The Last Sunday of the Kingdom - Christ the King

Over the last few weeks we have had readings about the KINGDOM OF GOD – what it means, how to spot it, and who exactly benefits from it. We were led peacefully through the stories that told us about life in first century Palestine, and at the end we could see that the poor, the outcast, the marginalized and oppressed would be those who help us to build the KINGDOM OF GOD – by showing us the nature of the CREATOR and His love for us.

Unfortunately, today, it has all gone wrong – it is a bit like reading the first few chapters of a book, then skipping to the last chapter (has anybody done that before) only to find that the book has taken quite a turn. If you can imagine the scene – Jesus has just told some parables, and he finishes with the story of the shepherd. A shepherd who, at night, separates out the sheep from the goats – this is the apocalyptic bit, in the great tradition of the prophets – revelations of heaven – that the children of Israel had been trying to fathom for hundreds of years. The Old Testament reading from the prophet Ezekiel stops short again in our lectionary, the prophet says at verse 20 “Now I myself shall judge between the fat sheep and the lean….I shall judge between one sheep and another”.

The Jewish expansion on this text (The Midrash) imagines someone being questioned by God, asking them “What are your life’s works?” If the answer is “I fed the hungry and thirsty, I clothed the naked, I brought up the orphan and gave alms” then the reply is “This is the gate of the Lord, through which the righteous may enter”; come on in.

However, the NEW TESTAMENT offers a twist, as it always does. The twist is that JESUS the SON OF GOD is walking around bold as brass on earth. And His reply to his followers (wishing to please Him) is this….if you do something for the least of people, you do it as if you were doing it for me”.

We have pressed the fast forward button this week in the readings, we are right at the end of the disc – we can see the mystery unfolding in front of our eyes.

Jesus has made a statement – and he is watching the faces of His followers, to see who has any understanding. This is the last lap, and he is waiting for them to join the dots and see the great cosmic picture.

It’s like Rolf Harris drawing a picture – the great jumble lines and colours could be anything really, until Rolf takes a brush and puts a dot in the middle, and there is it – a kangaroo riding a scooter.

Jesus has joined up the past, present and future and with a quick conclusion He has shown the people there (and dare I say – those present today) that He is the Messiah, and at the end of time he will be sorting out the wheat from the chaff, the sheep from the goats, the good from the evil, the Godly from the Ungodly…we could go on all day – add your own phrase.

So faithful disciples, we have listened to the stories about the Kingdom of God, and we have asked ourselves the questions, but if we are not careful, we can ignore the most important question that is “how are we to learn from these stories”. This is the question that was in the forefront of the minds of the authors of the New Testament.

The unstoppable St. Paul prays for the new church at Ephesus that “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ may give you the spirit of wisdom and of unveiling in the knowledge of him, having eyes of your hearts enlightened, THAT YOU MAY KNOW WHAT IS THE HOPE TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED YOU”. This is certainly not a bad prayer at all – it hits the mark, dealing with the concerns of the new church – are they on the right path? Are they going in the right direction? Are they being faithful to the teachings of Christ?

In the Gospel, the disciples are losing their privileged position – they have been told that there will be more disciples – even some from the less respectable parts of society – criminals, tax collectors, and sinners of all sorts. They will be called to build the kingdom far and wide – and these people will embody the kingdom of GOD.

In a few weeks time we will be thinking of the little town of Bethlehem – the town Matthew refers to as insignificant. In this sense, all the poor and forgotten people are insignificant, like Bethlehem, yet from them, the LORD comes to us. That is why the text tells us that in serving the poor, we are serving the Christ of Our Faith. And in our solidarity with the poorest, we recognise the humble kingship of the Son of Man. There is NO OTHER WAY TO “inherit the Kingdom of Heaven”, that is the blessing of being face-to-face with God.

In a few weeks we will be remembering the child born in poverty, in a stable to a homeless refugee, and we will think of the journey he took to the cross. On this day, the Feast of Christ the King, we are called to ask ourselves the questions “what on earth does all that mean to me? Can we see what it is yet?”

