Undone: forgiveness triumphs over tragedy
Rumc 2/27/11
THAT’S NOT FAIR! If you have ever met a child you have heard that. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Sunday School or a soccer team; there’ll always be a child or two who feels that it just is not fair.
They perceive “unequal treatment", and scream “NO FAIR!”
They sense a "preferred treatment’, and cry "NO FAIR!”
Make them do something they don’t want to do, and they cry “NO FAIR!”
I was fond of telling my kids- “Oh well, who ever told you life would be fair?”
And guess what - it doesn’t get any better as they grow up. I’ve used children in this introduction, but this self centered sense of justice is the not the exception, it is the norm for any age group in any society.
We all say we want “justice.” But what we really want is “what we want. “
· The smaller child cries “no fair” because their older brother gets a bigger piece of cake. The bigger one says that’s perfectly fair because I am bigger.
· The older child cries not fair because the younger child gets more gifts. The parent says, but your gifts cost more.
· The customer cries not fair because they are injured by a spilled cup of coffee. McDonalds says, you bought hot coffee. If it weren’t hot you would complain too.
· One party claims that the machinery was not safe enough. The other claims it was not used with proper care.
· The burglar claims damages because he was injured. The home owner says, “But wait- you were robbing my home.”
· The Unions say you’re breaking your promises. The Wisconsin Governor says we have to balance the budget or you won’t have a job anyway.
· The Israelis and the Palestinians both lay claim to the same land. I’m not sure anyone is right any more, but you can’t tell that to the Israelite whose bus was just blown up. And you can’t tell that to the Palestinian who can’t get through the Israeli checkpoint to buy groceries.
The examples can go on and on because we all know what it means to be treated unfairly. That is, I think one of the core problems of our society, we believe that everyone deserves fairness; so one gangs seek revenge on one another. Political discourse becomes more and more heated. And Courts are packed to the gills with law suits. Forgiveness is like a foreign language.
Imagine the Bible story reading like this. “Jesus was lead up the mount called Golgotha. There they crucified him with two criminals one on his left and one on his right. While he hung there dying, Jesus looked to heaven and said ‘Father, IT’S NOT FAIR!’”
Well, he would have been right. It wasn’t fair! The reason he didn’t do that, however, is because Jesus had a different sense of Justice than we do. God has a different view of Justice than we do. Today, as we come to the 6th sermon in this series on forgiveness we need to come to grips with what we perceive as the “unfairness” or the “injustice” that is sometimes left behind when we forgive.
One of the reasons it is so hard for us to forgive is that we think justice means an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life. The injured party deserves compensation.
We let one child cut the cake in half compensate the other by letting them chose which half they want. We want compensation for services rendered, and lost wages, and damaged property. That’s just fine. But as soon as we get beyond the simplest of issues it becomes much more complex. As soon as we are dealing with anything more complicated than a piece of desert or a day’s wages the issue of justice becomes much more complex. But there is something more important to Jesus - something that is more important to God. More important than whether we get our share of cake, any compensation, or civil justice.
That’s where today’s lesson comes in. Listen for the advice Jesus gives us in these more complex issues of life.
"You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.”
What is Jesus point here? Jesus’ point is that LOVE is more important than “justice.” FORGIVENESS is more important than “fair.” Society looks to equality and justice as a rule for life. Christians must look to LOVE and FORGIVENESS to rule the day. Whether you come out on top or not, love always gives you the upper hand. Whether life seems just or unjust, love makes it right. In God’s court love always trumps fairness. In God’s creation - the only thing that is perfect besides God himself is Love. And when we love true godly justice will flow.
What does that say about forgiveness? It means that forgiveness is the one and only route to Godly justice. Because forgiveness clears all the garbage out of the way so we can love.
Forgiveness is choosing love over fairness.
Forgiveness is choosing love over human justice.
Forgiveness is choosing love over retribution
Forgiveness pushes aside our need for fairness- and allows us to love.
Forgiveness plows a way through the hurts of life- and allows us to love.
Forgiveness upends our normal sense of justice in favor of allowing us to love.
When you have the opportunity to forgive you have the opportunity to love as God loves. You have the opportunity to be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.
Not perfect in justice.
Not perfect in behavior.
Not perfect in faith.
But perfect in love.
Could Jesus have exacted punishment on the soldiers who crucified him? I suspect so. But instead he said “Father forgive them”
Could Jesus have gotten revenge on the crowd that shouted “crucify him?” I’m sure he could have. But he said “Father forgive them”
Could Jesus have paid back Pilate for his weakness and acquiescence to the crowd and the authorities? Sure- one word and his nose would have fallen off or he would have burst into flames. But that was not important to Jesus- he said “Father forgive them”
· It is the difference between seeing the wrongs we experience as crimes or tragedies.
o A crime must be investigated to assign blame and prosecute. Someone must be punished. A Crime cries out for compensation. In this world, we will probably die still waiting for justice.
o A tragedy on the other hand, does not seek punishment, or compensation or justice. A tragedy cries out for mercy, and love and forgiveness. We do our best to move on in spite of what happened (like Robyn said last week, forgiving and forgetting)
On October 2, 2006 a man did a terrible thing. Because his daughter lives only 20 minutes after birth 9 years earlier, he bought a 9MM handgun, a 12 gauge shotgun, and a 30-06 rifle, 2 knives and 600 rounds of ammunition and driven by hate he entered an Amish Schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania. The same schoolhouse where hours earlier the students had prayed “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” He sent all the boys away.
Remaining were 10 girls ages 6-13. He barricaded the door. Bound the girls with duct tape and announced “I am going to make you pay for my daughter.”
Angry with Life, angry with God, angry with himself; in Charles Robert’s mind someone had to pay for the death of his daughter. Since he could not exact revenge on God directly, he would instead make other innocent young girls pay for the death of his infant daughter. He was heard to say “I’m angry with God and I need to punish some Christian girls to get even with him.” At 11:05am he inflicted three shot gun blasts and rapid fire pistol shots to the heads of girls. 5 dead and 5 wounded; then he turned the gun on himself and completed his descent into the dark abyss of revenge.
He left 4 families grieving the loss of 5 children; 5 families struggling to keep their children alive; and he left his wife, Amy and his own 3 children reeling in the wake of his hatred and violence. The entire community was rocked to the very core. How did they respond?
That afternoon three representatives of the Amish community went to the Roberts house. Not to exact revenge. Not to seek damages. Not to seek justice- for in a case like this there is no justice on this earth.
The three men went to the Roberts house, including one man who’s daughter died in the shooting . . . to offer love and forgiveness to the shooters wife and family.
The movie “Amish Grace” is about this story. It features the struggle of two women- one whose husband did a terrible thing- and she thought she would never forgive him or be forgiven.
The other woman struggling with the loss of her daughter and what Christian forgiveness means in this situation. We are going to close with 2 video clips from that movie. The first shows the struggle these two women experienced. The second is an illustration of God’s perfect forgiveness and love triumphing over injustice and tragedy.
(Video clip from the end of “Amish Grace”
1. Scene in the fire house with grief counselor
2. Scene at the cemetery during Charles Robert’s funeral)
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