Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Church of the Redeemer / Sarasota, Florida
19th Sunday after Pentecost / 21 September 2008
Last week we had the great privilege of having Fr. Philbert Kalisa from Rwanda with us. This was his third visit with us. Fr. Philbert is the Founder and Director of REACH Rwanda, an organization that promotes reconciliation in that country in Africa.
When Fr. Philbert first visited us a couple of years ago his organization was new and word was spreading about what had happened in Rwanda back in 1994. A film came out about the same time about the genocide in Rwanda, which really helped Americans understand what happened there. In a period of 100 days one million Rwandans of the minority Tutsis were massacred by militant Rwandan Hutus.
Fr. Philbert’s organization works to reconcile family members of the victims with those who murdered their loved ones. One way this is happening is through the building of homes. Those who did the murdering are building houses for the families of the victims. Those family members bring lunch to the builders. Slowly, relationships form and reconciliation, which is strongly encouraged, takes place.
It’s hard for me to imagine a more difficult task than that which Fr. Philbert and his helpers have taken on. Forgiveness is never easy, but when you’re talking about forgiving someone who killed your husband, or your mother, or your children, or your siblings, or your best friend – and in some cases it would be all of these and more in the case of just one person – it would be so difficult. Most in our society would say, “No way. I don’t want anything to do with that person. I will always hate him for what he did.” Even Christians would say that, after going to mass and saying, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” “Oh,” we would say, “but surely God doesn’t expect me to forgive such a heinous crime as that.” Oh, but he does.
Well, we don’t have to worry about that. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of us have not experienced a person murdering a loved one, although indeed some of us have had even that happen. But what about the other ways we have been hurt?
I have heard many confessions over the years. God has blessed me with a terrible memory for such things, so I don’t remember who says what. But I do remember that I have rarely heard a confession in which forgiveness isn’t one of the problems that the penitent is dealing with. “How do I forgive my wife who cheated on me? My business partner who stole from me? My son or daughter who won’t speak to me?” I suspect that nearly everyone in this room has a relationship problem. If you don’t, then count your blessings. And if you have a relationship problem, forgiveness is going to be part of the equation.
The Gospel for today deals with forgiveness, even though that word is never mentioned. A householder has a crop to harvest. He must get it in quickly and he hires harvesters throughout the 12 hour work day. At the end of the day he pays everyone the same wage. Those who worked all day were furious because they didn’t get any more than those who worked one hour. They were all paid a denarius, a day’s wage.
The first thing we need to understand about this parable is that it really isn’t about laborers in a vineyard. Jesus is not trying to revolutionize economic theory. The parable is about God’s judgment and mercy. There are those who have loved God and served him all of their lives, and those who give him no thought until their death bed conversion. The parable is saying that no matter when in your life you repent and turn to the Lord, your sins are forgiven and you will inherit eternal life. God is generous, and he accepts our repentance whenever it comes.
But the parable isn’t just about God. It’s about those laborers who worked all day. Like the elder brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, they resent the householder’s generosity. Those who have been faithful all of their lives feel cheated that their reward of eternal life isn’t any greater than those who turned to God at the last hour. God is generous and they are petty.
There are many lessons here, but the one I wish to key in on is about forgiveness. There is now a rift between those who feel cheated and those who got a really good deal, or so it would seem. There is resentment in their hearts. And that’s the problem.
I had some difficulty understanding some of what Fr. Philbert had to say last week. I heard his sermon three times. The first time I thought he said that those Rwandans who could not forgive were in a prison they had made for themselves. I thought to myself, “That is a really good metaphor for a lack of forgiveness.” At the 9 o’clock mass I realized he wasn’t saying prison at all. He was saying poison. Those who harbor a grudge have a poison in their system that poisons everything in their lives.
Both metaphors work, don’t they? You forgive, and you get out of your self-made prison. You forgive, and you purge your system of that poison of resentment. The irony of being a victim of someone’s ill will is that you can be hurt twice, the first time when the person does the deed, and the second when you choose not to forgive. That second time is the hurt that goes on hurting. It hurts us emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. The reality, though, is that we all have the power not to be hurt the second time. We can forgive.
Every year or so a movie comes out that deals with the afterlife. A familiar theme of such movies is a person dies but his spirit is trapped on earth until he takes care of some unfinished business. The newest such film is Ghost Town. Linda and I saw it just the other day. A young man is hit by a bus in downtown New York and instantly dies, but his spirit remains. I’m not going to tell you the plot, in case you want to see the movie for yourself, but suffice it to say that he had some unfinished business with his wife that had to be resolved before he could meet his Maker. That unfinished business included, of course, this issue of forgiveness.
Brothers and sisters, we spend so much of our time in pursuit of things that won’t matter a year from now; in fact, we spend a great deal of time in things that won’t matter five days from now. And yet, we have problems in our relationships that can be resolved if we are simply willing to take the time and make the effort and yes, take the risk. How we deal with our relationships does matter—eternally. The makers of Ghost Town know that. Fr. Philbert works with that concept every day. Jesus taught it over and over again. We have heard it so many times it’s easy to ignore it. And yet, if we were told we have only one week to live, all of a sudden those relationships would be thrust front and center. Why put off what is most important in life? Why not resolve to do something today toward reconciliation or simply to strengthen the relationships you have with those you love?