Love Proclaimed

Fairy Tales are interesting things aren’t they? Like they are kind of this common bond that nearly everyone in a culture shares. And what’s so intriguing about that is that fairy tales are not just stories that entertain us. Fairy Tales — in some cultures called Fables — are actually the earliest ways that cultural values, truths, beliefs, and even moral law are passed down from generation to generation.

In 1812, German authors named the brother’s Grimm published a book of fairy tales that had been passed by oral tradition. Among those fairy tales — which all served as cautionary tales about the danger in the world and that those who break the rules often meet an untimely demise — were some of our culture’s most beloved stories.

Popularized and brought into every American home by Walt Disney, Cinderella, Snow White, and Sleeping Beauty breathed new life into their original Grimm Fairy Tale counterparts. They still served the role of teaching values, truths, and beliefs, but the emphasis shifted from the untimely end of those who broke the rules to the heroic savior who undid the power of darkness and the danger in the world that our main Characters — Cinderella, Snow White, and Aurora — fell victim to. That heroic savior was a prince, and generations of Americans have grown up indoctrinated by the belief and hope that True Love’s Kiss will right every wrong… And that princes and the kings they become are the good guys.

Which is actually quite ironic coming out of Disney — a company based in the place that literally revolted against the King of England. A place that rewrote the story that monarchy was good. A place that recognized that leaders are corrupt, and maybe giving them absolute power is not the best way for humans to flourish. But nevertheless, these are the stories that we grew up on. But maybe what we were supposed to be learning about was the fact that there was once a prince who became a king who was so very very good that he was worth following with everything we have. Maybe what we were supposed to learn was that there was once a prince who truly did undo the power of darkness in the world. And that prince still desires to meet with us in our darkest hour.

We are closing in on the end of our sermon series “We Believe in Love” where we are traveling through the historic Apostles’ Creed and looking at the things that we claim to believe in, and particularly we are focusing on how all of these important doctrines of our faith point us to living lives that more closely reflect the love of Jesus to our world. We believe that God is showing us what love looks like through our beliefs, and in fact if we say we believe all of the things in the creed but we aren’t transformed into people who love the world more than we are still really missing the mark.

The Apostle Paul wrote these words to the church in Corinth:

1 Corinthians 13:1–3 NRSV

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

What he was trying to point this fledgling Jesus community to was the reality that we are trying to understand still today. Without love our faith and our knowledge of God simply isn’t worth anything. Without love it is empty, hollow, rubbish.

So we’ve looked at the God the creator as a God who created us out of a desire to share love and have love shared across the human community. We looked at Jesus Christ as the perfect example of sacrificial love. We talked about the Holy Spirit as the source of our ability to live out our love, and the church (past, present, and future) as the vessel by which God’s love is spread across the world now and throughout time.

So today, we are talking about our second to last topic: The Forgiveness of Sins. On Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. It’s almost like I planned this out. Oh Wait. I did.

So here we are, at the very beginning of what we celebrate as Holy Week. This is the week every year where we pay special attention to the reality of what Jesus did for us. Where we remember just what Jesus’s love cost him. Where we remember that all of this stuff that your pastor keeps telling you about how you are called to love your neighbors really isn’t that hard when we consider the reality of suffering that Jesus experienced on our behalf.

But before we get to the pain and the brokenness of Friday, we remember that this week began with a celebration. With the hope and jubilation that Jesus and the disciples were met with as they entered into Jerusalem and Jesus was hailed as the Messiah and King of the Jews. The people’s hope was that maybe just maybe this Jesus would free them from Roman oppression. Maybe this Jesus would finally restore Jerusalem and all of Israel to its former glory. Maybe freedom would finally be theirs once again.

But Jesus’s plan was not to simply become the King of Israel. Jesus’s plan was to become the king of the entire world.

Jesus’s plan wasn’t to bring Israel out of Rome. His plan was to bring Rome out of the people of Israel and out of all people.

Rome was the symbol of the powers of darkness in the world. Empire, greed, cruelty, pagan worship, slave ownership, oppression, and degradation were the status quo and this way of living seeped into every single facet of life: even into the life of the Jewish religion that thought it was so far superior to they ways of Rome and her people.