SERMON - Kingdom 3

Jesus continues to tell parables about the kingdom of heaven – and today he continues with the parable of the talents. In the previous parables, he has told us that we need to be prepared for the Second Coming at all times. Christians have taken it to mean that diligence in carrying out one's responsibilities is essential for more important tasks in the future.
A master, before leaving on a journey, entrusts his slaves with his money, “each according to his ability” (v. 15). Two servants invest the money and earn more (vv. 16, 17); the third simply buries it (v. 18). When the master returns (v. 19), he praises the investors; they, he says, will be made responsible for “many things” (vv. 21, 23), and will “enter into the joy of your master”. But the third slave, admitting that he was afraid of his master’s wrath (v. 24), simply returns the original sum (v. 25). The master chastises him for his wickedness and laziness. This slave loses what he has been given (v. 28) and is condemned to “outer darkness” (v. 30). This would have caused a stir in Jesus’ day, for a rabbinic maxim commends burial of money as a way of protecting it. I suppose in the current financial climate, it is probably safer to bury money, so the parable could be confusing for us.
But this parable is about the kingdom of heaven, so what is it teaching us? “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (v. 30) is a stock phrase for condemnation of the wicked at the Last Day. God both rewards generously and is a stern judge. He expects us to be good stewards of his gifts and we will be commended and rewarded for faithfully carrying out his mission.
There are some other interesting things about the parable Firstly, in Verse 15: The phrase “to each according to his ability” has led, in modern languages, to the use of the term talent for gift, aptitude and flair – so this really is the parable of the ‘skills’ if you like.
The second interesting thing is the phrase “After a long time”: Perhaps this is an indication that Christ’s second coming will not be within the lifetimes of those who knew Jesus during his earthly life. I have always wondered about this, because it was clear that the early church believed that Jesus would come again before they had all died.
The third thing I find rather important for us as Christians today is found in Verse 21: “trustworthy”: Here the meaning of the Greek word includes not only being honest, but also believing and risk-taking. There is the clear statement that we should use our God given talents to make the kingdom of God a reality, and not be put off by the way things are.
In the reading from Zephaniah , judgement is looming for the people of Jerusalem – They have said to themselves: “The Lord will do nothing, neither good nor bad.” They hold a belief in a god who is not involved or seemingly interested in life or creation - a sort of sleeping God.
So what are the readings saying to us? Well, it would be tempting to preach about money, but it isn’t as simple as that. The parable is about two attitudes: of those who pass on what they have received from God, and of those who keep for themselves what the Lord wanted to give them. In addition, the focus of the parable is in the criticism of the attitude of the servant who buried the money. Hiding things is not an option.
In the parable, the man going on a journey could well be Jesus ascending into heaven, and those left, entrusted with the riches are us.
We are given, according to our aptitudes, talents to help grow and nurture the faith – we are expected obtain growth and whether the conditions are good or bad, to keep plodding on – to bear witness to life. That’s what Paul means when he tells us to keep awake. The first two servants did just that, and their hard work produced fruit.
The third servant is, of course, in his own world. This might be a metaphor for those people who have faith, but choose to stop it from making any real difference in their lives. We know this is something that affects the greater proportion of people who say they are Christians.
It’s about making goodness grow in church communities, and in our lives – and stopping all those things which kill goodness – things like division, suspicion, idolatry and selfishness. We must make the best use of the brief space left to us (and our talents) before the Lord comes.
Hide not your talents, they for use were made. What's a sun-dial in the shade?
Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)
Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.
Henry Van Dyke
At the Assembly in School this week, the children sang one of their favourites – it’s called MAGIC PENNY – and it’s about sharing what we have been given…
Magic Penny
(Malvina Reynolds)

Love is something if you give it away
Give it away, give it away
Love is something if you give it away
You end up having more

It's just like a magic penny
Hold it tight & you won't have any
Lend it, spend it & you'll have so many
They'll roll all over the floor, for

It is undoubtedly the heart of the parable – and the children understand it, and so should we.
In the letter to the church at Thessalonica – Paul is dealing with this very issue. He is concerned that the “Children of Light” will be caught out – sleeping on the job - he advises his readers to “build up” each other, to support each other spiritually.
The parable of the talents is teaching us that the joy of faith, as well as our own joy, is best nurtured in an active Christian faith – based on grace, courage and concern for others, rather than on formality, self-protection and fear.
Let’s build each other up as a church, and invest the good news wisely in our hearts and the hearts of our neighbours.

