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,”

And that, my friends is the condition of our Darkness and the reality of our Sin. The endless and self perpetuating cycle of violence on a scale large and small is the dark and drear disease that infects the human soul.   It is this condition which Advent addresses.

Advent, like Lent calls us to Repentance. Advent finds us in the midst of Salvation History with the understanding that the Holy Spirit had already embraced Mary at the Annunciation, then soon to follow will be  the embrace of Mary at the birth of the Savior, and in that one moment Heaven and Earth are joined by the embrace of God for the whole world. The magnificent words from John’s Gospel say it all;

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

and 

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.”

and

“And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” 

The Word is Jesus. The Word is Forgiveness.

If we look at the anatomy of the word Forgiveness we will see that Repentance, Amendment of Life, Restitution where possible, are all pre-requisites to the possibility of Forgiveness. 

But not so when it came to Jesus’ dealing with the likes of us. Jesus merely forgave us period. Such was his humility that he just plain forgave us. He gave his life not just for our sins but for the sins of the whole world. He did not count our sins against us. He freely gave us forgiveness. 

And that is where we often get stuck. You expect me to swallow my pride and talk to my brother? mother? father? friend? enemy?

How can I forgive when I am hurt so or when violence strikes so close?

How can I forgive when the racial and ethnic groups, class, or gender tensions strike so close to home. How can we forgive or maintain closeness when misunderstanding and bewilderment are at the heart of how we relate to one another over issues of sexual orientation.

To tell you the truth, I often find myself full of hurt and anger over matters close to my heart. When I am in that condition of sinful self centeredness, I also find myself challenged by the prayer or Jesus.

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

Or in another translation

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

The prayer asks God to forgive us the way we forgive others, God help us! As we look at a world so full of blame and hatred, we ask ourselves, where is forgiveness possible?

Or even more urgently how can we endure when we find ourselves in abusive relationships or when the ugliness of power is such that our relationships are strained beyond the possibility of ongoing grace?

I do not ask these questions because I have answers to give. I ask them because they are at the heart of the Gospel.

To tell you the truth the question still applies; “How many times are we to forgive our brother? Perhaps seven times?” We know the answer to that question. “No, I say unto you seventy times seven”. In other words, my dear friends, forgiveness is a way of life that is a matter of urgency. 

Today’s Gospel makes it clear that the end is at hand. Perhaps not the end of the whole world, but certainly any one of us may find ourselves at the Gate of Heaven without a moment’s notice.

Among the deeper questions God will ask of us will be have you Forgiven with the Forgiveness that I have forgiven you? 

The end that Jesus refers to in today’s Gospel is not just about the end of your time or mine on the planet, it is about the purpose of our lives while we are here.  

Clearly one of the great reasons we are here is to find a way to Forgiveness.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Fr Paul