"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Thursday, 11 September 2008 | |||
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Forgiveness Math | |||
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This Sunday's text,
Matthew 18:21-35, brings us to one of the most difficult aspects of
living out our Christian faith. Yet the business of forgiving others is
at the heart of who we are and what we are about. Throughout Jesus' teaching, from the Lord's Prayer to this parable there runs a thread which inextricably ties the experience of God's forgiveness to the practical act of offering forgiveness to others. To receive divine forgiveness is meant to spur and make possible the forgiving of those who have offended us. Robert Roberts has an excellent analysis of forgiveness in Taking the Word to Heart. He maintains that genuine forgiveness is the management of and eventual relinquishing of anger with the offender. In forgiveness one regards and treats an offender with love rather than anger. But Roberts argues that real forgiveness has two conditions: we can neither exonerate nor condone the offender. That is, we cannot simply offer ourselves an excuse for the offender (he had a bad upbringing, she can't help herself, etc.). If there is an excuse, there is no real blame, and thus nothing really to forgive. Nor can we simply condone the offense, convincing ourselves that nothing wrong was really done. Again when offense is condoned there is nor real wrong and thus no real forgiveness. Roberts then says that Christians forgive for four sorts of reasons: 1) In response to the other person's repentance. 2) Out of compassion, a willingness to relinquish anger for the other's sake. 3) For the sake of relationship (family, friend, etc.). 4) Through recognition of one's own sinfulness (as in our parable for this week). I'll be thinking about what Roberts has said as I develop the sermon for Sunday and thinking about just how hard I personally find this work of forgiveness to be. | |||
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I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
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Beth Remember that film, "Changing Lanes" with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck? Google Roger Ebert's review, since I'm not allowed to put in the html for it. Much of that film is the perfect antithesis of Robert's dictum," genuine forgiveness is the management of and eventual relinquishing of anger with the offender. In forgiveness one regards and treats an offender with love rather than anger." In this film, neither character is willing to relinquish his anger, so forgiveness is out of the question. Instead, each embraces his anger, and feeds it by seeking revenge. Several critics complain about the ending...but Roger Ebert calls it one of the best movies of 2002. It is going to be on FX Monday, Sept. 15, according to IMDb. (09/11/08)
Beth Remember that film, "Changing Lanes" with Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck? Google Roger Ebert's review, since I'm not allowed to put in the html for it. Much of that film is the perfect antithesis of Robert's dictum," genuine forgiveness is the management of and eventual relinquishing of anger with the offender. In forgiveness one regards and treats an offender with love rather than anger." In this film, neither character is willing to relinquish his anger, so forgiveness is out of the question. Instead, each embraces his anger, and feeds it by seeking revenge. Several critics complain about the ending...but Roger Ebert calls it one of the best movies of 2002. It is going to be on FX Monday, Sept. 15, according to IMDb. (09/11/08)