Words of Healing and Forgiveness

 

Luke 7:1-17, 36-50

 

There is a lot in this reading today.

A few comments:

The army officer would have been Roman, and we don’t know what the background of the slave is.

Why help a Roman officer?

Why heal the slave, why not set the slave free?

 

Then the story of the widow’s son. Jesus does not ask the woman if she wants her son back, he acts out of compassion.

 

The people in these two healing stories are either outsiders or vulnerable or both.

 

To get attention and gain some credibility, surely Jesus would have been better off healing someone famous or important, like a national leader, chief priest, or a rock star. Notice the people who Jesus healed, the slave of a Roman officer and a widow.

Then the story of the woman who washes Jesus feet. The woman labelled sinful by the host of the meal.

 

One thing that stood out to me in these three events, is that Jesus spoke, and something happened.

Jesus didn’t go to the slave; Jesus spoke and the slave was healed.

Jesus stopped the funeral procession and said, “Young man, get up!” and he did.

Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.”

 

In the Bible we see the power of words:

In the creation story in Genesis one, God spoke creation into being

In John’s gospel we read of Jesus, the Word of God

 

I think of the power of how we use words in worship:

Words declaring Forgiveness

Words of blessing, such as the peace.

 

The words of Jesus to us are powerful:

Healing

Offering grace

Saying I love you

Words that include

 

 

Our words are powerful:

Encouraging

Supporting

Welcoming

Shunning

Undermining.

 

Words are powerful!

 

 

A story that made the news this week is Daniel & Leila Abdallah who created i4give Day as a remembrance of the four angels, three of their children and a niece, that were tragically killed on the 1st of February 2020.[i]

 

 

 

[image of I4give logo https://www.i4give.com/

 

They are a Maronite Catholic couple

 

Leila told the media during the days after the accident. “The guy, I know he was [allegedly] drunk, driving on this street. Right now I can’t hate him. I don’t want to see him, [but] I don’t hate him,”

“I think in my heart to forgive him, but I want the court to be fair. It’s all about fairness. I’m not going to hate him, because that’s not who we are.”[ii]

 

I’m not going to hate him, because that’s not who we are.” – nothing about what he deserves, or about the driver’s remorse. that’s not who we are.

What a witness to grace.

 

[image https://www.i4give.com/ page with heart] 

 

 

Danny & Leila Abdallah. “Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself and others. The more you practice the better you become at it and it allows you to live peacefully and to heal. Forgiveness is more for the forgiver than the forgiven” [iii]

 

 

Here is another quote about forgiveness:

When we don’t forgive, when hold onto hate, when we want retribution, our hearts and lives become clogged with hate, fear, anxiety, and rage.

Forgiving allows you to not be tied to the past, to not let the one who hurt you continue to have power in your life.

 

I think forgiveness can also set the person being forgiven free, as well as the person forgiving.

Forgiveness doesn’t mean no consequences, but it allows a person to not be held by their past.

I am sure there are things in your past you would prefer did not happen – some would be mistakes, and some intentional.

Have you accepted the forgiveness of God?

Have you forgiven yourself?

 

And there will be some people in our past we never want to see again, can you forgive them?

 

 

 

 

 

 

I wonder if by grouping these stories together Luke is making a connection between forgiveness and healing.

When people talk to me about the pain and hurt in their life, some of that is physical, and ongoing continual pain is hard to bear.

Generally, I find the hardest pain for people to deal with is the pain that comes from

rejection by someone close;
broken family relationships;
shame or
guilt.

 

Shame is a focus on self,

guilt is a focus on behaviour.
Shame is “I am bad.”
Guilt is “I did something bad.”

 

Notice the difference?

How many of you, if you did something that was hurtful to me, would be willing to say, “I’m sorry. I made a mistake?”
How many of you would be willing to say that?
Guilt: I’m sorry. I made a mistake.
Shame: I’m sorry. I am a mistake.[iv] Brene Brown

 

Shame can be incredibly difficult for people to deal with. It often comes from words, and actions, that tell people they are not wanted, they don’t count, life would be better without them.

God never says that to us. Never!

 

What we hear in the gospel, the good news Jesus came to live out, is that

·       we are loved,

·       you are loved

·       your sins are forgiven

·       you are freed from what holds you shackled to the past

·       you get to start anew

 

It doesn’t mean the past did not happen,

But we don’t need to stay in that place.

People in abusive relationships leave, they may forgive, but that doesn’t mean they go back to the abuse.

 

If you get a bad haircut, you forgive the hairdresser, but remember to go somewhere different next time. Why hold onto the anger, all it does is eat us away from the inside.

 

 

 

 

 

[image https://www.i4give.com/ image with broken chains]

 

 

Our words have power,

They can bring hope and joy and peace into someone’s life

Or despair and shame and hurt.

What do you use your words for?

Are you following in the ways of Jesus and using your words to heal and forgive?

