Sermons

Sermon, The Rev. Christopher McLaren, April 11

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St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church Albuquerque, New Mexico 2 Easter Sunday April 11, 2010 Text: John 20: 19-31 Doubting Thomas and Peace Preacher: Christopher McLaren Title: Fishin in Heaven

On a windy day in March my kids and I were flying kites at a park in the village of Los Ranchos. The big kite was attached to the line of a fishing pole. I like to call it “fishin in heaven.” We’d been flying kites for while and I said those fateful words, “One more turn and its time to go home.” The wind picked up and I could hear the kite drawing out line from the spool, the drag buzzing. I looked up in time to see the Pterodactyl kite go slack and begin floating high in the North Valley sky. It had taken all the line off the reel and set itself free. It landed in the tippy top of a Poplar Tree about 60-80 feet up. I turned to see my child in tears, while they said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to lose the kite. It’s all my fault.”

The words poured out of me, “It’s ok, It’s not your fault. I love you.” Of course it was the child that is always a little too hard on themselves for any failing. The tears kept coming. “Calm down its ok,” I said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not your fault. Don’t be too hard on yourself.” I gave them a hug and said, “I love you and we’ll try to get it back. (that of course proved rather futile). Don’t worry there are more kites in the world. I lost a lot of kites when I was kid, mostly in power lines. But that was some serious wind, huh?”

It is evening on the first day of the week. A breathless and joyful Mary Magdalene has just burst into the disciple’s hideaway proclaiming that she “has seen the Lord.” Mary is a messenger of good news, a missionary to the disciples huddled away in fear and uncertainty. It has been a violent week and they are not sure of the consequences of their association with Jesus, would the same authorities that crucified Jesus be searching out his followers? But now the news of him alive is turning in their hearts causing confusion, hope and shame. They had not exactly stuck by their friend and teacher, in fact when things had turned dark and menacing they had fled in fear from the soldiers, leaving their friend alone. Judas was not the only betrayer of Jesus; there was plenty of guilt and fear to go around. Now Mary was telling them a strange tale of Jesus being alive. Where did they stand with their beloved rabbi now? What if Mary’s story was true, that Jesus has appeared to her, spoken her name and given her a message for them? Were they fearful for other reasons? Where they fearful because of the failure of their love?

Into this fear and confusion, Jesus pulls another Houdini slipping through their locked doors in more than one way. The first thing he says to his troubled disciples is “Peace be with you.” Imagine it, what a tender and powerful moment for the followers of Jesus. Paralyzed by fear, hunkered down and hiding, the Risen One comes among them, through locked doors and beyond human limitations proclaiming his peace. They see his hands and feet and know that this risen Jesus is the beloved friend they had seen lifted high up on the cross. His greeting and presence bring peace into the mist of turmoil and suffering. The disciples are able to rejoice, for their friend, teacher and now most certainly Lord is alive.

One of the surprising things about this passage is the absence of judgment. Jesus does not begin his reunion with the fearful disciples by saying, “Hey where were you? I mean I had a pretty good view from up there on the cross and I didn’t see you?” I saw the three Mary’s and John but what happened to all that talk about, “We’ll be there for you Jesus?”

No condemnation, there is only peace, offered freely without conditions.
Jesus pronounces "peace" upon his disciples before any of them ask for it. His first word to them on Easter evening is at odds with the way we usually think of forgiveness. For us, if we forgive at all, it is a distinctly secondary word. First, "Let the offender ask for forgiveness, say that he is sorry, truly sorry, groveling helps, then forgiveness is offered." But that night behind the locked doors, nobody asked to be forgiven. Nobody said, "I'm sorry," or " I guess we really let you down, can you forgive us?”

But there is no finger pointing, The Risen One comes among the fearful guilt-ridden disciples and says simply, "Peace!" It is a quite simply a profound act of forgiveness. And what is more he gives them a gift, the gift of his Holy Spirit that they too might continue in the way of the Risen One, forgiving one another and demonstrating to the world the power of God’s forgiveness through a forgiven and forgiving people.
Easter means not only that it is of the nature of Christ to defeat sin and death but also that it is of the nature of Christ to forgive.

A few years ago, the great scholar of world religions, Huston Smith, gave a lecture in which he characterized the most notable, most peculiar aspect of each religion Islam, prayer; Judaism, family; etcetera; Christianity? Forgiveness. It is unique to the faith of Jesus and to faith in Jesus to forgive enemies.

