 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The Gospel of Matthew Bible Studies
The Gospel of Mark Bible Studies
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
|
Time After Pentecost – Lectionary 24 (A) Matthew 18:21-35 and Psalm 103 September 14, 2008 I am going to begin today, by taking you on a little stroll down memory lane. Unless you were baptized as an infant, of course, in this case it is something that you may not quite remember, but something that happened for you non-the-less. For those of you who may not yet be baptized, you may consider this a teaching-sermon concerning the significance of being a baptized Christian. First… an excerpt from the Rite of Holy Baptism, found in our Lutheran Book of Worship… This is actually from the part of the Rite that comes after the baptism has already taken place. Think back to when you were first baptized, you are now standing before the entire congregation, the pastor had you turn to face all the people and then he/she said something like this (LBW, 124-125): Through Baptism God has made this new brother or sister a member of the priesthood we all share in Christ Jesus, that we may proclaim the praise of God and bear his creative and redeeming Word to all the world. And then the entire congregation responded—talking to you! We welcome you into the Lord’s family. We receive you as a fellow member of the body of Christ, a child of the same heavenly Father, and a worker with us in the kingdom of God. “A worker with us in the kingdom of God…” Brothers and sisters in Christ.., children of God, this has to do something called our Christian vocation… or our Christian calling. In the promise of Baptism – God has opened to you God’s loving embrace, God has offered you forgiveness of all your sins, the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit to walk with you wherever you go, cleansing from evil, and the promise of eternal life. What this all means is that in your baptism you encountered our gracious heavenly Father… by which you became a worker in God’s kingdom. But this kingdom is not like any kingdom we know of on earth. Listen to how the Old Testament Psalmist described the gracious reign of God (from Psalm 103). LORD, you are full of compassion and mercy, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love; God is patient. God’s love is continual. You will not always accuse us, nor will you keep your anger forever. God does not want us to be in trouble. God does not hold a grudge. You have not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor repaid us according to our iniquities. God does not give us what we deserve when it comes to our sins. For this we can be thankful. For as the heavens are high above the earth, So great is you steadfast love for those who fear you. As far as the east is from the west, So far have you removed our transgressions from us. The depth of God’s love for us is unfathomable. God’s love is greater than we can possibly imagine. Not only that, God—with God’s forgiveness—has the power to separate us from our sin. When the forgiveness of your sins are announced in Christ’s name during the “Brief Order of Confession and Forgiveness” on a Sunday morning, your sins are as far from you as the east is from the west. God is a God who can give you a fresh start. As a father has compassion for his children, So you have compassion for those who fear you, O LORD. Jesus Christ, called God “Abba,” meaning father, in order to express the underlying love and concern that God has for us. This is what is at the root of our relationship with God—a relationship dependant entirely upon God’s grace. At your baptism, your pastor lit a candle and said, “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Meaning, let this enduring love, this forgiveness, this supreme grace that you have encountered in Christ – let this shine out from you into the world… This is what it means to be a Christian. You are a steward of God’s grace. Next, let’s explore the Rite called “Affirmation of Baptism” (LBW, 198). This is otherwise known as the “Confirmation Rite.” To me, this little rite is extremely valuable. It is also extremely underused. We us it for confirmation, and we use it to receive new members at a service, but it can also be used at other times. Whenever someone feels as though they have fallen away from their calling, this would be an appropriate rite to use as a public affirmation of one’s intention to renew their commitment to be a worker in God’s kingdom. Listen to what this says within this rite—this is also what you vowed to do at your confirmation: You have made public profession of your faith. Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism: To live among God’s faithful people, To hear his Word and share in his supper (this is what we are doing at Church on a Sunday morning), To proclaim the good news of God in Christ (forgiveness) through word and deed, To serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus, And to strive for justice and peace in all the earth? Children of God, I read you these portions of our liturgical rites to remind you of what all this means… That in your Baptism—in this relationship, this binding association to God, this covenant—God has entrusted you to shine forth the Grace of God! You are a Christ bearer, an ambassador of Christ. We all are. This is by God’s design—that regular ordinary people (like us) be entrusted with the work of God’s kingdom. Now, as for the Gospel lesson today (from Matthew 18): Peter comes to ask about forgiveness. Can’t you just see him talking to Jesus and saying, “I’m getting sick and tired of the all of the world’s shenanigans. How often do we have to forgive these people? This is when Jesus tells him “not 7 times, Peter. 