Forgiving

I preached this sermon on the second Sunday of Lent. The subject is forgiveness -- not Jesus' forgiveness of us, but our forgiveness of others. We all have a terrible time forgiving people who have hurt us. Maybe my sermon will help you understand why it's so important.

This morning, we continue our consideration of Jesus’ last words from the cross. Specifically, we continue to look at how those words reflect the human Jesus. For some words, that’s easier than for others When we considered his word of abandonment last week (“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”), it wasn’t hard to understand how a human Jesus could say such a thing. After all, we have all asked God that very same question during our own lives. But Jesus’ word of forgiveness from the cross is another story completely.

“Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.” (Luke 23:34) Even while Jesus hung dying on the cross, he prayed that God might forgive the people who were killing him. That couldn’t have been an easy thing for him to pray. After all, remember what he had experienced. After Jesus was arrested in Gethsemane, he was taken before an illegal court session on a trumped-up charge. He was convicted on false evidence offered by liars. After being handed over to the Roman authorities, he was beaten and ridiculed. He was crowned with a circle of thorns, and forced to carry his own cross to the place of execution. Nails were driven through his hands and feet, and he was left to die suspended on a wooden crosspiece in the hot sun. What human being could possibly pray for the people who did all those things? It tempts us to believe that this prayer must be from a divine Jesus who loves with God’s infinite love. After all, his forgiveness includes everyone involved in his death – not just the Roman soldiers who nailed him to the cross, but also the Jewish council who handed him over to Pilate, Judas who handed him over to the Jewish council, and the disciples who ran away when the going got tough. It seems to us that only God could offer that kind of forgiveness.

But in fact, Jesus wanted us to do the very same thing. He talked more than once about the importance of forgiveness. If someone wrongs you, Jesus told Peter, forgive that person even more than seven times. Forgive them seventy-seven times. (Matthew 18:22) Forgive that person so many times that you lose count! And do you remember Matthew’s parable of the unforgiving servant (18:23-35)? He refused to forgive a fellow servant a tiny debt even though his master has just forgiven an enormous debt that he owed himself. He was condemned for his callous actions. “Forgive,” says Jesus (Luke 6:37) “and you will be forgiven.” Forgiveness isn’t only something that God does. Jesus expects us to do it, too.

But forgiveness is a very hard thing to offer. It’s a lot easier to dwell on the hurts that we have suffered than to accept what happened and move on. The trouble is that if we don’t offer forgiveness, we become trapped in a spider’s web of anger, resentment, and hate. We might even start to think about revenge in the name of justice. We don’t see the people who hurt us getting their just desserts, so instead of trusting that God will deal with the situation in God’s time and in God’s wisdom, we decide to take matters into our own hands. And in the process, we only hurt ourselves. Revenge is a dish that always comes back to poison the one who serves it. But hate is so easy. Revenge appears to be so sweet, and forgiveness is so difficult. Sometimes it even seems to be impossible. How could we possibly forgive someone who intentionally hurt one of us or one of our loved ones?  Surely no one could do that!

But, in fact, we’ve seen that kind of forgiveness not that long ago. Back in October of 2006, a deranged gunman entered an Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He shot ten young girls in the back of the head before committing suicide. The response of the bereaved parents was almost unbelievable. Instead of calling for revenge, the Amish community chose to forgive. The grandfather of one of the victims insisted, “We must not think evil of this man,” while one of the fathers reminded us, “He had a mother and a wife and a soul, and now he’s standing before a just God.” When the media asked for an explanation of their reaction, one of their members said, "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive; and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way, but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts." And that’s exactly what they did. Amish community members comforted the shooter’s wife, parents, and parents-in-law. One Amish man reportedly held the shooter’s father for over an hour while he wept uncontrollably. 30 of the Amish community attended the funeral of the shooter; and they set up a charitable fund to benefit his family. In an open letter to her Amish neighbors, the shooter’s wife thanked them for their forgiveness, grace, and mercy. She wrote, "Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. Gifts you've given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you." “Love your enemies,” said Jesus, “and pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28) That’s what the bereaved Amish community did; and they set an example of forgiveness for all of us.

In his word from the cross, Jesus not only set a model for our own forgiveness; he even gave us a reason that we should forgive others. “Father, forgive them; because they don’t know what they’re doing.” That deranged man who shot Amish children in cold blood probably didn’t know what he was doing. He wasn’t thinking rationally. And although we may not be mentally ill, we don’t know what we’re doing most of the time, either. Usually it’s not a big thing, and we don’t even realize what we’ve done. When a new mother brags about her baby to a young couple, she may not know that they are struggling with infertility issues. She doesn’t see them weeping together in the night because the child that they want so desperately can’t be conceived. They are deeply hurt; and the one who caused them so much pain never even knew it. No, we don’t know what we’re doing. So if we expect people to forgive us for the hurtful things that we do to them, then we have to forgive them for all the hurtful things that they do to us.

In the end, forgiveness is our response to the realization that we are all imperfect human beings who live in an imperfect world. We don’t know everything. And so, with the best of intentions, we do things that are hurtful instead of helpful. We give in to temptations so easily. Because we want power and status, we step on people who are in our way. And because we’re often busy or rushed or just plain lazy, we don’t take the actions that we should. While we strive to get what we want, we neglect people who don’t even have what they need.

“Father, forgive them; because they don’t know what they’re doing.” Jesus has forgiven us so often! Maybe during this season of Lent, we could so some forgiving ourselves.