Sermon on “The gift of forgiveness”14 September 2014, DelftBy Rev.Waltraut Stroh

Dear sisters and brothers,

One day Peter comes to Jesus and asks him, “How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me?” Peter knows that his Jewish faith teaches him to forgive his brother/sister. As it is written in the book of Sirach: “If you won't forgive another person, you have no right to pray that the Lord will forgive your sins. If you cannot get rid of your anger, you have no hope of forgiveness.” But Peter wants to know how far forgiveness goes. “How many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” The answer of Jesus is: ”Not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Too much to be counted. There is no limit to forgiveness.God does not limit his amazing grace, his forgiveness for us. And therefore we cannot limit our readiness to forgive others.

Jesus continues with telling a parable.A master demands the money back which his servant owes to him. Itʼs an incredible amount of ten thousand talents, that is millions of euroʼs. How is it possible to have such an enormous debt? Why did the master ever lend him so much money? - It makes me think of the enormous loans people used to get from the banks in the US until the whole financial sector crashed. Or the debts some European and non European countries could accumulate which can never be paid back.

The master acts according to the law. He applies retributive justice. Money borrowed has to be paid back. If the servant cannot pay, he has to sell all his property, and if that is not enough he and his whole family has to be sold as slaves. - Something similar still happens today what we call bonded labour, especially in South Asia. Whole families have to work to repay a loan. They earn so little that they can never finish the repayment and the next generation remains bonded labourers.

The servant in the parable pleads with his master. He asks for patience. Although it is clear that he will never be able to repay the full amount. The master feels pity and generously cancels the whole debt and lets the servant go as a free man. What a compassionate action.

The master in the parable stands for God. Throughout the Jewish Bible we find in God both: justice ánd mercy, punishment ánd forgiveness, but mercy and forgiveness are always stronger. In Jesus Christ God showed his unlimited grace and love.In the world of human laws and courts there remains always a tension between justice and forgiveness when we have to deal with individual and collective crimes. • Should someone who confesses his inhuman behaviour in a Truth and Reconciliation

Commission be punished or granted amnesty? • Should a former child soldier be punished or reintegrated into society? • Should each citizen of a state like Israel or Russia or the US be held accountable for the

military aggression of his/her country in the past and present time?

The parable continues. The servant meets his fellow servant who owes him a relative small amount, 100 denarii. It is the amount which was needed for a man to support his family for 50 days. The scene almost repeats. The servant demands his money back. The fellow servant pleads for patience. But then the stories makes a turn as the servant is not

willing to put mercy above justice. The debtor is thrown into prison until he finishes to repay his debts. - During the last weeks I have been involved in raising money for a prisoner in Sudan who had unintentionally caused the death of a friend. Actually he even had tried to stop his friend fighting with another guy. But the friend died and now this Sudanese man from a very poor background, father of 6 children, has to serve a 7 year imprisonment or longer if he cannot pay to the family of the dead friend the enormous amount of € 3.700.

The servant in the parable who has been granted the cancellation of an unpayable debt cannot show mercy to his fellow servant. Therefore the master withdraws his mercy and returns to retributive justice. This servant is thrown into jail and tortured.

The message of Jesus to Peter and to us is clear: God is a God of mercy and forgiveness. He remains merciful to us as long as we forgive others. If we do not forgive we may easily lose Godʼs mercy.

In theory we will all agree that God is forgiveness as we have been singing: God is forgiveness. We may also agree that as Christians we are called to forgive others, or if we have done wrong to ask for forgiveness.

But in real life this is not so easy. What • if my reputation is ruined because a jealous colleague of mine puts a lie about me on

facebook,• if my girl- or boyfriend betrays me with someone else,• if my child dies in a car accident caused by a careless driver,• if I daily meet the neighbour who killed my father,Will I not ask for justice?Is forgiveness not much too cheap, especially if the offender does not show any remorse?

And what • if I have betrayed a friend? • if by my carelessness someone was injured in an accident? • if I gave in to group pressure to discriminate or denounce certain people in my country?

What then? Will I try to excuse myself, blame others,or will I accept my responsibility, go to the one whom I have wronged, and ask for forgiveness?

