Sunday, 13 September 2026
The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity
On the 23rd August I preached at my home Church of St Oswald’s Rugby. That day the Gospel reading concerned Peter’s confession of faith and his declaring Jesus as the Christ, or Messiah.
Following on from Peter’s confession the Gospel story turns towards the gathering dark clouds of Calvary, and Jesus begins to try and prepare his disciples to see just what kind of Messiah he is and what path he is going to follow.
On the subsequent Sundays we
might entitle them as, ‘Life Lessons with Peter and Rabbi Jesus.’
The first lesson came hard
on Peter’s confession and hard on Peter’s heart and ears. “Get behind me
Satan.”
Peter learns, and we are
invited to learn, as we read in Isaiah 55.8-9…
For my thoughts are not your
thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
For as the heavens are
higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Then last week we have a
lesson to learn about reconciliation and about a practical process of seeking
to be reconciled. And crucially if not somewhat uncomfortably, we note that reconciliation
may not always be possible.
And then this morning
picking up on this life lesson Peter thinks he has it cracked and so asks if he
should forgive his brother seven times. Interestingly there is a Jewish
tradition of forgiving three times. So, Peter may think he is doing well here
and especially choosing such a number as seven, often taken to denote
completeness in biblical thought. That sounds like a good Biblical number. No,
Jesus replies, but rather seventy times seven, which doesn’t mean 490 times!
And this number seven and
seventy times seven is not plucked out of the air. It is the same formula we
see in Genesis 4.23-24
“Lamech said to his wives,
Adah and Zillah, “Listen to me, wives of Lamech; hear my words. I have killed a
man for wounding me, a young man for injuring me. If Cain is avenged seven
times, then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
In this passage from
Genesis, we hear the words of Lamech, who is a descendant of Cain. He’s
speaking to his wives, Adah and Zillah, and his remarks unveil a culture of
violence that seems to have escalated since Cain killed his brother Abel.
Lamech boldly states that he has killed a man for wounding him. His actions
express a sense of vengeance far exceeding that of Cain’s. In fact, Lamech
asserts that if Cain was to receive revenge sevenfold, then he would receive
revenge seventy-sevenfold.
Revenge feeds revenge and
sets in motion a vicious cycle.
Forgiveness creates the
possibility of breaking that cycle.
Then to make his point,
Jesus does what Jesus does and tells a story of a forgiven servant who doesn’t
offer the same grace and mercy he has just received to a fellow servant.
This is fleshed out in all
senses of that word in 1 John 1.19-21.
We love because he first
loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or
sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister,
whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And
he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their
brother and sister.
And note if you will the
king forgives the debt and sets him free as a grace gift – nothing required, a
free gift of grace, salvation offered without cost to the recipient, but at a
cost borne by the king. Ponder on what this might be saying to us.
But then the now freed
person enslaves himself again by not offering the same grace and mercy he has
just received and finds himself locked up and being tortured.
Which is often what
harbouring hatred and seeking revenge does, locks us up, closes us down and can
bring pain and suffering.
And then we step into the
whole world of forgiveness, and it is hard to think of saying anything that
hasn’t already been said or discussing anything that hasn’t been discussed.
But please allow me to say a
few things, to highlight some of the thinking and reflecting and experience
around forgiveness.
First off, forgiveness is
central to the Christian Faith and offers a way of living that reflects God’s
kingdom. It breaks the cycle of revenge and retribution as outlined by Lamech.
But one of the key things
about forgiveness is to learn what it isn’t?
It isn’t saying, ‘O it
doesn’t matter.’ Well, in some cases it
doesn’t matter. If you came into Church this morning and you accidently spilt
some water all over me, well, that’s pretty straightforward.
However, if you came into
Church in a rage about something and deliberate threw water all over me, and
maybe for good measure threw the glass at me as well, now that’s something of a
different order altogether.
My wife’s great niece, a lovely girl just finishing Uni and home to celebrate mum’s birthday, was tragically killed by a car while out for an evening with friends on October 9th 2022.
