The new priest is nervous about hearing confessions, so he asks an older priest to sit in on his sessions. The new priest hears several confessions, then the old priest asks him to step out of the confessional for a few suggestions… The old priest suggests, "Cross your arms over your chest and rub your chin with one hand."… The new priest tries this. The old priest suggests, "Try saying things like, 'I see, yes, go on, and I understand, how did you feel about that?" … The new priest says those things, trying them out. The old priest says, "Now, don't you think that's a little better than slapping your knee and saying, 'No way! What happened next?'" – I’m not sure if this would be a good time to encourage you all to go to confession during Lent or not.
It is in the fifth chapter of James that we hear specific instructions on healing.. he writes, “Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil.”… and then a verse later James writes.. “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.”… He shows us that there is a definite link between sin and sickness, therefore he encourages us to confess our sins to each other. Often, when we hear these instructions we think of the confession between an penitent and a priest, but James is also talking about Christian speaking to Christian as a means of accountability… for example – if you have a problem with “X” then you can confess this to a trusted friend or even a group of trusted friends who will in turn hold you accountable.. not so they can beat you over the head when you slip and fail, but so that they can support you in your time of weakness and give you encouragement when you hold strong.
So we confess our sins to God and to a priest for absolution.. we confess to one another for accountability and encouragement.. but we also confess so that we might receive forgiveness from the person who we injured… and.. as we said a few weeks ago, this all seems a bit unfair, because the person who was injured now has to be the one who has to do all the work by saying those three words, “I forgive you.”
Back in the day before I was the saint that I am today, I had a favorite expression for someone who made me angry – it’s a bit crude – but when asked if I would forgive someone I heartily responded, “I wouldn’t pee on them if they were on fire.” – That left very little room for reconciliation and Jesus was not amused… yet finally I heard that call from St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.” – as we said a few weeks ago, that doesn’t mean “forgive and forget,” but it does mean that we must forgive.
.. and I would suggest to you today that when we choose to forgive someone, we do so far a variety of reasons… just like many of the other choices we make.. there is obedience / fear… guilt… or out of imitation.
Some folks choose to go to work out of obedience and fear. Obedience in that they know what is expected of them and fear that they will be fired if they don’t. Sometimes we forgive for a similar reason… take for example the parable Jesus tells in chapter eighteen of Matthew’s Gospel… It tells of a servant who owed a great debt to his master and yet was unable to pay when his master called in the debt. He therefore begged his master for forgiveness and the master forgave the debt and let him go.. however.. when that servant went out he encountered someone who owed him a debt and demanded that it be paid.. when the man said he couldn’t pay the servant had him thrown into prison until he could… When the other servants saw what had happened they went to the master and reported it. The master recalled the servant and said to him, “‘you wicked servant; I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed…. Jesus concludes by saying, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.” --- we may also forgive someone out of obedience to the command to forgive and out of fear of the repercussions of not forgiving… Is that forgiveness? Yes.. as long as it is from the heart.
We may also choose to do certain things out of guilt. Take for example the parable of the man who had two sons… Jesus said that the man -- went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’… “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went… “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go… Jesus asked those who were listening to him, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”…“The first,” they answered… what turned the first son’s heart?.. probably a number of things, but I suspect it started with guilt… “Dad asked me to do this… errr..” and off he goes…. In a similar manner – because of guilt – we may choose to forgive… You remember from several weeks back I shared with you that passage from the visions of Catharine Emmerich regarding the crucifixion of Jesus and the nails in his hands? Several of you were very upset with the passage and with me for sharing it, but it pointed to the truth of the crucifixion… To “guilt” some into forgiving others.. all I need do is point them to the horrible truth of the crucifixion and all its terrors and say, “That is what Christ did so that your sins would be forgiven; therefore, you should forgive others their sins”.. and some will forgive because of the guilt they experience over the consequence of their sins.. that Jesus paid…. Is that forgiveness? Yes.. as long as it is from the heart.
Finally, we choose to do things by imitation… Why do you do something in a particular way? Oh, that’s how my dad always did it. Why are you a dentist? Oh, my mother was a dentist. We imitate the behavior we see from others. In the first paragraph of the first chapter of the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a Kempis, “‘He that followeth Me walketh not in darkness,’ said our Lord. These are the words of Christ, by which we are taught how we must imitate His life and virtues if we wish to be truly enlightened and freed from all blindness of heart.”
The NIV of the Bible translates Ephesians 5:1-2 as “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”… “Follow God’s example” is also translated in other versions as “Be ye therefore imitators of God.”… that word “followers” / “imitators” is translated from the Greek word “mimEtai” (μιμηταὶ) .. it is where we get the word “mimic”… What is it we are to imitate / mimic as dearly loved children of God? “When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.’” -- That is what we are to imitate.
If you forgive from your heart out of obedience or guilt.. then you have done as Christ commanded. You have forgiven because you have been told to forgive and know that you must.. and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that… however… in being a follower / imitator / mimic of Jesus you are forgiving – not because you have been told by Jesus to do it – but.. because you want to be like Jesus... See the difference?
Is that asking too much.. is it to hard – to want to be like Jesus? If so, then to paraphrase George Herbert.. set it up there as a mark.. something to aim for “since he shoots higher that threatens the moon, than he that aims at a tree."
Let us pray… a prayer by St. Augustine… Breathe into us, Holy Spirit, that our thoughts may all be holy. Move in us, Holy Spirit, that our work, too, may be holy. Attract our hearts, Holy Spirit, that we may love only what is holy. Strengthen us, Holy Spirit, that we may defend all that is holy. Protect us, Holy Spirit, that we may always be holy. Amen.
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