77 times.” Understand, this is a Hebrew way of speaking—seven being the number which epitomizes “enough” or “completeness.” When Jesus says, “77 times,” or in Luke he says, “7 times 70.” The meaning is important to understand. Jesus is telling Peter here that God’s forgiveness never runs out! Remember this statement—as we move forward with the parable which Jesus tells next—God’s forgiveness never runs out. In the parable, a man is blessed by the grace of God. Forgiven. And then he refuses to show forth that forgiveness with his own life—refuses to give forgiveness to someone else. This represents a misuse of authority, and as the parable tells us, this type of abuse of power does not make the LORD happy. In fact, it is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to take the light God has given you and hide it under the proverbial basket! And God says straight out, “If you refuse to grant forgiveness, I will withhold my forgiveness from you.” Now, before we go too far with this, remember that Jesus, the one telling this parable, began by answering “77 times.” So, the answer to the question you may be asking is this—of course the man can find forgiveness again. God’s forgiveness never runs out. This is where repentance plays such a crucial role in this story and in the experience of reconciliation. Yes, apologies are important. In this story, neither of the characters is forgiven their debts without first coming to a place of remorse. This can also be seen in Genesis 50, the story of Joseph and his brothers. Before forgiveness can occur, the brothers must acknowledge their sin. I believe an underlying concern or theme of this passage is precisely to say that forgiveness does not equal license. On the contrary, forgiveness happens within the framework of the covenant of baptism in which we are “blessed to be a blessing.” This is an important point. And now I must preach this text in a certain way, because of how this text has been misused: Too often this passage about forgiveness is used to beat up on people in already abusive situations. For example, “My husband (or my parent) is beating me up, but I must continue to forgive him because I’m a “good Christian.” No. Forgiveness does not equal license or becoming an enabler. Too often forgiveness has also been used by Christians to promote a Christian apathy. “Who are we to get involved.” “Me, a ‘forgiving’ Christian!” Children of God, this type of hands-off approach is also an abuse of the power God has given you. I’m going to read to you next from an address made by Elie Wiesel on the day he won the Nobel Peace prize. “Night” was the title of a book that he wrote and it recounts the experiences of him and his father in a Nazi concentration camp during WWII. I believe this is a very important book and I hope people will read it because we need to be people who face the truth about the world we live in. While we may experience the light of Christ, we must also recognize the darkness, the need, the “night” of the world. Elie Wiesel: I remember: it happened yesterday, or eternities ago. A young Jewish boy discovered the Kingdom of Night. I remember his bewilderment, I remember his anguish. It all happened so fast. The ghetto. The deportation. The sealed cattle car. The fiery altar upon which the history of our people and the future of mankind were meant to be sacrificed. I remember he asked his father, “Can this be true? This is the twentieth century, not the Middle Ages. Who would allow such crimes to be committed? How could the world remain silent?” And now the boy is turning to me. “Tell me,” he asks, “what have you done with my future, what have you done with your life?” And I tell him that I have tried. That I have tried to keep memory alive, that I have tried to fight those who would forget. Because if we forget, we are guilty, we are accomplices. And then I explain to him how naďve we were, that the world did know and remained silent. And that is why I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant. Wherever men and women are persecuted because of their race, religion, or political views, that place must—at that moment—become the center of the universe… There is so much to be done, there is so much that can be done. One person…of integrity can make a difference, a difference of life and death. As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs. This is what I say to the young Jewish boy wondering what I have done with his years. It is in his name that I speak to you and that I express to you my deepest gratitude as one who has emerged form the Kingdom of Night. We know that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering; not to share them would mean to betray them. Our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those who need us desperately. As Christians, we also say our lives do not belong to us alone; that we belong to Christ. In the promise of Baptism, God has claimed you in a loving embrace, God has offered you the forgiveness of our sins, the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit to accompany in your journey through this lifetime, cleansing from all sin and the promise of eternal life. Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism: To live among God’s faithful people, To hear his Word and share in his supper (this is what we are doing at Church on a Sunday morning), To proclaim the good news of God in Christ (forgiveness) through word and deed, To serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus, And to strive for justice and peace in all the earth?
Let us pray.
Gracious Lord, through water and the Spirit you have made these men and women your own. You forgave them all their sins and brought them to newness of life. Continue to strengthen them with the Holy Spirit, and daily increase in them your gifts of grace: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence; through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord.
Amen -------------------- Pastor Joshua Magyar 418 W. Main St. Sidney, MT 59270
|
||||
