But God, I Wanted You to Hurt Them, Not Care for Them!

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
September 24, 2023
Proper 20, Year A
Jonah 3:10-4:11
Psalm 145:1-8
Matthew 20:1-16

But God, I Wanted You to Hurt Them, Not Care for Them!

“But God, I wanted you to hurt them, not care for them!” That’s Jonah’s complaint against God over the people of Nineveh. Jonah was a prophet sent by God to tell the people of Nineveh to turn from their harmful ways and follow God’s ways instead. Jonah didn’t want to go there because he wanted God to kill all the people of Nineveh, and he knew if he went there, they would repent and God would show mercy.

So, when God took him to Nineveh on the Whale Express, he preached to the people, and they repented, and then Jonah began to sulk. “I wanted you to hurt them, God, not care for them.” Jonah was displeased because God’s love for humanity was too much for Jonah’s taste. “It’s great that you love me, God, but you’re not supposed to love those other ones. I don’t love them. I don’t care about them, so you shouldn’t either, God.”

If we’re really honest, Jonah’s contempt for humanity tends to show up in all of us, even if in less obvious ways. The people we won’t forgive. Our “my way or the highway” mentality. The irredeemable people we know are on the outs with God. Sometimes our contempt for humanity is even less obvious than that. Jesus illustrated this in his teaching about the Kingdom of God with his parable of the laborers in the vineyard.

In Jesus’ parable of the Kingdom of God, people who only worked an hour got paid the same as people who worked all day. That’s not fair, we may cry, and we’d be right. It’s not fair. God doesn’t seem all that concerned with our notions of fairness. God seems concerned about people, the healing and well-being of all of us and of all people.

All of the people in Jesus’ parable needed enough to live on, and so they each received the usual daily wage. That wasn’t making anyone rich. The daily wage was enough to live on. So, when folks who worked only an hour received the usual daily wage, they were receiving just enough to live on.

Well, it’s still not fair, we may say, so let’s look at where our notions of fairness get us. If the folks who only worked for an hour only got paid for an hour’s worth of work, they’d have had about an eighth of what they needed to live. If they kept on with only an eighth of what they needed, they’d soon enough be starving and dead.

The landowner had enough for that not to happen. He was able to pay all of his workers enough to live on, even those who were only able to work for an hour. Is it fair? No, but the other option for the people who could only work an hour is eventually just to let them die.

That’s where our notions of fairness get us. You can’t live off only an eighth of a day’s worth of wages. So we see, our notions of fairness actually hold people in contempt just as much as Jonah did with the people of Nineveh. “I wanted you to hurt them, God, not care for them” Jonah was thinking. Then the laborers in the vineyard were thinking, “It’s not fair that those who only worked an hour got paid for a full day’s worth of work.” The possibly unconscious reality was then, “I don’t care about them, and neither should you, God. If they die, they die.”

We may not actually think that last part, but our notions of fairness leave us with the contemptuous mentality of “If they die, they die.” That’s the economic reality of those upset about fairness.

Jesus’ parable of the kingdom of God is about economic justice, because economic justice seeks to care for people and heal people. Remember, that’s the whole point of the gospel, for God to heal us and for us to heal each other. So, in God’s kingdom, we use what we have for the well being of others.

The wealthy landowner needed workers, and the workers needed enough to live on. The landowner could have only paid an eighth of a day’s wage for those who only worked an hour, and that’s probably what would happen most often in our economy. The landowner got to save some money by only paying them for the hours they worked. They weren’t owed anything else, and anyone who complained could easily be replaced by someone else the next day.

That’s often how our economy works, but that’s not how the kingdom of God works. If all who call themselves Christian were really serious about living the kingdom of God, people would be paid what they really need, not just what employers can get away with paying them. Of course, not all employers do that. Many employers do pay what people need, but a great many do not, and a great many people get extremely wealthy while their lowest paid workers are in poverty.