 

Danny & Leila Abdallah. “Forgiveness is the greatest gift you can give yourself and others. The more you practice the better you become at it and it allows you to live peacefully and to heal.” [v]

 

May you find healing in the grace of God

And may you work with God in offering that grace to others.

 

 

Silence

 

 

Prayer

God who brings grace and peace

Help us to hear and accept your words to us

 

I love you

I forgive you

You are free

 

Jesus the Word, whose words bring healing and hope,

Help us to use our voices in ways that heal broken hearts and broken lives.

Amen.

---

[i] https://www.i4give.com/

[ii] https://www.eternitynews.com.au/in-depth/leila-abdallah-if-it-wasnt-for-my-faith-i-wouldnt-be-standing-where-i-am-today/

[iii] https://www.i4give.com/

[iv] https://fs.blog/2014/10/brene-brown-guilt-shame/

[v] https://www.i4give.com/

I refuse to reject the grace of God.

Proclamation of the Word

The phrase that stood out to me in the Galatians passage this week is: I refuse to reject the grace of God.

I refuse to reject the grace of God.

That may sound a little strange – why would anyone reject the grace of God?

The grace of God is a gift, and like all gifts, we need to acknowledge, accept and use the gift.

This passage from Paul is focussing on the place of faith in salvation. It is easy for us to think of sin as something with grades. We talk about ‘a little sin’, or an ‘unforgivable sin’, but we know that sin is sin. We may say we are all sinners, but we act as if there is a ranking for sins, from minor to really serious.

“ … for Paul the tragedy of sin is not measured by infringements of the law but by rejecting Christ and by denying the meaning of his death as the saving act of God.” [i]

Paul writes about salvation, justification, being made right with God. The means of our salvation is faith in Christ or the faith of Christ.

While we genrally talk about faith in Christ, some scholars translate the Greek as the faith of Christ that saves us. We are justified through the faith of Jesus. [ii]

“Either we effect justification by believing in Jesus or Jesus effects justification by his own righteous obedience.” [iii]

This might all seem a bit complicated J and it is. The message Paul was trying to get across to the people of Galatia is that salvation is not about following a set of Jewish laws, but about our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. A free gift.

In the reading from Luke: Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

He said this to a woman who is named as a ’sinner’, one of those sinners, a ‘big’ sinner. But she is the one who is free. Have you ever met anyone who could be truly comfortable in their own skin, who acted as they wished because they had nothing to lose? This woman is looked down upon by the people in the community – or the people in the community who think they count. [iv]

“You cannot determine your worth to Jesus by a calculation of your sins. That is not how God works.

Because faith, you see, is also the belief that you are worthy of salvation. You are worthy to sit at the table. You are worthy of touching, and being touched by, God. You are worthy of belonging. You are worthy of being called a disciple.” [v]

Remember where I started: I refuse to reject the grace of God.

This woman is an example of someone who accepts the grace of God. She says no to those who would try and prevent her from seeing Jesus, she says no to those who try and make her shamed of her life and her actions. She says to herself and yes to Jesus.[vi]

I wonder in what ways we have rejected the grace of God.

I can remember times when I felt worthless and not good enough – as if I had to make a certain level of bible knowledge or trust or something before God’s grace would be available to me.

I have had people tell me that they are not good enough, or they have done something bad, as if we need some gold stars before God will love us.

I have had people tell me they can’t come to church because they don’t have the right clothes or they live in the wrong part of town. One place we lived a person who attended church each week told me she didn’t stay for morning tea, because if people knew she was divorced she wouldn’t be welcome. I doubt that the church involved would have cast her out, but that was a concern to this person.

Maybe it is because I am a Minister, but I find many people I speak with are ashamed about something in their life, or guilty about something they have done or not done. I understand that. But we are justified/ saved/ put right with God by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ – not by anything we do or don’t do. And with salvation comes peace and freedom.

We are then free to be ourselves, our true selves, the person God created us to be. That doesn’t mean we do whatever we want, it isn’t license to hurt or destroy people or creation.

[a box with ‘grace’ written on it, some tags attached]

See this box, for some people it has tags on it saying –
if you are good enough,
if you are bright enough,
if you pay enough money,
if you follow certain rules,
if you believe certain doctrinal statements…
[Remove tags]

The gospel, the good news, is that grace is gift from God - free of “if’s”

But that doesn’t mean there isn’t a consequence to this amazing gift, a consequence of accepting that we are fully known by God, fully and completely loved, that God’s love knows no boundaries – not even the boundaries we would like to place on God’s love and grace. This grace includes everyone. I can remember an article I read years ago, and the person writing it talked of the people of God as being like a family, and just as you don’t get to choose your family members, you don’t get to choose who else is in the family with you.

I wonder in what ways we have rejected the grace of God for ourselves or for someone else.