This suggests that forgiveness is at the core of what it means to be a Christian, what it means to practice our faith. Christians are called to be wild, in our ability to forgive. We are to traffic in forgiveness, to be prodigal in reconciliation.

I wonder if that is what we, as Christians are known for? Is this our reputation, “those Christians really know how to get along, they work hard at reconciliation and peace-keeping. They are so dedicated to the difficult work of forgiveness trying to keep their relationships clean.”

As one watches with agony the ongoing struggles in the Roman Catholic church over decades of abuse, one wonders what it would be like if the church just owned up to its failures, said in all humility and honesty, we screwed up, we put the interests of the institution above the interests of real human beings and in doing so we betrayed our own values and beliefs. We repent of this evil and sin and intend to do what we can to make it right and to change the way we operate to safeguard the well being of all God’s children from harm. What would it mean for the world if somehow the church could truly model a life of forgiveness?

Just as Jesus speaks those reconciling words of peace into the fearful lives of the disciples, so Christ speaks those words into our lives. We know and are able to forgive because God in Christ forgives us, welcomes us into relationship no matter what our failings. The purpose of forgiveness, human or divine, is to restore relationship. We believe that in the cross and resurrection of Jesus, God in Christ has done something costly to come close to us, to rebuild and to restore the divine-human relationship that we could never have repaired ourselves.

Seen from this perspective, forgiveness is not just something that Christians engage in from time to time, if we have the energy and inclination. Forgiveness is at the very heart of what it means to be a Christian. The God who found a way to make a way toward us is the God who expects us to find a way to make a way toward others. Forgiveness is therefore not optional equipment for the Christian life. It is not some kind of Christian superpower that we wield only if we really want to be saintly. Forgiveness is the normal habit of the Christian life, even when it is terribly, terribly difficult.

So, when there has been a break in our relationship with another person, as followers of Jesus we are called to begin work that moves us toward forgiveness. That may mean praying for the power and the will to forgive, we are to ask God for the creativity and the means to build a bridge to that life. We are not expected to "forgive and forget," to sweep anything under the carpet, to lie that a wrong was not really a wrong. This does not mean that there are not normal consequences for wrongdoing, consequences are not overcome by forgiveness. But we as Christians are expected to work toward forgiveness.

Of course, timing is important. I don't believe that God expects us to forgive immediately when the wound caused by the wrong is still sore and bleeding. But we must be clear that wrongs done against us are not to be lovingly nurtured, not to be dwelt upon and enlarged. We are to pray that God will give us the grace to do that which Christ commanded us to do forgive those who "trespass against us" as we have been forgiven.

Long ago, St. Augustine noted in a sermon (Sermon 49.8) on forgiveness, that sometimes people in his church omitted the phrase from the Lord's Prayer that says, "And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." Just passed right over that phrase silently because they knew it would be lying for them to say that aloud. They knew, says Augustine, that they were making a kind of covenant with God in this "forgive us our sins as we forgive the sins of others."

Forgiveness is hard but it is the road that leads toward a depth of community and a depth of life that enlarges our capacity for joy and frees us from living with constant resentment, anger and hatreds that drain so much of our life-energy away.

There is a John Prine Song entitled Fish and Whistle that captures some of this dynamic of forgiveness with these beautiful and playful lyrics:

Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us we'll forgive you
We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.

The mystery of Easter continues in the risen life of the disciples and is demonstrated in the practice of forgiveness. Forgiveness is itself a little Easter each time it happens. It finds its life and power and energy in the life of the Risen One who speaks peace into our relationships.

In the waters of baptism and by the power of the Holy Spirit at work within each of us, God bestows upon us the forgiveness of sin and raises us to a new life of grace. Baptism reminds us that we are a resurrection people and are therefore called to practice resurrection through abundant forgiveness. It is not always easy but it is the path toward joy and fullness of life.

Early the next morning I drove down to the park after a very windy night. There in the playground sand was the Pterodactyl kite. There was one very large smile that morning at the breakfast table as we shared our first ever breakfast with a Pterodactyl kite seated beside us. There will be more “fishin in heaven.” May we go fishing in heaven as well.

Father forgive us for what we must do
You forgive us we'll forgive you
We'll forgive each other till we both turn blue
Then we'll whistle and go fishing in heaven.

I wish to acknowledge my debt to The Rev. Michael Floyd, my Old Testament Professor at the Seminary of the Southwest, who long ago drew my attention to this John Prine song Fish and Whistle and its playful application for a forgiven and forgiving people.