Controlling Nuclear Meltdown

           

 

Genesis 50:15-21

Matt 18:21-35

 

            I’d like you to help me out with a little exercise. Imagine it is the winter of 2015. It’s the start of the worship service. We are doing the familiar order of confession. So would you all stand and turn again to page one of your worship folder as we transport ourselves to 2015, and we’ll take it from here: Most merciful God,

            We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name.

 

            Almighty God, in his mercy, has given his Son to die for us, but sorry folks, no forgiveness this week. In fact, you’re never going to hear those words of forgiveness again.

            If you recall when Peter asked Jesus how many times we are to forgive people, Jesus answered, “70 x 7,” which comes to 490 times. As a pastor, I have now pronounced the words of forgiveness for the 490^th week of my career. So, the statute of limitations has run out. I won’t forgive you any more. You don’t get any more chances. From now on every sin goes on your record and it stays there, and it will haunt you the rest of your life and probably through all eternity. Good luck.

 

            Shall we sing the entrance hymn?

 

            There are two reasons I did that. First, I think we all tend to take God’s forgiveness for granted, and this might help with that. Second, when you take the Bible literally, that’s the kind of thing that could happen. As usual, we need to take a more serious look at what Jesus meant by that that little math problem in today’s gospel. 

 

            A couple of weeks ago, we talked about the keys of the kingdom and how Jesus gave them to the disciples with these words: “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”

            And we saw how in John, Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the disciples with these similar words: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

            From that we concluded that one of the powers of the keys of the kingdom is the power to forgive or to retain sins.

 

            Which seems at first like a real power trip. As a follower of Christ, I have been given the power to forgive anyone I want or to deny forgiveness whenever I feel like. I get to say who’s forgiven and who isn’t. I have the power over other people’s souls. They are at my mercy.

 

            That sounds so unchristian that we need to step back and ask what that power to forgive or retain sins really means.

            To begin with, I don’t need any power from God when it comes to not forgiving people. I can do that all on my own, in fact I’m pretty good it. I can hold grudges, seek revenge, launch vendettas, and refuse to accept apologies without God anywhere in sight. I don’t need the Gospel to give me the power I need to hate people for what they’ve done to me. In fact, being a follower of Jesus actually makes those things harder to do. It takes away my power to do that.

 

            So this power to retain sins business makes me uncomfortable.

 

            Let’s set that aside for a moment and look at the first part of that gift: the power to forgive sins. This is something I can’t do on my own. It goes against my nature to let people do wrong to me and just forget about it. I have to be dragged kicking and screaming into forgiveness. That scenario I described with the kids pretty well describes the reactions of all of us, adult as well as children, when it comes to forgiveness. Look at history; look at our world today. Forgiveness is not what we do. Payback is more our style.

 

            Forgiveness comes from outside ourselves; it is a gift from God. We have to learn it how to use it. The Bible is the instruction manual. Forgiveness is part of that whole love your neighbor thing that Scripture teaches. It is a life-saving gift.

 

            Have you ever been to a nuclear power plant and seen a reactor? They work on the chain reaction principle. One atom plows into another atom. That atom splits in two, releasing energy, and those two pieces zing off to strike two more atoms. Those atoms split, releasing more energy, and the pieces smash into four other atoms. Once this process starts, it can go on indefinitely unleashing more and more energy until it blows up, melts the reactor, and poisons the air for hundreds of miles.

 

            What keeps those smashing atoms under control are graphite and cadmium fuel rods. When inserted into the reactor, they absorb atoms so that fewer are loose zinging around to strike others. Control rods make it possible to keep the whole reaction under control. The only way the atomic pile can get out of control and be dangerous are if there are not enough control rods to absorb the active atoms. 

           

            I think that’s a good analogy for the gift of forgiveness. As part of our daily living, we can’t help but collide with others. Inevitably, somebody does something that hurts another person. That person reacts twice as angrily as the first and lashes back. Which causes an even bigger reaction. Until the whole thing spirals out of control, and the explosion unleashes intense and toxic hatred.

 

            All long-standing wars and trouble spots in the world, from the Middle East to Northern Ireland take this course. All feuds and longstanding grudges takes this course. All revenge and get-even schemes take this course. Most first degree murders take this course. Most estrangement between families and friends takes this course. Somebody hurts somebody else, the chain reaction starts and it accelerates until there is fire and poison everywhere.

 

            What’s the only thing that can stop a chain reaction like that? What can keep it from blowing up families and friendships, business partnerships, alliances, neighbors, communities? Forgiveness.

 

            Forgiveness is the fuel rod that absorbs the enough of the hatred and anger and pain to keep the human race under control.

 

            This is the power Jesus gives. Jesus offers the power to absorb hatred so that neither we nor the creation around us experience meltdown.  

 

            When Peter asked the question how many times should I forgive, he was not being stingy; he was actually being generous. He understood that forgiveness is important in Jesus’ teaching. He was aware of rabbinic law that said to forgive once is admirable, forgiving twice is exemplary. He was also aware that rabbinic law went on to teach that you should not get obsessive about this. If you forgive someone more than three times, now you’re just getting used.

            Peter understood that to Jesus forgiveness is very important and so he offers to go beyond the rabbinic law all the way to the number seven if need be. It’s a strong statement of faith.

