“Forgiving Free”
John 20:19-31
First Presbyterian Church
The Reverend Donald Ray, Pastoral Associate
April 15, 2007
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For a moment on Palm
Sunday, I wished it were not an April Fool’s joke when Tom suggested that for
the sake of time he forego the sermon that day. Already juggling ideas so
as not to repeat too much of the sermon I gave here little more than a year ago,
I listened as he opened the subject of forgiven as we forgive in his series on
the Lord’s Prayer. I sat, mentally checking off points that are the
essence of my notes written weeks ago for this sermon. He even used the
best illustration from the Amish school tragedy in
Let us pray:
Gospels of the life of Jesus already existed when John wrote his. The reason for writing of what he calls the “signs” Jesus did, John says, is that readers may “believe…and that through believing you may have life in his name.” The signs which seem to grab attention include turning water to wine, healing the infirmed, feeding a multitude with morsels, walking on water, raising Lazarus—all characterized as miracles beyond human ability to replicate. If those signs were supposed to show the divinity of Jesus, one might expect that the directive of the risen Christ to his followers would be something like, feed the hungry, heal the sick, raise the dead.
But of all that Jesus might have made of this dramatic moment meeting the disciples behind their locked doors, he said “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” Talk about stating the obvious: forgiving is freeing; unforgiving imprisons. If this was the one thing Jesus chose to characterize resurrection life, then it bears the risk of echoing Tom or repeating myself.
Refusing to forgive, and it is refusing, brews resentment, bitterness, hatred, violence—those become the emotions that overwhelm our spirits, that corrode our relationships, that corrupt our future. Retaining sins is a prison and the key which locks that door is the statement; “I will never forgive.”
Forgiving does not rank high in our culture. Forgiving is even considered wrong. Punishment, rejection are determined necessary justice to correct and deter wrongdoers or at the least afford protection from their victimizing again. Enemies are enemies and they must be treated as such.
The dynamics of the
civil war in
In John’s account
of the questioning of Jesus, Pilate asked, “Are you the King of the
Jews?”…Jesus responded: “My kingdom is not from this world. If my
kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from
being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from
here.” (John 18:33-36)
It is important to
take note of the context in which John sets Jesus’ statement about sins
forgiven and retained. It is not characterized as a commandment that it
might be obediently practiced. It is an observation of the reality of
life. Admittedly, forgiving is not easy. When we have been sinned
against, we feel hurt, anger, disappointment; all fueled by memories of the
violation until those feelings become all-consuming. Avenging the hurt
swells into revenge against the one who inflicts the hurt.
We dare not miss the
directive which precedes: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” That is what
takes an Easter life style out of the distortions of the culture—the kingdoms
of this world to a new level. It blurs the distinction Alexander Pope
makes between human erring and divine forgiving. If resurrection means
anything to us, the love, the Spirit, God the Gospels describe as in Jesus is in
all of us.
In the selection for
Friday the 13th from Living the Message, Eugene Petersons writes:
“I want to simplify your lives. When others are telling you to read
more, I want to tell you to read less; when others are telling you to do more, I
want to tell you to do less…For we do not progress in the Christian life by
becoming more competent, more knowledgeable, more virtuous, or more energetic.
We do not advance in the Christian life by acquiring expertise. Each day,
and many times each day, we need more of God. Back to Square One.”(1)
Tom has used
numerous avenues to encourage us in the practice of meditation. I totally
concur but probably am not as diligent in practice. I do not find it easy
to quiet my mind and spirit. I heard the suggestion once for dealing with
difficulty falling asleep. If one imagined the ceiling as a chalk board
which thoughts write upon, keeping the chalk board erased clean for 20 seconds
would result in falling asleep. The only result for me was a sore
shoulder.
One of the
techniques in meditation is to repeat a word or phrase to keep other thoughts
cleared away. There have been times when I have been so pressed with
something that efforts at keeping it out have been unsuccessful. On one
such occasion, I stumbled on the idea that instead of “peace,” “love,”
or another calming word, I named the issue at the root of my struggle as my
focus word. Keeping that awe and mystery of being in the presence of God,
love, spirit; God being in my presence, it was amazing the insight, direction,
energy, and peace which came for living with the issue that was causing me
struggle and distress.
Some months ago, a
person caused grave hurt to someone very important to me. I struggled for
days trying to decide how to address what had been done. Convinced I
needed to address it, I was planning—well with the anger I felt it was
probably more like plotting—what I would do. I had rehearsed in my mind
what I would say to set the person straight.
Finally--sometimes
I’m a slow learner—after days of wrestling the issue without the right
opportunity to address the offender, I used the attacker’s name in my
meditation. In that quiet, understanding replaced criticism; forgiving
replaced anger; clarity brought light out of indecision; patience replaced the
drive to right the wrong before its time. The matter is not yet resolved.
It is not one to be resolved easily. But the hasty attacking of it which
would have worsened the problem has been avoided.
Jesus might have
given a commandment: “forgive sins.” Instead he sets the scene;
forgiven sins are forgiven—retained sins are retained. His command is
“love one another. It is living in love, God’s spirit, that we sort
through the issues of life to find the best resolution. Life situations
are complicated. Without the baggage of sins retained, we can be more
clear in working through to appropriate resolutions.
A couple of months
ago the story surfaced that a man who had sexually assaulted a University of
Virginia student at a fraternity party in 1984, two decades later as part of the
Alcoholic’s Anonymous 12 step
program had written an apology to the woman in the effort to make amends.
The ninth step calls on alcoholics to make direct amends wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others. In an exchange of
emails, William Beebe wrote: “I want to make it clear that I am not
intentionally minimizing the fact that I raped you. I did.”
Old wounds reopened,
Liz Seccuro eventually called Charlottesville police and because there is no
statute of limitations on felonies in Virginia, Beebe was arrested and after
lengthy review considering the change in his life, he was sentenced to 10 years
in prison with all but 18 months suspended as long as Beebe performs 500 hours
of service related to issues of sexual assault and alcohol abuse on college
campuses.
Seccuro, who says
she has forgiven Beebe for assaulting her, said an apology is no substitute for
punishment. The attack changed her life dramatically, she said and she
deserves to finally see justice served.
Judge Edward
Hogshire clearly struggled with the sentence saying that what Seccuro went
through was horrific, but that Beebe had gone on to be a leader in the recovery
community.
Concerns have been
expressed that Beebe’s conviction may deter others in recovery from seeking to
make amends. It seems evident that was Beebe forgiving himself, he would
not have felt so pressed to apologize without thought to the injury of reopening
that painful chapter in his victims life. Hopefully he will work that
through now.
Forgiving is not
easy, nor is it being easy on sins. It was wholly in the nature the Amish
community of the Nickle Mines,
Forgiving is a
conscious decision. One may not feel forgiving but can decide to forgive.
In the spirit of God’s love and mercy, that is humanly possible.
Retaining sins fuels the anger, hurt, bitterness, hatred, vengeance; the
emotions that constrict our lives, keep us victims of the sins retained.
Forgiving sins frees us from that spiral of the original hurt. We can then
deal with the present situation, make decisions how to relate to those involved
free of the baggage of retained sins.
Triggered memories
may bring back old feelings, but living in God, in love, we can decide to
continue forgiving.
Such is the kingdom I think Jesus would claim. Such is the life of Easter people.
Amen.
(1) Peterson, Eugene H. “Living the Message” p. 111
© Copyright First Presbyterian Church 2007
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