---

[i] Cousar, Charles B., Galatians, Interpretation,1982,  p 51

[ii] Cousar, p53

[iii] Jaime Clark-Soles, working preacher; Alicia Vargas, Working Preacher

[iv] Kathryn , U.C.C. SAMUEL

[v] Karoline Lewis, Working Preacher

[vi] Karoline Lewis

being a prophetic voice

[Hymn: God Has Spoken by his Prophets]

 

We have just sung a hymn of how God speaks. The first verse of the hymn talks about God speaking by and through the prophets, and the first reading today while it is a story about a vineyard and the king, about greed and power; it's a story about a prophet, the prophet Elijah. Elijah challenged Ahab about his behaviour, his actions in taking the land that belonged to Naboth, not owned in the way that we think of owning land today, the land was seen as a gift from God and each person held it in care , lived off it and nurtured it for the next generation. As far as Naboth is concerned it wasn't really his to sell or to give away.

 

The second verse is God speaking through Jesus, and  in our gospel reading we hear something of the words of Jesus. Here in this reading there are people judging a woman for showing love. In the story Jesus tells a story to the assembled guests in the presence of the woman, which  ends with those who have been forgiven most love most. The word that we hear in this reading from Luke’s gospel is about forgiveness and love and I would add inclusion, because this woman named appears to have some kind of past. A Pharisee challenges Jesus that he should know that this woman who is touching him is the centre in Jesus tells the story, and the rest of the lectionary seen set for the weak tells of the women who were part of the group that travel with Jesus.

 

The third verse of the hymn is God is speaking by his spirit, God is speaking by the spirit.

 

One of the roles of the church is to be a prophet, to be a prophetic voice. What might the church speak out about, where might we be a prophetic voice today. Maybe the readings set this week give us a hint. In the old testament reading the prophet Elijah challenges greed, oppression, acquisitiveness, and unlawful killing; and in the gospel Jesus challenges judging and superiority. Where  today do we see and hear  judgement, and condemnation; where today do we see and hear of oppression, of greed that leads to oppression, of people wanting more and more, often at the expense of someone else.

I wondered who are the people today we might think of as prophets? Here are some images:

 

-       Image 1: Desmond Tutu, Mahatma Ghandi

-       Image 2: Aung San Suu Kyi

-       Image 3: Martin Luther King

-       Image 4: Malala Yousufzai - The 15-year-old Pakistani student was shot in the head at point-blank range by Taliban gunman for taking a bold and public stance in support of girls' education.

 

 

In what ways might we be prophets, where are we being called and challenged to speak into the world with God's concern. Where do we speak for the poor, those who feel they have no hope, the oppressed, the excluded. And how might we be prophets? Not just with our voice but in our actions. A little later Sue will be introducing the Micah challenge to us, and with that comes a series of prayer sheets.

 

One way that we can be prophets is by joining with other people, in challenging stereotypes. An example at the moment is the image that is often portrayed of people who come seeking asylum by boat. It is not illegal to seek asylum and it's not a legal to arrive by boat. Over 90% of people who seek asylum after arriving by boat are found to be refugees and granted protection visas, yet the government and the opposition are seeking ways of detaining people and locking them up for longer and longer periods of time. This is financially costly, but more than that it is dehumanising.

 

Church leaders speak out against such long periods of detention, we can join the leaders of our church in this prophetic work by finding out what the situation is for asylum seekers, we can show God's grace by being a visitor to a detention centre, offering to assist people when they are released from detention. One Minister I know is a guardian for an unaccompanied teenager, a young Muslim man from the middle east is living with a Christian Minister while he finishes his schooling.

 

This week is refugee week and as part of refugee week  there are walks in each capital city and a number of other major centres next Saturday, one is in Parramatta and one in Wollongong. If you're interested in joining either of those marches I can pass the information on to you.

 

Later this year there is a Federal election, just in case you hadn't heard about it yet. This week a pack of information came from a group called Uniting Justice, which is part of the Uniting Church. The information sheets are titled - just society: your faith your voice your vote.  

 

Being a prophet is not necessarily being in a comfortable place. I doubt that Elijah was looking forward to challenging Ahab about the death of Naboth. One reason being a prophet can be uncomfortable is that often it means speaking against the powerful, that might be people with money or influence sometimes it's just people with a loud voice. In many ways being a prophet is standing up to the bully in the playground. Except as adults the bullies often wear suits and ties, the bullies try and tell us it is for our own good, or get us on side by saying that the poor are lazy, or people seeking asylum are a threat.

 

Being a Christian to me often seems to be swimming against the flow. Not judging people, being inclusive, offering forgiveness, recognising love and faith in the unexpected.

 

In Martin Luther King's famous speech I have a dream this is part of what he says:

 

“ I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

I too have a dream, I have a dream that one day we will recognise all of humanity is part of God's great creation. I have a dream that one day it won't count as newsworthy that the Prime Minister is female, or even that the minister is female. I have a dream that one day our aboriginal brothers and sisters will have life expectancy, health outcomes, educational and employment opportunities that reflect the rest of the Australian Society. I have a dream that one day discussions in public about the future of this country will rest on what makes for a good society, how resources can go to those most in need. I have a dream...

 

What is your dream?

Where is God challenging you to be a prophetic voice?

What will you do about it?