However, this wasn’t simply
an awful tragic accident. This accident came about because a young man, high on
drugs and drink and driving a powerful car weaponised his vehicle and drove
purposefully into a crowd of people outside an All-Night Eatery. The awful
long, drawn-out court case saw him convicted of murder and receive a long jail
sentence.
Now it simply wouldn’t have
been right for her parents to say, O it doesn’t matter and we forgive him
anyway.
It did matter and it does
matter and when it does matter we need to say so.
However, there are some
truly remarkable stories of those who have their sons and daughters murdered
and then finding forgiveness and eventually in some cases a reconciliation with
the perpetrator.
I watched a short video of
one such case from ‘The Forgiveness Project’ (one of the Founders was Desmund
Tutu). The mother of a murdered son made the journey of meeting with his killer
in jail. She talks about how she was filled with rage and anger. She began by
saying that she did not know him, he did not her, he did not know her son whom
he had murdered.
At the end of their
conversation, she offered to give him a hug and as she did, she said she felt
something starting in her feet and going right up her body and felt all the
bitterness, anger and rage leaving her body.
(www.theforgivenessproject.com)
I am a volunteer with Prison
Fellowship and a Volunteer with the Chaplaincy at HMP Rye Hill. This is the sharp edge of where forgiveness –
or not, is everywhere and is palpable.
Sadly, I would say our prison system in the eyes of most of the public is predicated on punishment and retribution. Restorative justice and rehabilitation are viewed as soft, woke, leftwing. Lock them up in a hard regime for a long time. If you can’t do the time don’t do the crime.
Thankfully people like James
Timpson, of the family firm, Timpson’s and allied Max Speillman, take a
different view. They have been working in prisons for some years giving the
inmates a skill set and then seeking to employ prison leavers. And there are other companies that do the
same. In HMP Onley there is a café used by the staff, run by the ‘residents’ with
the backing of Greene King.
Another thing that
forgiveness is not is forgetting, especially if real injustice or harm has been
done. That needs to be addressed.
And then there are times
when a long-standing sleight has rumbled on through generations of families.
These sometimes pop up at family gathering like funerals or even weddings.
I have some of those in my
family, and perhaps you do as well.
One thing we know for
certain is that unforgiveness is ugly and distorts and robs people of peace. It
can grow and fester like the worst kind of cancer. It can bring on physical and
mental maladies and illness.
Paul who suffered much
physical abuse wrote in Romans 12:17-18, “Do not repay anyone evil for
evil. Carefully consider what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is
possible on your part, live at peace with everyone. Do not avenge yourselves,
beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: ‘Vengeance is Mine;
I will repay, says the Lord.’
There is more than can be
said about forgiveness, much, much more.
Can I invite you this week
to explore some of the remarkable stories of forgiveness, like the one I
mentioned of the mother forgiving her son’s killer and then seeking to develop
a relationship with him.
Maybe watch ‘Les
Misérables’ a story of grace, redemption, restoration and the policeman
Javert who only sees the letter of the law, his inflexibility leading to his
death by his own hand.
I can commend the book, ‘UNFORGIVEABLE - exploring the limits of forgiveness.’ by Stephen Cherry which explores some of the complexities around forgiveness.
Then consider if you are
carrying any resentment, any unresolved issue of forgiveness towards another
person. Are you able to move into a place of forgiveness? And you might want to consider if it
is right to make contact and offer an apology if you have wronged someone. Even
from years ago.
However, if you are going
down this route, if it was something serious, then tread with caution and care.
But remember carrying
unforgiveness can rob you of your peace, and even your health and wellbeing.
On Tuesday last I was in HMP
Rye Hill taking part in a course, ‘Living with Loss’ with a focus on
bereavement.
And I told a Native American
story…
An old Cherokee tells his
grandson that a fight is happening inside him between two wolves:
- The “evil” wolf:
anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self‑pity, guilt,
resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, ego.
- The “good” wolf:
joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence,
empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, faith.
When the grandson asks which
wolf wins, the elder replies: “The one you feed.”
No comments:
Post a Comment