That’s not the kingdom of God, and for those who think Jesus’ parable is all about getting into heaven when we die, don’t kid yourselves. Saying this parable is all about life after death is definitely a convenient way of ignoring the economic justice that is taught in this parable, but getting to heaven when you die is not what Jesus was teaching. The parable wasn’t a metaphor for life after death. Jesus was talking about life here on Earth and God’s continued desire for us to treat one another with love and to create a society in which we care and use our riches generously.

If you look at the acts of Jesus and his other teachings, he was continually healing the poor and sick, those who had been left with only an eighth day’s wage, and he was continually telling those with great wealth to give what they had to the poor.

Pretending that this parable is not about economic justice is just one more way to ignore the fact that our apathy towards others and our desires for “fairness” would leave many people dead, and in fact, our apathy and unthinking ways do leave many people dead.

“But God, it’s not fair that those who only worked an hour got paid for a full day’s worth of work.” Well, if we paid people what the really needed, not just for the amount they were able to work, wouldn’t that lead to apathy? Many would argue that, saying, “God’s economy wouldn’t work. I’ll bet the next day, in Jesus’ parable, no one showed up to work until the last hour.” Well, I’ll bet the landowner had a fix for that.

Notice the people who only worked an hour wanted to work, and the landowner was happy to hire them. If folks had showed up at the last hour, unwilling to work until then, I have a feeling he wouldn’t have hired them. God’s economy works. We just have to be willing to care about one another as much as God does. We have to be willing to let go of our ideas of fairness. We have to be willing to let go of our apathy towards one another and our contempt towards one another. Then, we will see “justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24) Then, “all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:10). Then, we will see God’s kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven.

Thanks for Your Forgiveness, God, but I'm Really Cross with this Guy

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
September 17, 2023
Proper 19, Year A
Psalm 119:33-40
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20

Thanks for Your Forgiveness, God, but I'm Really Cross with this Guy

Last week I said, Jesus taught that we are to forgive for as far and as long as there is vengeance. Today, we got to hear Jesus actually giving that lesson. “How often do we forgive?” Peter asked. “Seven times?” That’s a good number, biblical.  “No,” Jesus said, “not just seven times should you forgive, but seventy-seven times.”

That seventy times seven times is not just a number. Seventy-seven times of forgiveness is a reversal of vengeance.

In Genesis, remember Cain who killed his brother Abel? God wanted all the killing to stop so God declared that anyone who killed Cain would be avenged seven times. Then, Cain’s great-great-great-grandson, Lamech, killed a man. Lamech was also worried about vengeance. So, he declared, not God, Lamech declared, “If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech shall be avenged seventy-sevenfold.  

So, when Jesus said we are to forgive seventy-seven times, he declared that we are to forgive so much so that there is no vengeance left within us. As far and as long as there is vengeance, that is how far and how long we are to forgive.

Jesus, then illustrated the point of infinite forgiveness by telling a story of a man who owed a huge debt. How much money did he owe? Oh, a couple thousand lifetimes worth of money. He owed 10,000 talents, we’re told, and a talent was worth about 6,000 days’ worth of wages. So doing the math, 10,000 talents times 6,000 days of wages, divided by 365, times the number of years, and you get about 2000 lifetimes’ worth of wages.

So, an impossible amount that this guy owed, and he was forgiven. That’s how God is with us. God knows we need that forgiveness because it heals us. God desires our healing and our joy, so God forgives us. As far and as long as there is vengeance, God forgives us.

That was Jesus’ teaching about God’s forgiveness, and then, Jesus rather strongly encouraged us to forgive every bit as much as God does.

Let’s be honest. That’s tough. I’m glad God forgives me over 2000 lifetimes’ worth, but when someone has even three months’ worth of stuff against me, I have a hard time forgiving it. That’s how much the guy in the story wouldn’t forgive his fellow worker. A hundred denarii. A hundred days’ worth of money, about three months. He’d been forgiven 2000 lifetimes’ worth, and he wouldn’t forgive three months’ worth.

That sounds about right. Thank you, God, for your infinite forgiveness; I have a really hard time forgiving others. I do; I think I’m not alone in that. Forgiveness is hard.