And another one for Kingdom 1

Matthew 24:1-14
The First Sunday of the Kingdom
It is a brave person that is able to stand and talk about change. In any large organisation the task of managing change is seen as critical, and in these times of economic downturn and uncertainty there will be many who will suffer the grief that comes with change.
We are here for a short span, and it is all we know, it is therefore not surprising that it is almost impossible to conceive of any radically different way of being or doing. I am sure that each generation since time began has felt the tension. We like things the way they are.
In the last few years, I have started visiting my home town and spend time walking through the park and the town. I regularly find myself marvelling at the pace of change and how things really never stand still. It is an awful exercise really; a study in unashamed nostalgia, but it does feel good, searching for that special something that never changes.
If the disciples in the Gospel reading were hoping that Jesus would be bringing some sort of stability, perhaps fulfilling dreams they had about a superhero making everything right instantly, they were wrong. Jesus is telling them things that wouldn’t have offered much comfort to them. His words are outlining a future of change, which is neither joyful nor attractive. The possibility of persecution, wars and famines, false prophets to lead the people away, and a general lack of goodness and love is his statement to his Disciples. Jesus is saying that there will be change and it won’t be all good. The religious authorities of the day dealt in certainties, and Jesus was bringing chaos.
So it is for us today. We may not know the time when we are to meet our Lord face to face, we may suffer hardships and challenges, and we may feel distant from God because earthly things overwhelm us. However, Christ tells us it is part of the mission for those who would be brave enough to be Disciples throughout the ages. The words of Jesus are a call to turn and stand to face the light now as always.
We are being invited to not be concerned about change but to live in the world using both hands to show the love of God, one hand to care for the oppressed, downtrodden and abused, and the other hand to point to heaven. The list of terrifying events tells us that there is much work to be done, and it won’t always be easy. The ‘love of many will grow cold’. The mission does not change, but we will be changed by the mission. Throughout all this, Jesus says “Those who stand firm will be saved”.
How then do we “stand firm”? How do we remain faithful and focused? Perhaps the startling words of the Gospel reading are outlining the importance of not worrying about the future, neither dwelling on the past. Perhaps we are being called to live in the present, taking each day as an opportunity to do good. If we worry too much about history, or spend time thinking about the hereafter, we miss the opportunities we have today to build the Kingdom of God.
Look for Jesus among the living, this day and every day.

The First Sunday of the Kingdom

Back in the 3rd century St. Cyprian wrote to a friend named Donatus,
‘This seems a cheerful world Donatus, when I view it from this fair garden under the shadow of these vines. But if I climbed some great mountain and looked out over the wide lands, you know very well what I would see; brigands on the high road, pirates on the seas, in the amphitheatres men murdered to please the applauding crowds, under all roofs misery and selfishness. It really is a bad world, an incredibly bad world.

Yet in the midst of it, I have found a quiet and holy people. They have discovered a joy which is a thousand ties better than any pleasure of this sinful life. They are despised and persecuted but they care not. They have overcome the world. These people are Christians and I am one of them.’

On our Diocesan trip to Rome, we were shown around the Coliseum. Our tour guide answered all the questions from the clergy on the architecture and history of the magnificent building, and then it was my turn. I asked innocently, “and how many people and animals would be killed in one day here?”. Some clergy groaned, someone said “trust you to ask the gory questions”. I was a bit shocked. Reflecting on this over a bottle of Chianti in the evening, I thought that however magnificent the building is, surely it is overshadowed by the misery and death that took place there. Surely this was part of our Christian heritage – surely this is more important than where the stones came from. I didn’t take anyone to task over it – I had run out of energy at this point. The answer from the guide was up to 10,000 animals and 1,000 people during a festival that might last a week. It was not a beautiful place for me, it was a very sinister place.

Some 1700 years have passed since Cyprian wrote those words, and yet the dark picture that Cyprian painted of the world perhaps hasn’t changed too much – there may not be amphitheatres, there may not be pirates, but any of us can turn on the television and see enough evidence around of things which are very wrong in the world.

I wonder however whether the picture that Cyprian painted of the Christians is quite so recognisable in our Churches today. Cyprian describes Christians as a quiet and holy people, and it is to that sort of people that Paul wrote to in his letter to the Thessalonians. Cyprian writes of a people who despite persecution and hatred, have discovered a joy a thousand times greater than anything else they could find.