             

            Jesus tells him, good, you understand the importance of forgiveness but you don’t quite get the big picture. Forgiveness is what keeps lives from blowing up. It’s what prevents the world from spiraling out of control, spewing toxic hatred everywhere. So he gave him an absurd number. How often should you forgive a person: 70 x 7. In other words, there is no limit on forgiveness. Use as much as you need to prevent meltdown.

 

            To give Peter the big picture, he tells the story of a servant who owes his king a ridiculous debt. Billions and billions of dollars. The servant begs for forgiveness. The king grants it to him.

 

            This, in a nutshell, is the story of Jesus in the world. God’s forgiveness has no limit. No matter how great a debt we rack up, God can and will forgive. This is not to be taken lightly, or taken for granted. Because forgiveness does not prevent damage nor does it fix damage already done. The consequences of sin still have to be dealt with. In this case, there was no way for the servant to clear up the debt. Forgiving the servant meant the king had to eat a tremendous debt. A debt so huge that it could easily have bankrupted his kingdom. Forgiveness is hard to do because it hurts. But the king was willing to do what had to be done in order to stop the chain reaction.

 

            The world has racked up a huge debt, and we continue to add to it day to day. God can forgive all that. God’s forgiveness has no limit. That doesn’t mean forgiveness is easy for God or that this debt leaves no consequences. In the person of Jesus, and his suffering and death on the cross, God had to eat a tremendous debt. God was willing to do that to stop the chain reaction.

 

            That’s what the story has to say about God’s forgiveness. The rest of the story moves the focus to our forgiving.

 

            No one said forgiveness is easy. We get smashed around and broken by those who hurt us. The pain is real. We may suffer permanent damage. The fuel rods of forgiveness do not fix what has been hurt. What was said was said and can’t be taken back. What was done was done and can’t be undone. The question is, can you get enough forgiveness fuel rods in there to absorb the hatred and stop the poison--the poison of vengeful retribution and the poison that flows through our veins and chokes us as we hang on to our feelings of bitterness.

 

            The story from Genesis dramatically shows the pain that has to be overcome if forgiveness is to work. Joseph had once been an obnoxious little brat. His brothers were mean. The bitterness between them accelerated, unchecked by forgiveness, until the brothers plotted murder against Joseph and then sold him into slavery. Joseph eventually ended up in prison before making his comeback.

 

            Only decades later do they make up. The whole thing is awkward, fearful, and emotional. A lot of pain has been dealt out, deep pain and bitterness that changed the entire paths of their lives. Scars remain. But they manage over the course of years and many meetings to get it done. They soak up enough anger and hatred and bitterness, to get the reaction under control, to stop the poison.

 

            Forgiveness is not easy. It’s not easy to ask for it; not easy to give it.

 

            I’m reading a fascinating book called, “Mistakes Were Made, (But Not By Me): why we justify foolish beliefs, bad decisions, and hurtful acts.”

            It shows that much of what we think and do is an effort to protect our self esteem. Although all of us are frequently wrong, we don’t like to face that fact. To protect ourselves, our subconscious becomes good at ignoring facts that prove we are wrong, so that we create plausible explanations why we are not to blame or find someone else to blame. We’re never going to get anywhere as families, as a congregation, as a community, and as a society until learn to put the ego aside, listen to facts, confess when we are wrong, accept forgiveness, and offer it to others.

           

            God has shared the fuel rods of forgiveness with us. Because of God, we know how to forgive. Because of God, we have the capacity to absorb hatred and bitterness before it gets out of control.

 

            OK, that’s power to forgive. Now, back to that power to retain sins. Where does that fit it?

 

            Look at the second part of Jesus’ parable. The servant who was forgiven so much shows no such mercy to his fellow servant, who owes him a little. Has him thrown in jail over a piddling amount. When the king hears about it he is livid, and we find that his seemingly boundless forgiveness does have a limit. Suddenly, there is no more forgiveness for the wicked servant.

 

            The story tells us that God has a limit. An incredibly high limit. In fact, God is willing to forgive just about anything we do. By Jesus going to the cross God showed that he is willing to absorb all the hatred and sin and poison we can produce in our lives. God has enough forgiveness to keep us from destroying ourselves.

 

            With one exception. We cannot throw away the fuel rods of forgiveness that God has given us. We cannot trash them because that forgiveness is God’s plan for soaking up the pain and hatred and bitterness. If we throw away those fuel rods, we will have meltdown, fire and poison everywhere. If we do not forgive, creation blows out of control, and God cannot allow that.

 

            So we are charged with two awesome responsibilities. We are given the fuel rods of forgiveness. They are to be used, as often as needed. If there is someone in our life we refuse to forgive, the chain reaction grows and the poison grows. It destroys creation; it destroys us from within. Forgiving may not fix the damage done, but it will keep your world from imploding on itself.

 

            At the same time, we are to protect God’s creation. Refusal to forgive a little when we have been forgiven much is injustice. Those who refuse to forgive allow injustice to grow, and poison to spew, causing untold damage. God will not let this happen. Persistent injustice cannot be forgiven because it poses a lethal threat to all creation. 

 

            As Christians we are called on to forgive, to absorb the hatred and bitterness. We are given the power to do so. And we are called to retain those sins that threaten creation, to hold each others’ feet to the fire, to insist on accountability in the use of the gifts of forgiveness and mercy and justice that keep creation active, safe, and thriving.