Not offering forgiveness is harder. Holding on to resentment and not forgiving is like drinking poison, hoping the other person will die. We harm ourselves when we don’t forgive, thinking they don’t deserve it, it’s not just, I can’t let it go because I can’t imagine life without getting the restitution I’m owed. These are all good reasons not to forgive, and when we don’t forgive, we harm ourselves.

Of course, there are two sides to forgiveness; the other side of forgiveness is seeking forgiveness and making amends. This is hard as well, and we often don’t want to even try to make amends.

What if we aren’t forgiven? What if they make us pay up in some big way that we’re just not ready to pay? What if we can’t do or just aren’t willing to do what is asked? Shouldn’t they forgive us? So, shouldn’t we owe nothing?

Maybe so. Maybe not. When we owe an amends to someone else, it isn’t our place to demand forgiveness. If the other person forgives or not, that’s on them. Our part is to work to heal the harm we have caused. If that means we need to repay someone for what we’ve done to hurt them, ok, so be it. Our task is to offer healing, even when it’s risky, and in doing so, we find that we are healed as well.

Looking again at the healing of forgiveness, we saw in our reading from Genesis, the healing Joseph brought in forgiving his brothers. They had beaten him up and left him for dead, and then as an afterthought, figured they’d just sell him into slavery, rather than actually kill him. So, Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt, and then over the years became powerful in Egypt, second only the Pharoah.

When his brothers asked his forgiveness, Joseph had the power and the right not to forgive them, but he chose the path of healing. If he hadn’t, then the nation of Israel would never have formed, and none of us would be here as disciples of Jesus. Think of the enormous healing that has taken place because of that one act of forgiveness. Whole communities of people throughout the centuries devoted to God’s mission of healing humanity.

That’s what the church really is, what we really are, a community of people devoted to God’s mission of healing and reconciliation through forgiveness. Unfortunately, we’re often not that great at forgiveness.

Think of the churches you’ve been a part of or chosen not to be a part of because there very little forgiveness, where people seemed not even to like each other that much. Think of the conflicts in churches over…I was going to say “piddly shit,” but you aren’t supposed to cuss in church, so I’ll say “small stuff,” the conflicts over small stuff that lead to rifts and fractures.

Little wonder so many people don’t want to be a part of the church when we’re often no better at forgiveness than anyone else in the world, and we’re often worse. Jesus and the forgiveness Jesus gives have so much healing for our hearts, healing for our relationships, healing for the world. How much healing does our world need right now? Fractures and divisions, hatred and conflict.

In the darkness of conflict, we get to be a light of healing and forgiveness. When forgiveness is undeserved, we offer forgiveness anyway, because the healing is so needed, for ourselves and for others. When we harm others, we make amends, even if it costs us, because the need for healing is so great. The healing of forgiveness and making amends brings us freedom and peace, and that freedom and peace grows in our lives, in our communities, and in the world.

“If I apologize well enough, then you won’t punish me, right, God?”

The Rev. Brad Sullivan
Lord of the Streets
September 10, 2023
Proper 18, Year A
Psalm 119:33-40
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20

“If I apologize well enough, then you won’t punish me, right, God?”

Jesus taught us to forgive, over, and over, and over. As far and long as there is vengeance, that is how often we are taught to forgive. Boundless forgiveness.

Then we have Jesus today saying that if someone sins against you, talk with them about it, and if they won’t listen to you, bring a couple others to talk about it with you, and then if they won’t listen to you, take it to the church leaders, and if they still won’t listen, have them be excommunicated, like a gentile or tax collector, no longer a part of the community.

That sounds pretty harsh; we need to realize, however, that gentiles and tax collectors were the very people Jesus and his disciples reached out to in order to bring them into the community. If someone is no longer a part of the community, we’re to seek their restoration so they can be part of the community again. There is forgiveness even in removing someone from the community, boundless forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the way of Jesus because healing is the way of Jesus. Everything Jesus does and teaches is for our healing, even letting people be no longer a part of the community. “Let them be” like a gentile or tax collector, Jesus said. “Let them be” because that is the path they have chosen.