In the part of the letter which we have heard (2:9-13) Paul reminds the members of the Church there of the work he and his fellow workers had put done in sharing the gospel message with them – he reminded them of the fact that it was God, through him, who had spoken to the people – a quiet and holy people, and a people who, like those St. Cyprian mentioned, faced persecution and hatred, and yet did so with joy.

So how recognisable is the Church today from that of which St. Cyprian wrote, and that to which St. Paul wrote. How quiet are we ? How holy ? and how joyful ?

When Cyprian wrote of a quiet people I think perhaps he was describing a people who were not boastful, who were not obnoxious or judgmental or demanding – G.K.Chesterton writing in a somewhat more modern context than Cyprian also wrote of a quiet Church – however what he wrote was that ‘The great criticism of the Church today is that no one wants to persecute it: because there is nothing very much to persecute about it.’

When Paul wrote and when Cyprian wrote they knew of a Church that was revolutionary in their belief, a Church that was ready to proclaim and ready to die for the fact that Jesus was a Saviour who could change lives, and change the whole world. They spoke with no fear, but simply with conviction. Too often today the Church can meet the title of being a quiet people, but too often that quietness simply manifests itself in saying nothing about anything, in other words failing in our duty to share the Gospel message with others.

And what about a holy people – again perhaps Cyprian was writing of a people who were set apart through their decency, through their honesty, their compassion, their kindness, perhaps through their prayer life or the study of scriptures.

Sadly that is often not the impression many people have of the Church.

The message of the Church is often perceived rightly or wrongly as a message for an elite group – a group to whom only certain people are welcome – but the Church must be welcome to all – I thought it would be good to have a sign on the door of any church which reads - ‘Do come in – trespassers will be forgiven.’

So much for quiet and holy but what about a people full of joy ? Well I think we’re pretty fortunate in this Benefice to have people who truly enjoy their faith – people who rejoice in their salvation and who enjoy coming to worship, but once again the image of the Church throughout this country has been so tarnished by years of indifference and judgmental behaviour that we have a lot of ground to make up.

And that is a challenge each one of us faces – in our worship are we reflecting feelings of joy to others, and in our lives outside Church are people seeing something different – are we reflecting Christ in our everyday lives, because that is what he has called us to do. Put even more simply – is faith, is Christ, making a difference in our lives… as it did in the lives of the people to whom Paul and Cyprian wrote ?

And Paul, I think, in his letter to the Thessalonians offers a reason for our problems. As he writes to the people he, as I’ve already mentioned, reminds them that the gospel they have accepted is the gospel of Jesus – Good news for the world. They have not accepted his words, but the words and the promises of God spoken through him and his fellow missionaries.

I realise that I’m doing a lot of speculating in this sermon but if Cyprian was writing today he may, as well as speaking of the terrible problems in the world mention also the fact that the Church is too often bound by the words of people within it – too often we are caught up in the arguments of others, too often we are influenced by the thoughts of others – and there’s nothing particularly wrong with that… except when we fail to seek the will of God.

I’ll finish with this illustration. We can think of the story of a hundred concert pianos. If you tune the second piano to the first, and the 3rd to the 2nd, and the 4th to the 3rd and so on until you have tuned all 100 pianos, you will by the end have discord and disharmony – but if you tune each piano to the same tuning fork, you will have unity and harmony.

And that is true of the Church – when we tune ourselves to other people we will so often have discord and disharmony, but when we tune ourselves to Christ, and him alone, then we will have unity, unity of love and unity of purpose – in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Sermon - Trinity 19

Last week we heard of Matthew being called by Jesus and following, the action moved swiftly from the street to a party where we are told there were many “tax collectors and sinners”. I mentioned that I’ve been to parties like that. This week, even though we took a detour out of the usual readings, we are back with Our Lord telling us how it is. We are bowling towards the kingdom season and we have to truly understand what that means. We all fall short...

Three vicars went to the diocesan retreat and were all sharing one room.

The first pastor said, "Let's confess our secret vices one to another. I'll start - my secret vice is I just love to gamble. When I am away from home, I gamble all my money away."

The second vicar said, "My secret vice is that I just love to drink. When I am outside the parish, I like to have a good drink”.

The third vicar said, "My secret vice is gossiping and I can't wait to get out of this room!"

