"Don't Stop"

September 11, 2011

Matthew 18:21-35; Romans 14:1-12

Today’s lesson is about what ‘the kingdom thing to do’ would be when someone attacks and hurts us deeply. We are to forgive. Yet, United Methodist Bishop William Willimon writes: "The human animal is not supposed to be good at forgiveness. Forgiveness is not (a)… natural human emotion. Vengeance, retribution, violence, these are natural human qualities. It is natural for the human animal to …bite back when bitten. Forgiveness is not natural. It is not a universal human virtue." But it is the kingdom thing to do.

[Play narration of affect of 9.11 event, Rev Bedke]

 [Play Intro to “Don’t Stop” by Fleetwood Mac]

Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if someone sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?"

Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow,

Don’t stop it’ll soon be here

It’ll be here better than before

Yesterday’s gone… yesterday’s gone.

Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Why not think about times to come?

And not about the things that you've done

If your life was bad to you

Just think what tomorrow will do

Don't stop thinking about tomorrow

Don't stop, it'll soon be here

It'll be here. Better than before.

Yesterday’s gone… yesterday’s gone.

Peter, as we do, wanted to know when it’s okay to stop forgiving someone? And Jesus’ said, “Don’t stop!” Don’t stop thinking about the tomorrow forgiveness brings. He knew it was a kingdom thing – to stop thinking about the past hurt and heartache, the sin against you, and to live as though yesterday’s gone. “Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow.”

The Rev. Myrna Bethke made a decision to rise above her personal grief and anger when losing her brother on September 11, and to do the “unnatural thing” – to forgive. She refused to dwell on the events of that infamous day and instead looked to the kingdom thing to do – to turn what had happened into something good.

Yet, September 11 can represent more than a day ten years ago. Thom Shuman says, “We all will at some point experience a 9/11 in our lives – that moment we’re given ‘the-world-will-never-be-the-same-again kick in the gut.’ It’s then we will either be consumed or we will forgive. He goes on to say, “It’s easy to focus so much on September 11th, that we forget September 12th, the day that thousands of folks showed up in NYC, at the Pentagon, in Pennsylvania, to help with the searches, the clean-up, the recovery.  We forget September 12th, when parents got their kids up once again, and sent them to school, where teachers helped their students to grieve, to begin to understand, to get on with life.  We forget September 12th, when churches were open for prayer, but also to serve the hungry, to shelter the homeless, to clothe the naked, and to box up bibles to send to the prisons. Before forgiveness, we must go on. Don’t stop thinking about tomorrow. Don't stop, it'll soon be here. Better than before. Yesterday’s gone… yesterday’s gone

In today’s gospel lesson, Jesus teaches a big kingdom lesson – he tells us ‘what it is like with God’ when he starts his story by saying, "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to…” He goes on to tell about the ‘forgiving master and unforgiving servant,’ and concludes the parable by saying, “So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you,” what you have done (when it comes to forgiving your sisters and brothers).

Today’s lesson is about forgiveness and leaving judgment to God. And yet, we find ourselves judging others because we cannot forgive them for what they have done. Neither can we forget. So we dwell on the memory of what happened to the point it adversely affects our attitudes and actions. We become angry and bitter. They should get what they deserve. So we condemn them to hell for what they’ve done. Yet Paul says in Romans, “Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? …we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”

The human thing, that comes naturally, is to judge and condemn; the kingdom thing, taught in today’s parable, is to forgive. What if we were to choose the more difficult thing?  What if we could graciously forgive in a way that means ‘I forgive you and I will never again allow it to cloud my thinking, because I won’t think about it any more?’ It’s hard, but what if we could  – ‘think about tomorrow’ rather than the ‘yesterday that’s gone’?

There are 93 references for forgiveness in the Bible, many centered on the nation of Israel that God forgave over and over again for their inability to keep their covenant with God by doing what they had promised.  Yet God forgave them and kept God’s promise. Likewise, God forgives us over and over when we return after having also turned our backs on God. If God forgives us, how can we do any less than forgive others?

This is just a thought, but what if forgiveness means ‘giving to God the person(s) who has hurt you before or in order that you might then give yourself to God? Giving the other to God is a precondition to giving one’s self to God. “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

The Apostle Paul told the church at Ephesus, “Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as in Christ God forgave you” (Ephesians 4:32).  If we are to be holy as God is holy (Leviticus 19:2), then shouldn’t we follow God’s example of forgiveness? Psalm 103:12 says, “when we seek God’s forgiveness, God takes our sin and disposes of it as far as the east is from the west.” It is removed from us at a distance so great that not even God remembers the sin.  We can start over again. Isn’t that what forgiveness is all about? ‘Yesterday’s gone’ and we can ‘start thinking about tomorrow’.