The gift of forgiveness is not a cheap gift.

Let me tell you two examples.

Someone told me how he has been living in a country under military dictatorship. He was a member of the opposition. One day two of his children were admitted to hospital. Both children died after some days. One day after the fall of the dictator a doctor comes to the home of the father. He shows him a letter from the medical file of his children. This letter demands that the children should not be treated. This has of course a political background. The doctor obeyed the order, and thatʼs how the children died. The doctor carried all the time the burden of his guilt. Now he comes to the father to ask for forgiveness. The father is able to forgive him, and invites him the next Sunday to his church where he asks for a prayer for both of them.

Another example is the documentary “Beyond forgiving” which we watched during a Global Meeting Point in July. It is the story of two South Africans. Ginn is a Christian white woman. Letlapa is a black man and former commander op APLA, the armed wing of a political freedom movement. In 1993 Letlapa ordered the attack of a tavern in Cape Town as revenge for the killing of some black school childfen. During this attack Lyndi, the 23-years old daughter of Ginn was killed. 9 years later Ginn meets Letlapa who had returned from exile. Letlapa accepts the responsibility for the death of Lyndi. Ginn is impressed by his integrity. She is able to put aside her right to revenge and to forgives Letlapa. This completely unexpected act of forgiveness gives Letlapa his humanity back. He invites Ginn to his village for his home coming ceremony. During that ceremony Ginn is asked to speak, and she apologizes for the way how her ancestors have treated the black people. This is not yet the end. Ginn and Letlapa start together the “Lyndi Fourie Foundation” which works for reconciliation and development in South Africa.

What I learn from these two examples:Forgiveness is not the ʻnormalʼ response we expect, not the ʻhumanʼ way to respond to injustice. Forgiveness is a gift from God. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

Forgiveness allows us to make a difference between an offense and the offender. We do not forget the offense. We call evil what is evil. But we look at the offender as a human person with his/her own life story. We trust that he/she can change and that a new relationship is possible. Often we realize that the offender is at the same time also a victim.

In the end forgiveness is the only way to release us from an unbearable burden. For the offender it is the burden of guilt and shame which no-one else can take away. For the victim it is the burden of a lifelong anger and desire to revenge. It can be a truly liberating experience to give up the ʻright to revengeʼ, as Ginn said.

Forgiveness is also the only way to remember the past without remaining a victim of the past. As individuals we are willingly or unwillingly part of the historical guilt of our nation. The gift of forgiveness helps us to deal with the past whether we are victims or offenders, and to walk ahead together. Forgiveness is the first step towards reconciliation between individuals and communities.

Allow me one more example. It shows that forgiving is not always one single act. Asking for forgiveness, granting forgiveness, and working for reconciliation is often a long process of trust building.It is the story of my father. He was a German pastor, 25 years old, when Hitler took power in Germany. He lived for 12 years under the Nazi regime, was sent into the war and made war prisoner in Poland. Soon after the war he was invited to a European conference in Switzerland organized by the MRA (Moral Re-Armament). Recently I found a report about this conference in which my father said: “I was often not prepared to give the moral challenge on the highest level to the Nazis. I was not brave enough and failed to achieve what I should have done. So I share all the guilt of my country. I would like today to ask forgiveness of those who have groaned under the yoke of Germany.”20 years later my father came in close contact with the Orthodox Jewish Synagogue in Strasbourg, France. He developed a deep friendship with the cantor of that synagogue, Bertrand Joseph. For 10 years my father took groups of German protestant pastors to the synagogue to build new bridges after the genocide on Jews by Germans. When my father celebrated his 70th birthday his Jewish friend sent a message which he ended with a

prayer: “I pray: Dear God, I thank you that you allowed me to meet Hans Stroh. You gave me the friend whom I expected since the end of the horrible killings. He made me finally free from my doubt about collective guilt. He taught me to love, where I wanted to hate.”

It is my prayer that Godʼs Holy Spirit may grant each one of us the gift of forgiveness in order to become true witnesses of Godʼs mercy and love, which our world needs so much.

Amen.