Year A Proper 19 Matthew 18:21-35

Sometimes the choices that face us are not clear. We think we see only one way to go, when in fact, there may be a second choice we are overlooking. Today, as we struggle with the limits of the pandemic, many of us a seeing darkness. The news is filled with unpleasantness from political squabbles and accusations, to riots, murders, and natural disasters. While worldly darkness always occurs, everything seems worse now that our private lives have become subject to new rules and limits meant to protect us from a virus that is, as yet, not under control.

Faced with so much darkness, we may think we have no choice but to grit our teeth, grin and bear it, but there is another place to look, another choice we can make. There is a place not of darkness, but of light, and comfort, and love. We may be living in the shadowlands, but we are children of the Light, of God. Though we need to be aware of the world’s troubles, we are not forced to look only at the darkness, but rather, we are called to bear witness to the Light. We need to be in contact with that Light that it may shine through us helping and supporting us and others as well.

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and chariot drivers.”

Today’s First Reading is the marvelous story of the Exodus, one with which we are all familiar. We’ve heard it since we were children – and we’ve seen it depicted in movies. It would seem there’s nothing one could say about it that isn’t already apparent, but hidden here is a gem – that is, if you know Hebrew, the original language in which this section of our Bible was written.

In this story there are two words for “dry land”. One is yabbashah. This word is most often used to describe God’s miracle at the Red Sea. It also describes God’s work in creation and the people’s miraculous crossing of the Jordan River when they enter the Promised Land.

But another word for dry land also appears in the story of the Red Sea crossing. That word, charabah, derives from a root meaning to dry up or be in ruins. So this word in today’s lesson not only distinguish between liquid and solid, water and its absence, a place to swim and a place to walk, but it also names the waste and desolation that follows warfare, judgment, and destruction.

There is a choice presented to us in today’s Old Testament lesson. Which dryness do we choose – the dry land God has given us, the path that leads to salvation, or the dryness of a life lived on earthly terms, a life that is dry because of the absence of God. As with the Children of Israel in today’s reading, to walk the way of holiness always means turning our back on the darkness and facing the Light; in doing so we find the freedom to love as we have been commanded to do.

Peter came and said to Jesus, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Peter must have been shocked. He asks Jesus a question that, while genuine, was no doubt also supposed to impress our Lord with its generosity. Instead of getting a pat on the back and the reassurance that he’s definitely got the right attitude, Peter finds himself being mildly reprimanded. Jesus responds with a number so large that it would be impossible to keep count. In essence Jesus is saying, “For goodness sake, man, just do it! Don’t keep score.”

All of us, like Peter, really do want to walk the path of holiness, of light, to please Jesus. And we too have an idea of what is expected of us. However, having some idea, and actually doing what Jesus tells us, are two different things.

We may grudgingly give up our anger, and we may say we forgive, but we are quick to grab hold of a new way of taking control of things, of getting things back on a level we understand. We keep track of just how generous we’ve been in forgiving our brother or sister, in forgiving others. We slip into our familiar worldly ways, paying attention to what concerns us – to the superficial things that are unimportant to God.

As Jesus’ followers we are expected to obey Him, and not only that, we are called to surrender to Him totally. Not an easy thing to do. Surrender is a frightening thing, because it asks us to give up the one thing we do not wish part with - our control. Surrender means we must give up anger, give up keeping track of how forgiving we’ve been, and stop being the managers and the scorekeepers. Surrender means not being the one ultimately in charge. It means handing our lives over utterly and totally to God.

We know we ought to do this. We say it is something we want to do, that it’s something we try to do. Like the first slave in today’s parable we cry to our Lord, “Have patience with me,” and Jesus is patient. Then our brother or sister gets on our nerves, or we feel threatened, or we see someone we feel owes us something, and we fly off the handle back into superficiality and sin – and in these troubled times, tempers flare even more easily, as we all react to the stress.

But even when things aren’t as stressful as they are these days, why is it so difficult for us to be patient and kind and generous and forgiving? It’s all a matter of focus. We are raised to pay attention to the world, and to ourselves as the center of our world. We are taught to judge things by worldly standards, to measure things by the way they impact us, our lives, our families, and those we love. We are familiar with the dry path that does not lead us to holiness.

To be one of Jesus’ followers calls us to change the way we look at everything, to change our worldly perspective, to choose the difficult path of holiness, the dry land through the sea of evil. We are the people called to replace our self-centeredness, our self-righteousness, for those are is the names of that which allows us to keep score the way we do, and to replace them with love.

Being Jesus’ follower, a child of the Light, isn’t “all about me”; it is all about Jesus and about each other, about caring for each other, and loving each other. We are the Body of Christ and we have a choice to make our worldly life training, or the openness, and the humility that are all part of love and forgiveness.

You’ve all probably heard that expression, “these are the times that try men’s souls” – well, right now we are living in those times, and we are the ones called to shed light in the darkness. We see the darkness but are not called to be of it. For us is not the way of the world, but the way of Jesus, the way of love, the way of forgiveness, the way of surrender, the way of light, the way of the cross..

The first slave in today’s Gospel sounds cruel and heartless, but he’s only thinking in worldly terms. He is grateful that he has been pardoned from his debt, but this has obviously brought to his attention just how poor he is. In his need for funds he naturally turns to someone who owes him money to try to replenish his own empty coffers. This perfectly natural worldly thinking is his downfall. Perfectly natural worldly thinking can too easily be our downfall as well.

Today’s lessons show us the difference between the sacred and the profane. They tell us it is the way we do a thing, for ourselves or out of love, that establishes our relationship with ourselves, each other, and with God.

The time will come for each of us when we will come face to face with our Lord. Through our lives He has been there for us, willing to empower us to be the people He calls us to be. Every moment we live we have the opportunity to choose Him, to love Him, to serve Him above everything and everyone else. The choice is ours and in the end we will be held accountable.

There’s passage in the book of Job, which goes: “I know that my Redeemer lives and that at the last He will stand upon the earth. After my awaking, He will raise me up; and in my body I shall see God. I myself shall see, and my eyes behold Him who is my friend and not a stranger.” Let us start this day, this moment, to become strangers to the world, choosing not to live by its vision and its standards, so that at the end Jesus will count us among His friends.

Let us pray:

Loving Lord Jesus, You are the eternal light, who came to be the Light of the world. Help us to choose to follow Your path. Deliver us from darkness. Especially in these difficult times, and always, shine through us before all people that we may bring light in the darkness and glory to your Name. We ask for Your love and mercy’s sake. Amen