If someone sins against a person and refuses to acknowledge it, refuses to make amends and be reconciled, then they are kicking themselves out of the community. When everyone is fractured and against one another, there is no community, so by refusing to admit their fault, make amends, and reconcile, a person is either declaring the other to be outside or themselves to be. You can’t have community without reconciliation.

So, Jesus said, “let them be.” If someone wants to be not a part of the community, then let them, and remember, even that is for our healing.

So, what healing do we need when we refuse to admit our faults, make amends, and be reconciled to others. We need healing from anger, pride, resentment, and fear…these are what fill us when we refuse to admit our faults. Then, we end up blaming everyone and everything else around us. Our anger, pride, resentment, and fear end up growing and harming everyone around us as well as ourselves.

If we’re going to keep our hurts from leaching out and harming others, we need to take responsibility for our actions. Rather than spending our time looking at others’ faults, we need to be willing to look at our own faults. We need to admit to ourselves, to God, and to others the harm we have caused. There can be no healing unless we do.

That’s a tough pill to swallow, and I believe it is made even more difficult because of the fear at the root at the root of much of the Christian faith. We talk of Jesus’ boundless forgiveness, but we also hear a lot about threats of Hell, threats of eternal torture by the God who is love. Fear of eternal torture has been a part of our theology for centuries, and while we need to take God’s judgment seriously, a faith based on fear of eternal torture is not the faith of Jesus and is not a faith that leads to healing.

A faith based on fear of eternal torture and personal salvation from that torture leaves us with little room for grace toward others, grace toward ourselves, seeking forgiveness, and loving one another. Community is lost in each person’s quest to avoid eternal torture.

Personal avoidance of punishment is not the salvation Jesus has in mind for our healing. Rather, Jesus offers us union with God and one another, a community of love. The Church’s mission is “to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ.”

The salvation of Jesus would have us focus not on avoidance of punishment, but on love of God and of one another. The community of love and grace, how well we treat others, seeking and offering grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation, that is the salvation of Jesus lived out in our lives. Heaven or Hell? We’ve got plenty of that here already. There’s plenty of Hell every day in our lives and the lives of those around us. That’s the primary Hell Jesus is saving us from, healing our lives and having that healing follow us even after the grave.

So then, with that healing in mind, with our focus on grace and forgiveness, on love and community, admitting our faults to God and to one another isn’t so terrible a burden. Admitting fault and seeking forgiveness becomes not about avoiding punishment, but about living in love with one another. Admitting our faults and seeking forgiveness is not a deal we make with God. “If I apologize well enough, then you won’t punish me, right, God?”

No. Admitting our faults and seeking forgiveness is part of restoring ourselves to unity with God and one another. The next part of being restored to unity is making amends to others for the wrongs we have done and changing how we live. Jesus shows us grace, forgiveness, and restoration that we might live that same grace, forgiveness, and restoration.

When we cease caring about restoration to God and one another, we begin living outside of Jesus, and Jesus lets us do that. If we want not to be part of a community of love and restoration, Jesus lets us not be. Remember, the church is not a group of individuals avoiding punishment. The church is a community of grace and love.

If we don’t want to live in a community of grace and love, we don’t have to. If we do want to live in a community of grace and love, then we do have to let go of our anger; we do have to let go of our pride; we do have to let go of our resentment, and fear. That’s the reconciling community and life Jesus offers us. A life without fear, a life of joy, a life of reconciling love for one another.

Jesus offers us release from the burden of carrying all the harm we have cause others. Admitting our faults, admitting the harm we have done is a relief and a release, a laying down of a heavy burden. Might there be consequences when we admit what we’ve done? Sure. There is also grace, forgiveness, and love. There is healing. It takes time. It can be grueling, and it is worth it. The healing of grace, forgiveness, and love, the healing of a community of love, that’s salvation.