The early church was quite open about situations of conflict. It is true to say that conflict is part of being human. I often discuss conflict with couples preparing for marriage and particularly how couples deal with and resolve conflict. Sometimes people seem a little surprised that I raise the issue but then soon see that conflict is a part of life and does not have to a negative force. There is such a thing as creative conflict. In fact it is true to say that conflict is a part of being human and the church as a human institution albeit with a divine calling is not excepted from that. As Peter puts the Lord to the test with his provocative question so Jesus responds even more provocatively. Not 7 times says Jesus but 70 times 7; times without number. In other words you cannot limit the forgiving love of God; God’s forgiveness is without limit. God forgives and forgives and forgives. Forgiveness is at the very heart of our knowledge of God. It is what we see lived and acted out in the life and passion of Jesus. Not only does Jesus teach about forgiveness; he teaches us to pray it: “forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”; and last but not least Jesus practices forgiveness as he hangs on the cross: “ Father forgive them for they know not what they do”

To illustrate this teaching of God’s extravagant forgiveness Jesus tells the well-known parable of the Unforgiving Servant. It is a classic piece of parabolic preaching with all the elements of exaggeration and drama making it a great piece of theatre. You can feel the crowd hanging on every word and responding with sighs and groans to the various characters and their behaviour. Jesus was a consummate teacher and was able to drive home serious theological facts with a light touch and a fair bit of latitude. So he begins “the kingdom of heaven may be compared to”. Jesus is not illustrating some small point of etiquette or religious ritual when he tells this parable but the kingdom of heaven itself. This is what God’s reign will be like he is saying. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wanted to settle accounts. So one of his servants with a huge debt was summoned and because he could not pay was ordered to be sold and so forth. From that we know that is not a Jewish king because the law forbad a Jew to sell another human. That fact that we are dealing with a Gentile king here just heightens the drama of the parable. After all this a foreigner who shows mercy ultimately not someone like us. The amount of the debt, 10,000 talents, is astronomical and would take a lifetime to repay. Again that highlights the impossibility of the situation. When the servant begs on his knees for time to repay his debt the ruler relents and in an act of extravagant mercy forgives the huge debt. Mercy triumphs over law in that moment of forgiving generosity. The crowd would be delighted with this outcome. This is the stuff dreams are made of.

But then no sooner than they were delighted Jesus again scandalizes them. This same servant no sooner than he is relieved of his huge burden of debt turns around and pursues a mere debt of a 100 denarii, a small sum, refusing any offer of terms of repayment. The very small size of this debt and the fact that it could easily have been repaid on terms only made the contrast between the two attitudes the more dramatic. The unforgiving servant completely forgets his master’s merciful dealing with him and acts harshly and without mercy towards his fellow servant. His behaviour would be seen to be scandalous by the crowd. No wonder the king is furious with the one to whom he showed such mercy. The result is relentless torture until he repays the whole debt which is shorthand for saying that he will be tortured into eternity. This sounds hard but it in fact echoes teaching of the period about eternal judgment.

But Jesus makes his teaching clear. Forgiveness stands at the heart of our religion. We believe in a God who has forgiven us our sins in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross for us with his arms outstretched in forgiving love; demonstrating all the generous love of God to us. But the heart of our response to that love is to become the forgiving people of God. A good description of the Christian community is the “forgiven and forgiving people of God”. “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

It all sounds good and easy. But like the unforgiving servant in the parable we all know too well that human pride, hardness of heart, the ways of the world all soon crowd in on us and we find ourselves forgetting mercy and calling for retribution, revenge and the strict rule of law. “I will never forgive so and so” for what they did to me. Lack of forgiveness in families and between former friends can be particularly powerful. Conflict situations often give rise to a lack of forgiveness. Old wounds die hard. Individuals and communities can cling to old hurts for generations as seen in a number of contemporary conflicts. This parish experienced a deep level of conflict last year particularly and that has left scars that still require healing. The main focus for my ministry in the first few months at least was to open up some of those issues and to begin the process of reconciliation and healing. But that takes time. Forgiveness can be hard work. But most importantly as people of faith, of faith in a forgiving God, is that we keep trying to become agents of that amazing quality of mercy we see in Jesus; to become instruments of peace, agents of reconciliation.

The events of 911 themselves were a huge challenge to people of faith let alone to this nation and beyond. It would have been easy to fall back into cries for vengeance; to find scapegoats and people to blame. On one level that did happen with the invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq. But at another and a less heralded level people of faith took up the challenge and reached out to groups such as the Islamic communities who were in danger of becoming demonized showing that quality of mercy which is at the heart of all the major religions. I must say I was distressed when I was in Australia recently at the judgmental attitudes being displayed in some parts of the press to the growing Islamic communities there. Yes at all levels forgiveness does not come easily but that does not free us from the obligation of our Christian faith. We are the forgiven and forgiving people of God. That is what we proclaim and celebrate every time we celebrate eucharist.

Today we keep Homecoming Sunday when we begin afresh after the long hot summer. This morning we are commissioning a number of people to new ministries; all our programs are up and running for the Fall season; we have made a successful transition from the old parish house; there is a sense of new life, new hope and new possibility. But whatever we do as a parish I trust that people who come to this place will experience something of the generous, hospitable and forgiving love of God.   Amen

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