Jesus did and said a countless number of things that opposed this reality throughout his ministry, but it all came to a head the week that he died. But he did and said all of those things so that the people might understand just how deeply they needed Rome removed from their hearts. He did and said these things so that everyone might realize that they stand in need of forgiveness. And it was that forgiveness that he offered on the cross and still offers to us today.

When we say that we believe in the forgiveness of sins we believe that what Jesus did this week changed everything for us and for the world. The Apostle Paul says that we understand what love is because of what Jesus did.

Romans 5:8 NRSV

But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us.

This means that the price of sin, which is death, was paid for by Jesus. This means that the ultimate threat that the powers of darkness in this world hold over our head — death — no longer is a threat to us because the forgiveness of sins means that eternal life is ours to accept.

So how does saying that we believe in the forgiveness of sins spur us forward to live lives of love towards the world? Well, it means that we are on a journey of having Rome removed from our own hearts. Particularly the part of Rome that teaches us that its our right to hold onto grudges and resentment and the idea that those who have harmed us are in our debt. And this is the hardest one I think. But Jesus thought it was pretty important. So important that he told his own little fairy tale to teach people about it.

Matthew 18:23–35 NRSV

“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.”

This is one of my favorite stories because it just makes the hardest thing about following Jesus seem so common sense. That doesn’t mean it gets easier, but it does help me to understand just how seriously Jesus took this forgiveness business.

So basically this guy is a debt slave to a king. That’s a thing about Rome and most ancient cultures. We still have this today, we just like to dress things up and say that we owe a mortgage and a car payment and credit card payments. But all of those things own you. Don’t be mistaken. They just let you believe that they don’t. It’s how they keep you coming back.

Jesus’s point is this dude owes his master the largest possible sum of money. 10 thousand is the largest numeral the greek language has, and a talent is the largest denomination of currency. If we were writing this we could just say this dude owes 35 trillion dollars. Which is about the US National Debt. Its a number so high that we can’t even conceive how much it actually is. But his master forgives this debt he could never pay. No strings attached. Go on. You’re a free man. And before he can get out the door he violently assaults his friend that owes him a couple hundred bucks.

It seems so ridiculous. But here’s the reality. This is us. When we refuse to forgive, knowing full well what Jesus has done for us, we are failing the ultimate litmus test of whether or not we truly understand what we claim to believe. Because anyone who fully understands the weight of Jesus’s gift wouldn’t withhold forgiveness of another… no matter the infraction.

This is what it really looks like to love our neighbors. And by the way… sometimes our neighbors are our enemies. Jesus said we have to love them too. And I don’t know about you, but I’m just not ready for the mess that is an election year. I’m not ready for the amount of hatred that gets spewed. But what if we didn’t partake in the mess of it. What if people who vote differently than us can be people that we forgive, even if we think they are dead wrong?

And what if the people who create such chaos and harm in our world got met with the arm of love from us, the church, rather than the arm of violence.

That’s just one of like a million different examples of where we find it hardest to forgive. Maybe for you its a family relationship. A coworker or boss. That one cashier at McDonalds that always forgets your buffalo dipping sauce. Strangely specific I know.

A person who is met by unexpected forgiveness experiences a love that points them to Jesus, the king of this world and the one who wants to be the king of their heart — the one who can and will overcome the dark and dangerous place they may have found themself in this world.

But the end of this parable reminds us that forgiveness is also an act of loving ourselves. This fate of torture that we are handed over to when we refuse to forgive is a place of self inflicted pain. Unforgiveness is a poison. It is a jail cell. It is literal hell. It will consume you and drive you deep into bitterness. And ya’ll. Jesus. Did. Not. Die. For. You. To. Live. Like. That.

As you journey through this Holy Week I pray that you will be transformed by the reality of what Jesus did for you, and that knowing such a great debt was forgiven to you, that you will let go of that one thing, that one person. That you will pray for God to allow you to forgive them and that you will be released from the prison that you’ve locked yourself in.