Sermon: September 17, 2023

Reading: Matthew 18:21-35

Emotionally, forgiveness can be the hardest work we’ve ever done because it requires us to face our pain and hurt. Holding on to that hurt only draws us down into a dark suffocating emotional pit. By going through the process of forgiveness, we can release the pain, so we are no longer chained to the person or event that hurt us. Forgiveness allows us to breathe in God’s love.

Forgiveness isn’t just pointing at someone and recognizing that they did something wrong. Forgiveness begins by recognizing that we experience God’s amazing grace in the midst of our own shortcomings. It begins by recognizing our own human imperfection - that within ourselves, there’s weakness.

The best of people sin in thought, word, and deed. In recognizing this common ground of our humanity, we no longer objectify the other as our enemy and seek revenge. We now see them as fellow human beings who are broken just like we are. Out of our brokenness, we can hurt another, and it’s out of recognizing that we are all broken that we can begin to forgive.

Forgiving someone who has hurt us can be difficult, especially if it happens time and time again. But forgiveness doesn’t mean tolerating abuse, and it doesn’t mean putting up with abuse. That isn’t forgiveness. Forgiveness doesn’t mean the offense is excused, or justice isn’t served. It doesn’t mean that what happened is forgotten about. Forgiving is remembering so that it doesn’t happen again. Forgiveness is shining the light of Christ into the darkness of the pain and into the wound the hurt created. It’s opening ourselves to experience the healing love of Jesus Christ. Forgiveness frees us from being locked in the past to a particular moment with a person or event. It allows us to move into the future. Offering forgiveness allows us to breathe again.

“Lord, how many times are we to forgive?” And Jesus says, “You always forgive.”

May the shimmering light of Christ’s love and forgiveness shine in our hearts, in our lives, and in our actions so we can strengthen our relationships, loving one another as Jesus loves us, and share that love with the world. And by following Jesus’ example of offering forgiveness, may we and all of humanity be healed emotionally and spiritually, leading us from prejudice to truth, from anger and hatred to God’s love. A love that breaks down the walls that can divide us, enabling us to do the work we have been given to do: to share the mercy, forgiveness, and compassion of Jesus Christ with our sisters and brothers, allowing all of humanity to breathe in the love of God.