SERMONS
Sean Gilbert – 14/9/08
The Flamboyance of Forgiveness Matthew
18:21-35
During the week, a number of folk commented very positively on John’s ‘Spring’ reading
of last Sunday, and it’s with a small section of it that I want to begin
today.
“Spring
in its fullness is not easy to write about. Late Spring is so flamboyant that
it caricatures itself, which is why it has long been the province of poets with
more passion than skill. But perhaps those poets have a point. Perhaps we are
meant to yield to this flamboyance, to understand that life is not always to
be measured and meted out as winter compels us to do, but to be spent from time
to time in a riot of colour and growth...” The gift of life, which seemed
to be withdrawn in winter, has been given once again, and nature, rather than
hoarding it, gives it all away. There is another paradox here, known in
all the wisdom traditions: if you receive a gift, you keep it alive not by hoarding
it, but by passing it along.
(Parker J. Palmer)
Now my hope
is that you can hear echoes of Jesus’ parable through the more contemporary
writing of Parker J Palmer. For whilst not addressing the subject of forgiveness
per se, Parker is, nevertheless speaking about the very same life principle – a
flamboyance of grace that changes everything; that even takes offence, hurt,
indignation, bitterness and pain – the score sheets in other words – and
holds them up to another window of possibility, to another way of thinking and
acting.
For it is true to suggest that the forgiveness Jesus is illustrating in the parable
is not at all interested in ledgers, figures, facts, balance sheets and the like.
And it is not as though such forgiveness cares little for justice, it simply
seeks the freedom and the generosity of the human heart; As much for the victim
as the perpetrator. Only then can the world be changed for the better. For
this is a forgiveness offered through yielding to grace and compassion, not claimed
by yet more calculation and design.
I doubt if
I’m alone in this, for one of the great personal barriers I face in this
regard, is the re-winding and the re-running of the so-called video-tape. Keeping
the offence or debt alive in my mind, my heart. And then there is the crazy imagination
game as to what I’d say to that person(s) next time around, just to get
even, to set them straight. Vindication, victory even!
Well, you know, I’ve never known that mind exercise to bring about one
iota of satisfaction or peace, surely never resolution to the problem. It merely
reinforces the bind, both out there, but just as importantly, in here. And to
be frank, Jesus’ teaching on this matter is pointedly directed to in here.
Forgive from the heart, he says, allow the (often) latent capacity that lies
within each and every one of you to have its way and then overflow, as challenging
and as scary as that act of yielding or letting go may be.
Critically, I think, a non-forgiving heart severely limits the person
we are fully able to become. It limits perspective, possibility, trust and intimacy
in relationships. To pick up again the on the 4 seasons scheme, non-forgiveness
is but a perpetual winter; the latent human seed unwilling to be planted for
fear of the shedding, the dying to old habits and attitudes that underneath it
all are crying out to be let go of. It’s all a bit like the poet Dante’s
word picture of hell – not flames, forks and devils – but a thick
lake of ice wherein souls are frozen in tormented shapes and poses, unable to
touch another, unable to feel themselves; an alienation, distance, the very antithesis
of Christ’s vision of a renewed heart and a renewed world. A world or an
experience in his mind that is born of - and shaped by - the flamboyance of God’s
grace. Never calculated, never given so as to achieve a needed result, never
measured out in neat 5ml portions, but merciful, overflowing, unnecessary at
points, wild in its profusion.
You know,
it is remarkable how we have made a systematic theology of such things. Or how
we have been so careful to get the theory of grace just right, that
we still end up thinking or acting that it is only they that deserve it,
who will eventually receive it, including ourselves. And so the cycle of nature
goes on around us reminding us daily of how things really are,
and yet we still gather in religious groupings, pretending life is not like that
at all; some are in, many are out; some are worthy of our love, others are simply
to be avoided.
I don’t
think it’s too big a call to suggest that the whole of the Christian life
and its potential for good and creativity pivots on this one teaching of Christ
about forgiveness. For the question it poses, over and over again, is will we
be a conduit, a channel, an over-flowing reservoir of God’s grace and mercy
by passing such a life-giving spirit and energy along to others, often at personal
cost, or will we try to cling to something that simply cannot be tamed or controlled,
and in the process have a depth and richness of life pass us by?
In other words,
Christianity or a life of faith is not a cautious, calculated and manageable
thing. It is a movement and flow of life-changing grace, into which we are always
invited to plunge. The destination is never fully known, but the quality of the
ride is always guaranteed.
Not unlike
Palmer’s description of Spring, the essence of this potential for life
is a great ‘giveaway of blooming beyond all necessity and reason – given,
it would appear, for no other reason than the sheer joy of it.’
Well, thanks be to God for that.
Let us take
a few moments...
