Sermon by Rev. Dr. Dawn Berry
Jesus’ Equation
Matthew 18:21-35
Romans 14:1-12
“So, then, each of us will be accountable to God.” Romans 14:12
As people were interviewed following Hurricane Katrina, I
heard a common refrain: “Not in
This fourth anniversary of September eleventh brings to mind
images of the falling towers and again the refrain: “Not in
At one of the many services we had during that time, I
shared the words of the Rev. Dr. Howard Thurman, who was Dean Emeritus of the
Marsh Chapel,
“During these turbulent times we must remind ourselves repeatedly that life goes on. This we are apt to forget. The wisdom of life transcends our wisdoms; the purpose of life outlasts our purposes; the process of life cushions our processes…Let us not be deceived. It is just as important as ever to attend to the little graces by which the dignity of our lives is maintained and sustained. Birds still sing; the stars continue to cast their gentle gleam over the desolation of the battlefields, and the heart is still inspired by the kind word and the gracious deed. There is no need to fear evil. There is every need to understand what it does, how it operates in the world, what it draws upon to sustain itself. We must not shrink from the knowledge of the evilness of evil. Over and over we must know that the real target of evil is not destruction of the body, the reduction to rubble of cities; the real target of evil is to corrupt the spirit of [man] and to give to [his] soul the contagion of inner disintegration. When this happens, there is nothing left, the very citadel of [man] is captured and laid waste. Therefore the evil in the world around us must not be allowed to move from without to within. This would be to be overcome by evil. To drink the beauty that is within reach, to clothe one’s life with simple deeds of kindness, to keep alive a sensitiveness to the movement of the spirit of God in the quietness of the human heart and in the workings of the human mind – this is as always the ultimate answer to the great deception.”[1]
On this Sunday, September 11, 2005, the Gospel lesson is about forgiveness. Peter asks Jesus how many times he should forgive someone who sins against him. Seven times? Jesus responds with his own equation in the realm of God – seventy-seven times. The seventy-seven times alludes to a story in Genesis 4 about Lamech, Cain’s great, great, great grandson. Lamech proudly boasts to his wives that he will avenge himself seventy-sevenfold on anyone who dares to attack him. Forgiveness, then, is presented by Jesus as the antonym of revenge.
The parable Jesus tells sets forgiveness in the context of settling accounts. The king, rather than settle an account by extracting vengeance, forgives a servant’s debt. If the debt was not forgiven, the servant and his family would have been imprisoned and abused in many ways. But the servant, in turn, does not show the same mercy and puts the squeeze on a fellow servant which enrages the once merciful king. Remember parables are not allegories.
We live in a world of much violence and terrible acts of retribution and revenge which is reflected in the settling of accounts in Jesus’ parable. For this reason, Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven may be compared to, not the kingdom of heaven is like. The kingdom of heaven is the alternative vision where forgiveness reigns, rather than revenge; a kingdom where the enemy is loved rather than having to pay an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth; a kingdom where we forgive our debtors as our debts have been forgiven; a kingdom where the word heard from the cross was not “Father, avenge me,” but “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” It is Jesus’ equation of forgiveness, 77 times. This is the true reality, we who follow him, give witness to as we pray “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Forgiveness is not simply for the sake of the offender, but for the restoration of our own humanity. It is Jesus’ equation for which each one of us will be accountable to God.