We all fall short of God’s plan for us, and although some of the time we think we are doing well, it is usually those times when we are actually doing worst.
In the Gospel reading, the Chief Priest and the scribes have been questioning Jesus about the Authority of John the Baptist. It is not surprising that Jesus confronts them with the question of John's authority because he had been baptising people for the forgiveness of sins. Rituals for the forgiveness of sins were largely in the hands of the priests and the temple. That was one of its main functions. While there was technically nothing wrong with John's rather novel rite, in the eyes of those properly ordained to priestly tasks it amounted to something of a maverick enterprise. Very closely related is the controversy about Jesus' declaring God's forgiveness.
Their response, however well meaning is the fact that they are somehow trying to ‘protect’ God, who (we know) is fully capable of protecting himself.
The second they are doing their best to ignore the fact that Jesus seems to be mixing with the wrong people (just like John) - How dare this Rabbi DECIDE to sit alongside the people considered to be OUTCAST by society.
We miss the point too sometimes…
I hear some stories of clergy who dress up as homeless people and visit their church, sitting at the back and wait to see who comes to sit next to them…my Dad told me about seeing it on the telly – I have always been uplifted by this, until now!
I started to wonder if we weren’t being taken for fools, by bad theology and some strange social experiment – not to judge the response of the congregation, but to make us all feel better.
Let me explain;
• It is playing to the fears of people –Erin reminded recently that when we were in theological college we lived in a huge house that was close to the Cathedral in Llandaff. A homeless man lived under a hedge in the front garden – he was usually drunk, very smelly and had lots of problems. I used to make him sandwiches, roll him cigarettes and give him coffee, when I had time. I had sorted him out with a place at a hostel, but he only went there when it was frosty because he didn’t like being indoors. The college kept telling me to ring the police to move him on – he was a huge problem for them. My problem was that he never gave me the mugs back that I put the coffee in. He was their demon, not mine... I have my own.
• I suppose we could all write a list of people who you definitely wouldn’t want to be sat next to at a party. We all have our limits – the homeless don’t present a problem to some people.
• If I told you that I was an investment banker who short sold HBOS shares sending the company spiralling out of control – or - Someone who had informed to the police against a member of their family –or - someone who had stolen off a frail senior citizen using violence- or -someone who had introduced children to drugs… AND they are sat next to you at a party …I think you might be getting the idea…we all have our limits.
This is all too complex for us to judge – some of those things are intolerable to us, some are passable, and some we might not see too much of a problem.
Jesus tells us that people are complex – we are all failing in some way, and we are all damaged in some way.
In the parable Jesus tells in about the man with two sons, I used to think that it was pointless. It was obvious that when the Father asked the sons to go to the vineyard, and one goes and the other doesn’t bother, when Jesus asks “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” I thought like the Chief Priests and Elders and said the first. But when you read it again, you can see that neither actually did what the father asked. The first son eventually changed his mind and went.
Jesus says to them “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. “

The story isn’t important, the important thing is that ALL are welcomed – and those who seem to be OUTCAST, JUDGED and PERSECUTED are closer than us to JESUS – because he was OUTCAST, JUDGED and PERSECUTED too.
When we judge the lifestyle of others, when we fail to treat others with respect, when we impose rules that make others unwelcome, we push them closer to JESUS and by the same action we PUSH OURSELVES AWAY. Revd Peter would tell you that is Newton’s third law “"Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."
It’s a long way from the old man with a beard, who has dirty clothes, smells and has a dog on a string.
The liberation theologians of South America, who witnessed the ‘disappearing’ of thousands of their people, and the ones remaining living in tin shacks on the side of mountains talk of a ‘preferential option for the poor’ I believe this means that through their suffering they can more easily take to heart the suffering of others, and sit alongside them with an authenticity we can lack.
Matthew has a way of cutting through the red tape and of by-passing the religious bureaucracy. There is no room for pretence or pretentiousness. The prostitutes and tax-collectors, the lousy rich and the women they exploited, got the point, at least some of them.
Is it because they allowed themselves to be vulnerable, to be moved, to let the word of compelling compassion address their deeper needs? Were the religious leaders so defensive in protecting their system - in the name of the people of God and the Scripture they suppressed their inner cries, stopped their ears?
It is odd that we still find so many people inside the church who have a greater problem calling for change in society than many outside the church. They seem determined to protect God.
Let us pray…
May we, in our time bless God with our openness to others, and our tireless efforts to right wrongs in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN

