April 14, 2024
The Rev. Todd R. Goddard, Pastor
Rush United Methodist Church
Luke 24:36b-48
While they were talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?”
They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate in their presence.
Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”
Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.
| Centering Prayer |
A number of years ago
The Gallup Organization
surveyed a large sampling of Americans and discovered
94% said that it is important to forgive,
85% said they needed some outside help to be able to forgive,
Yet, only 48% said that they usually try to forgive.
Help often comes from organized religion.
Indeed, forgiveness is central to
Judaism, Islam, BahaI, Buddhism, Hinduism, and many others.
And forgiveness is one of the highest ideals of following Jesus.
Jesus practiced forgiveness.
Jesus taught forgiveness.
Jesus continues to be the example that guides our attempts at forgiveness today.
When the risen Jesus tells his disciples,
And by extension, Jesus tells us today,
That we are to proclaim repentance and forgiveness
In the name of Jesus to all nations,
I’m thinking to myself,
“This, O Lord, is a mountain
I’m going to need help moving.”
“I need your help, O Lord,
For me to forgive
All those who have wronged me”
Throughout my life.
According to Gallup
I am an eighty-five percenter.
I can understand why less than half of us are even willing to try.
I need outside help.
I need God’s help.
I suspect many of you need help with forgiveness, too.
We need the Lord’s help because the list is long
And, the older we get,
The longer it grows.
My list begins with Mark Tober
Who punched me when I was in the 7th grade while I was walking my dog past his house.
He punched and bloodied me
Simply because he could.
It includes people who’ve
Rejected me,
Lied to me,
Misled me,
Laughed at me,
Betrayed me,
And people who have left me when I’ve fallen or failed.
We need our Lord’s help because the list includes
Some people who have cut deep;
Who’ve cut long,
Who have so traumatized by their words and behavior
That it has become nearly impossible to let go of them.
We obsess.
Our thoughts continue to hit the replay button in our memory.
We toss and turn at night.
Thoughts throughout the day are highjacked without our permission.
Time scabs over the old wound, but it never heals it.
Our thoughts exaggerate some circumstances and diminish others.
We allow ourselves to attach judgment
with words like shameful, sinful, and evil.
We justify ourselves,
While at the same time,
We condemn those who we feel
Have sinned against us.
You think I don’t know the baggage you are carrying?
Yeah, right.
I’m carrying the same backpack full of bricks, too.
This is why we – you and I – need the help of Christ.
Without Jesus
We sit and stew.
Without Jesus
We boil until we burn.
We burn and become the hell that everyone of us fears.
The fire and brimstone of hell
To be feared isn’t only found in the afterlife,
It breeds and grows in the unrepentant, unforgiving
Stubbornness that we refuse to give up
Right here in this life.
“Thus it is written,” Jesus says,
“that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day,
and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name
to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
You are witnesses of these things.”
(Luke 24:45b-48)
For Jesus,
repentance and forgiveness go hand in hand.
They mark the beginning and end of his earthly ministry.
Even though he was sinless,
Jesus received a baptism of repentance.
Jesus spoke forgiveness on the cross:
“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”
(Luke 23:34)
And in his resurrection, Jesus speaks repentance and forgiveness to us today.
Repentance stops sin dead in its tracks.
Repentance requires making a complete change
FROM pursuing our will,
TO surrendering our will;
FROM living a self-centered life,
TO pursuing God’s will.
Repentance demands that we don’t forget.
We don’t repeat the mistakes of our past.
Repentance breaks the dam of resistance
Allowing the grace of forgiveness to flow:
Between one another
And with our God.
Sometimes forgiveness is for
what others have done to us;
Sometimes it is for
what we’ve done to others.
For Jesus, he doesn’t appear to distinguish between the two.
“Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.”
(Matthew 6:12)
The point is, forgiving others
Helps in obtaining forgiveness from others.
The world’s need for forgiveness
May appear to be overwhelming
To everyone except for God,
Yet, Jesus makes the point
That forgiveness begins when
you and I decide to take
that courageous first step.
Forgiveness for our sins includes
Intentional self-awareness.
It might take working with a professional,
or simply a friend,
To crack open the inner soul
and make a thorough assessment
Of how, when, where, and to whom
Transgressions have occurred.
Forgiveness for the harm that we have done includes
Humility; a willingness to subject ourselves
To the consequences of the pain we have caused.
We are being called to create the world of forgiveness;
Where forgiveness practiced is a core value,
Such that forgiveness permeates every place we travel
And every chapter we are privileged to live.
Forgiveness flows
When we follow the example of Christ,
And, before you know it,
becomes contagious.
It returns to us
Spreading across our network of family and friends.
The life of Jesus was lived oozing forgiveness,
And so should ours today.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Is core to the teaching of Jesus:
It is all about forgiveness.
A forgiving father receives his repentant son home
And serves as an example to a spiteful older brother still working in the fields.
Collective forgiveness is the heart of the Lord’s Prayer.
“My Father” is replace by “Our Father”,
Indicating the depth and breadth required
Of effort and resources
To correct for past sins.
When questioned about quantity
Jesus responded to Peter’s question about forgiveness
By telling him to multiply it by 70 fold;
Seven times seventy times.
Jesus teaches about forgiveness with the
Parable of the Unforgiving servant.
(Matthew 18:21-35)
From Jordan River
To the Mount of Beatitudes,
From the cross on Calvary
To our third resurrection appearance experienced this morning:
Jesus taught forgiveness
By word and deed.
Jesus talked the talk
And walked the walk,
Teaching and modeling how his disciples
Are to create the world were forgiveness
Becomes the new normal;
Where hatred, grudges, and vengeance
Cease to exist and comes to an end.
Isn’t this what Christ really wants?
An end to all that separates us
One from the other?
Doesn’t Christ really want us
To end all that drives us apart from
The love and grace of our Heavenly Father?
…
Lastly, allow me to dispel the myth
That forgiveness is a sign of weakness,
As Machiavelli (and others) would suggest.
It is not.
Many will taunt us with the mistaken and misguided belief
that only the vanquished can forgive.
Jesus teaches us otherwise.
Forgiveness is great power to the powerless.
It becomes a preferred, selfless approach to servanthood.
Those who have power, lose it.
Those who have nothing
will be given the whole world.
Anyone can hold a grudge.
It takes a bigger man or woman
To forgive,
To heal,
And to move on.
Jesus is the beginning of forgiveness;
But it doesn’t end there.
Forgiveness is God’s grace
That is entrusted to the stewardship of every disciple of Christ.
The ability and will to create
God’s kingdom on earth
Anchored upon forgiveness
It the gift of Jesus to you and me.
By his command
Repentance and forgiveness of sins
Is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.
May we accept this responsibility
By our words
And by our actions.
Amen.
Breaking Yokes 