Pastor Lisa Horst Clark

March 11, 2018

Matthew 18: 21-35

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times. “For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’ Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt. When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to

their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

Luke  17:1-4

Jesus said to his disciples: “Things that cause people to stumble are bound to come, but woe to anyone through whom they come. It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.  So watch yourselves.

“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

Forgiveness

It was over ten years ago when a young man committed an act of violence in a one-room Amish schoolhouse, outside of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  When the perpetrator’s father learned that it was his son who had committed this crime he, who was not Amish, said, “I will never face my Amish neighbors again.”  Such was his shame and guilt and horror.

But the response of the Amish community was different.  Immediately, they announced that they forgave this perpetrator.  The day of the tragedy, members of the community took food to the perpetrator’s widow.  The Roberts family had planned to have a small, quiet memorial in the midst of their loss and grief and shame and Terry Roberts’ mother says she was gathered there and looked up to see that they were surrounded, that a semi-circle of folks who had just been to memorials of their own, had gathered around them in love.

As time has gone by, folks from the community have spoken about the trauma of recovery.  As one article reminded, they said the decision of this community to forgive the killer and his family was not as simple as it might have seemed to be.  Linda Fisher said, “It’s not a one and done thing; it’s a lifelong process.”  I can only imagine how new parts of that loss emerge each day, that forgiveness of such a deep and profound harm would not be said and therefore complete, but over and over again, as you approach what would have been a birthday, as you picture what they would l