Thursday Sermon on Green book Trinity 18 readings

Mark 12:28-34
In the Gospel this morning we find Jesus in controversy with the Sadducees, he has just stated that the biblical God “Is not the God of the dead but of the living”. A scribe, no doubt a pharisee asks him a question debated among the learned “Which commandment is the first of all?”. As usual, Jesus’ answer becomes a challenge.
There is not one major commandment, but two of them: Love of God and love of neighbour. In Mark’s Gospel, it is preceded by another statement which is taken from far back in Deuteronomy. “The Lord God is one”. It means that although there appear to be TWO loves; God and neighbour, they are in fact from the same source and cannot be separated.
Our biblical faith is a process through which we acknowledge God as the immovable force in our lives. God is not something imagined or part of a theory, God is a ‘someone’ we must love “With all our heart and mind and with all our strength” as it says.
As we know, there is a danger in putting our trust in others – we are being told in this reading to trust in God.
There are times when I think we all would like to be able to separate the commandment into easy parts. Love of God, and love of neighbour – Can’t we just love God, because our neighbours are more difficult to love. We have all thought that, however it can’t be done – we must love both God and neighbour – because if we fail in loving our neighbour we fail to love God.
There is another problem – when I went to Bible Club and Sunday school in the chapel as a child, I learned verses of the Bible by rote, and they have stayed with me all my adult life. It wasn’t until it became my duty as a priest to explain the Gospels did I see the true and complicated challenge.
We can all say “love the Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself” but that actually means living in a different way – It means having the ability to forgive readily, to listen to others, to join in Christian community and the wider community, it is thinking about others over our own needs and wants, and finally it is about forbearance (one of my favourite words). Without honestly doing our best at these things, we cannot say we really love God.
The scribe in the gospel reading understands this. He even senses that this is what gives meaning to worship, which would otherwise be empty. Jesus approves of his opinion and says so. The scribe agrees with us too, it is easier to talk than do.
May God give us strength to live for Him, in our love for others.

St. Matthew

The Call of Matthew
Matthew 9:9-13
I sometimes wonder if Matthew ever looked back to the day when Jesus called him to leave his tax-collectors booth and follow. The gospel doesn’t make it clear whether he managed to make an informed choice; it doesn’t even tell us if he thought about the decision at all. We are merely told that he “got up and followed”. Matthew was standing at the crossroads of living an ordinary or extraordinary life; the certainties of what he knew versus the risks of a great leap into the unknown.
The next we hear of Matthew is when he is hosting a dinner party for tax-collectors and “sinners”, I think we have all been to parties like that. Jesus defends his choice of company by declaring that he came to heal the sick not the healthy, to call sinners not the righteous. The transformation is progressing, Matthew’s old life is disappearing and the new adventure has begun.
The calling of Matthew, his following Christ, the meal and the guests are all a sign and a foretaste of things to come, when the logic of this world will be overturned by the perfect justice of God. Jesus is revealing his identity as the son of the true God, so he responds to his critics by using the text the prophet Hosea applied to God seven hundred years before “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”. By calling and welcoming sinners, the outcast and the unworthy, Jesus brings the offer of universal salvation to all people, for all time. There are no surprises in this reading, it is clear and direct. It is wonderful to think that we are a fly on the wall when Jesus reveals his mission – this is his mission statement, and it should be ours too.
We may not be blessed with a personal invitation from Christ as he walks through our town; however when we witness the daily struggle people have to obtain justice, peace, food and medicines, when we think of the global market turmoil, where billions of pounds are being wiped off the values of shares and banks are struggling to survive, we need to watch for the real cost of the downturn as it reaches those who have least, at home and abroad. Christ is calling once again, using the same words to invite new disciples to the same mission. If we listen, we will hear.
There is an old Welsh saying “Bad news goes about in clogs, Good news in stockinged feet”. We should, like Matthew, put clogs on the Good News, taking it to those who haven’t been invited to a party for a long time. It’s all part of the wonder of faith, the joy of believing, and the certainty God’s love. It is your mission and mine. God always appears in disconcerting ways. He seems to delight in relying on what is the least adequate according to human judgement. He calls sinners like Matthew to be disciples, and God counts on us, weak as we are, to make the kingdom present.
“I desire mercy not sacrifice” – this is not an opportunity for us to shower God with great acts of self-righteousness, but to be willing to seek him in the corners of the world where the best parties happen, where all the unworthy are invited, even us.

