Proper 19 A
September 11, 2011
St. Barnabas
Episcopal Church
The Rev. Valerie Hart
Exodus 14:19-31
Matthew 18:21-35
Unlike
some denominations, in the Episcopal Church the preacher does not get to choose
the readings for any given day. So here we are on the tenth anniversary of
September 11th and we have the readings that are part of our regular
three year lectionary. We hear about the great story of the Exodus and the
people of Israel escaping from exile in Egypt. We have Paul talking about how
we should not judge others who choose to live out their Christian life in a
different way. And we have Jesus making it very clear that for Christians we
are to forgive.
During
this past week as I thought about September 11th and I thought about
these three readings there were a lot ways to go in the sermon. Let me start
with the first reading, with this great story of the Exodus. We all know it.
Many of us may remember Charlton Heston standing with his rod and the sea just
parting in front of him. It is the iconic story of the Jewish people. It is
when God takes them out of slavery and brings them into freedom. We read it at
the Easter vigil because it is pivotal in salvation history. But when I read it
this week what struck me about it was not the Israelites getting across the
water, but them turning around and seeing the Egyptians getting caught in the
mud and great waves coming down over the chariots, the Egyptians and the
horses.
One
of the ways that Jewish Rabbis work with scripture is that they’ll tell stories
around it. There is a rabbinical tale that God decided to take a couple of days
off and made an archangel in charge of the world. When he came back he saw
everybody in heaven was rejoicing. He said, “Why are you rejoicing?” They responded, “It’s wonderful,
your people the Israelites are free from slavery.” Then God started to cry.
They asked him, “Why are you crying?” and he said, “My children, the Egyptians,
are dying.”
We
all know the story that you see in movies. It doesn’t matter whether it is a western,
or its science fiction, or its James Bond. There are the good guys, and there
are the bad guys, and at some point in time the bad guys get it. We all kind of
cheer when the death star explodes and the hundreds or thousands of people on
it are killed. And when James bond has done his damage and everything is
blowing up all around, we cheer that the bad guys are all getting killed. It is
part of our culture. It is part of what it means to be human. When the oppressors
get their due, as we would say, there is something pleasing about it.
But
it looked different when I read that Exodus story this week right after reading
the Gospel about where Jesus calls us to forgive, not once, not seven times,
but seventy seven times. When Peter asks should I forgive seven times that, for
him, was a large amount. The Jewish tradition at that point was you should
forgive four times. So he said I’ll do it seven times. Also seven is a number
that represents completeness. Jesus said “No, seventy seven times.” More than
complete - infinite times.
It
is natural for human beings to want revenge, but not for Christians. It is
normal in history, for over and over again you see it, that those who have been
oppressed, when they get their freedom become oppressors. But not for Christians.
It is normal when we are hurt to want to hurt back, but not for Christians.
Human beings biologically, evolutionary wise, are not made for forgiveness.
That’s not “natural”. You don’t see forgiveness in the natural world. Instead
we are like children. If you look at a small children on the playground you’ll
see that when a kid hits another, they get hit back. It’s just what we do.
That’s what’s natural. But it’s not for Christians. We are biologically
designed for the fight or flight response. That when we feel attacked or afraid
our bodies have this whole complex thing that goes on where hormones are put
out and the blood leaves the inner organs so it can be in the muscles so that
we are strong in our arms if we want to fight and we have lots of energy in our
legs if we need to run. And we are all set. There have been psychological
studies where if you give this hormone to people and half have had that hormone
and half haven’t, the ones who had that hormone, if somebody does some small
thing to irritate them, get really angry because their body is ready to react. It
is not a choice - our bodies do it. It’s natural to want revenge. But it is not
Christian. It is not what Christ calls us to.
When
we are deeply hurt, deeply wounded, when someone we have trusted has betrayed
us, when we have been abused, when we have been physically injured, when
someone we love has been physically injured or killed, when a monstrous things
happens and we are deeply, deeply wounded, it is more comfortable to be angry than
to feel the pain of the lose and grief. You often see this in families. When one member of the family dies, the
rest are busy trying to decide whose fault was it? When my husband’s
grandmother died and we were sitting around in the funeral home and going to
lunch, the whole family was asking questions. Was it the doctor’s fault for not
curing her from her cancer? Was it her daughter’s fault because she was living
with her and she should have noticed and gotten her to the doctor sooner?” Was
it the fault of some chemical; was it the fault of some company? Whose fault is
it? The family wanted to be able to be angry because that is more comfortable
than feeling the loss and the pain. When we can find someone to blame, when we
can stay in our anger, we can be focused on doing something, we can go out
there and see what we can do to try and make them hurt as much as we hurt. Anger
is energizing. With anger you have something to do. When you are angry you feel
power. But when you sit with the grief at the loss there is nothing to do. When
you sit with the pain and the grief there is no power and energy there. You
just have to be… in the pain. So in order to really forgive, this difficult,
difficult and unnatural thing to do, we have to experience the pain. It is what
Christians do,
There
is a story of two monks, an older monk and younger monk who were on a journey.
At one point they got into a squabble about something insignificant. The younger
monk got angry and slapped the older monk, and the older monk, pulled back.
Then he wrote in the sand exactly what had been done to him. They walked on for
a while. Later on the older monk fell in a hole and the younger monk risked his
own life to get the older monk out and saved him. Then the older monk took a rock
and engraved upon the rock what the young man had done. The young monk said how
come when I hurt you, you wrote it in the sand, but when I helped you, you
engraved it on a rock. And the older monk said, “Because the times you hurt me
I want over time for it to just get blown away, but the times you help me I
don’t want to ever forget.”
Forgiveness
is like that. It’s not something that we just will. It’s not something that we
can do alone, especially for really significant pain. But it is something we open
ourselves up to the possibility of by offering it to God and asking for God’s
help, By asking God to help us in that most unnatural of things which is real forgiveness,
that most difficult of things, which is to be with the pain and let it go.
Nine
eleven was a horrible experience for all of us. There was deep loss, deep pain.
I am sure some of you, like me, have watched the things on TV reflecting on it.
I have seen interviews with people who amazingly have taken great lose and
turned it around so that it has empowered them to be instruments of positive
things in the world. And I saw an interview with people who got hurt by the anger
that was around after nine eleven - the judgments of people who are different
than we are. I also saw interviews with people who are still struggling with
the pain and the loss. There
is something in humanity that wants revenge and that day when Osama Ben Laden
was killed I didn’t know how to feel. There was a sense of relief. And yet, I
couldn’t celebrate the death of a human being. Somehow to see the pictures of
people gathering at the white house to celebrate, that’s very human, but it’s
not Christian. There are so many feelings and emotions that we struggle with,
even after ten years, after something so significant and powerful. We each
respond in our own way. We each find healing in our own way. And we each reach
a sense of forgiveness and peace in our own way.
So
I would like to lead us in some prayers today. One of the prayers that was
suggested by Bishop Mary is on page 815 in the red prayer book in your pew. It
is prayer number 3, For the Human Family.
Please join me
Oh God, you made us in your own
image and redeemed us through Jesus your son, look with compassion on the whole
human family. Take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts, break
down the walls that separate us, unite us in bonds of love and work through our
struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth, that in your good
time all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly
thrown, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
And I’d like to invite you to join
me in the prayer attributed to St. Francis, which is on page 833.
Lord make us instruments of your
peace where there is hatred let us sow love, where there is injury, pardon,
where there is discord, union, where there is doubt, faith, where there despair,
hope, where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be
consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to
love. For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are
pardoned and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
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