Sermon - Trinity 17 Forgiveness

Matthew 18.21-35
+ May I speak in the name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. AMEN
Matthew’s 18th Chapter contains a series of instructions for the daily life of the Christian community. Forgiveness is one of them. Peter wants to know how often we should forgive (v.21). Jesus gives the question a broader horizon: we must always forgive. That is the meaning of the mysterious expression “seventy-seven times” (v.22) There may also be an allusion – taking the opposite position – to Genesis 4:24 “If Cain is avenged seven times, then Lamech seventy-seven times."
It means there are no limits; love doesn’t work with obligations that can be counted. Mutual forgiveness builds up the community, and it implies trusting people.
Jesus’ statement is illustrated in one of the most beautiful parables in the Gospels, one only found in Matthew. The “settling of accounts” will vanish because God’s justice is based on gratuitous love. At the Kings request, the servant forgives the debt, “ten thousand talents” is a huge amount of money, that could never be repaid (it is something like the foreign debt of many poor nations). This is why the slave’s promise is merely an attempt to move the Lord. The kinds forgiveness is totally free; he forgives simply, as it says “out of pity”, out of love, not because he expects, at some point in the future to receive what is owed to him.
Do not hold grudges against your neighbour
This parable in the Gospels doesn’t leave any room for manoeuvre, the conduct of the slave is the exact opposite of the Lord’s action. The fellow slave barely owes him a hundred denarii, not an insignificant amount, but it wasn’t that much really, it could easily have been repaid, but the debtors plea is not heeded. The “wicked slave” hasn’t learned his lesson. According to the strict justice, he can send the debtor to jail, but the King has shown him another kind of justice based on gratuitous love that asks for nothing in return. This justice considers people for what they are, rather than for what they have.
The God of Jesus loves because he is good. In the presence of the boundless love, people’s merits as secondary. Those who believe in this God must love the same way. The love of God is the model of our conduct – we might be imperfect, however that is not an excuse for us not trying to change.
The Lord is always ready to renew his covenant (his promise) with us, to turn over the page and start again. This is what challenges us to start again and try better next time. Open our hearts to others.
In the presence of this love, the question “how often should I forgive?” becomes a redundant question really. Don’t for a moment think that this is easy however – if you were thinking that this nice story is a comfortable fireside chat it isn’t. There is nothing more difficult than forgiveness.
God does however guarantee that we will be changed – and even the people we forgive can (sometimes) be changed – it is a two way street after all.
There are a few standard stories that reappear in different guises, in many different scenarios. It’s a bit like all those action films of the 90’s (and some now) – Good guy, bad guy, love interest, danger, car chase, gunfight, big finale, good overcomes evil, light beats darkness.
The standard faith story is this - A man of retribution and violence through grace becomes a man of forgiveness and peace in the blink of an eye. People around him can’t believe the transformation and he is tested, but God has transformed. We all know the story in so many different genres.
They are absolute rubbish– the man of retribution and violence has a constant battle to be a man of peace – it is only because with each and every painful interaction, each and every person he forgives when he doesn’t have to, each and every time he is goaded and decides to answer with peace, every time he lets a little piece of his integrity get chipped away by having to behave and count to ten.
That’s the real test of the seventy-times seven, that’s what it really means – it means that it is a constant battle – not a quick fix. Forgiveness is costly and I believe it is sent from God, because it seems so other worldly.
Some quotations about forgiveness to think about.
Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.
Peter Ustinov (1921 - 2004)

Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
Norman Cousins (1915 - 1990)

The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.
Mahatma Gandhi (1869 - 1948)

It is difficult to give practical advice on forgiveness because the point Jesus is making is not something we can hide from. We can just say that ‘for the record’ it isn’t easy, and there are lots of issues at play in this complicated minefield of a Gospel reading.

Finally, I suppose there are just two things left to say;

Firstly, it really doesn't matter if the person who hurt you deserves to be forgiven. Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. You have things to do and you want to move on.

Secondly, forgiveness does not always lead to a healed relationship - it might be wise to let them go along with their belief that they have somehow won, when they haven’t. Wish them well, and let them go their way.

Thirdly, let me know if you discover a pain-free way to forgive others. We will make millions!

Forgive from the heart in the name of God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit.