18-jan-09

Forgiven Failures The Rev. Joseph Winston January 18, 2009

Sermon Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.1 A very wise person once said something like this, “If you want to find out all of your shortcomings, then all you have to do is to get married. Soon enough, your spouse will know all of your failures and will be more than happy to share with you each and every one of your faults. If marriage does not provide you with enough reality on what you can and cannot do, then just have children. They are not bashful at all and they certainly will tell you of your every weakness.” Those of us that have spent some in the state of marriage know this for a fact. Marriage is nothing like going out on an endless date. It is much more complicated than that. Marriage is a life long account of giving and taking. Marriage is a long narrative of sharing many different things and doing without others. Marriage is a 1

Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3

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detailed report of how we work together and what we do when we are apart. This life style that we have chosen for ourselves makes many demands of us. There are things that we can and cannot do. We have promised to be faithful. We have given our word to be with our spouse during the good and the bad. We have publicly stated that we will stay together. This way of life allows our spouse to see just about everything about us and with this comes the opportunity to see all of our shortcomings. There will be all those little things that irritate and annoy us like not matching all the socks after doing the laundry, forgetting all those important details like the time and place of our first kiss, or squeezing the toothpaste from the middle instead of rolling it up neatly from the end. Sooner or later, we will show all those behaviors that our spouse cannot stand and frankly makes them angry such as spending too much time out with our friends rather than staying at home, purchasing items that are not needed, or working way too long. Couples are not the only ones that come to the realization that their partner has a long list of less than desirable attributes. For you see, children have this amazing gift. They quickly learn that there is a wide difference between what their parents tell them to do and what we actually do. We might ask them to clean up their rooms but we actually never take the time to put our dirty clothes in the laundry basket. We want our children to control their emotions so that they do not lash out at their siblings, their parents, or their friends while we adults quite frequently loose our temper when we have disagreements. We want them to obey us even though we cannot always agree on what to do. 2

Children, both our own and their friends, soon notice that we do not practice what we preach. They are more than willing to inform us of this fact. You do not do what you require of me. When one takes the time to look out at the world, you soon realize that our shortcomings are not limited to the way we act in the family. The twenty-eight chapters of Matthew give us a rather bleak view of the disciples’ behavior. Of course, we hear of their successes. Peter, Andrew, James, and John left their fishing business and followed Jesus (Matthew 4:18-22). A while later and at the Lord’s command, these twelve men went into the far corners of Israel. There they brought the Good News that the God was in the land and they also healed the sick in God’s Name (Matthew 10:2-42). Twice, the disciples worked together with Jesus to feed the enormous crowds that gathered around Him (Matthew 14:14-21; 15:29-39). The high point of how the disciples act is found in today’s Gospel lesson. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:6). The author of Matthew also gives us many examples where the disciples did not do so well. The twelve men grew very tired of a woman that desperately wanted to see Jesus. Her daughter was sick with an illness that no one else could cure. She believed that Jesus could help her if she had a chance to present her case to Him. But the disciples did not like her or her arguments. In fact, they actually went to Jesus and ordered Jesus to send her away (Matthew 15:22-28). Then there was the time that the twelve forgot to bring their daily bread. Jesus had to remind them that God gives them what they need to exist (Matthew 15:2228). The disciples even had problems healing a man because they lacked faith in 3

God’s ability to cure (Matthew 17:14-21). In a story that often sounds strange to us because we like to believe that everyone welcomes children, the twelve play the role of grumpy, old men and attempt to keep children away from Jesus (Matthew 19:13-15). It does not get any better. Even after spending all this time with Jesus as their primary teacher, the disciples do not ever seem to understand what is going on. They still believe that certain behaviors will win favor in God’s sight (Matthew 19:16-30). The absolute low point for this group of men has to be during the crucifixion. Despite all their brave talk the night before, not a single male disciple watches Jesus suffer and die on the cross (Matthew 27:55). These horrible failures of the disciples are certainly not limited to the group as a whole. Peter, the one whom Jesus blesses in today’s Gospel lesson, has more than his fair share of shortcomings that he never seems to shake. Peter’s first problem is seen by all the disciples. He looses faith in Jesus while walking on the water and this causes Peter to sink like a rock (Matthew 14:22-33). It is clear that the other disciples still look up to him since they want to know what he thinks. But Peter drops the ball since he cannot tell the others what Jesus is teaching (Matthew 15:1-20). Christ’s promises to Peter in today’s lesson do not appear to help Peter in the least. In just a few more verses, Peter gets into trouble once again. Peter obviously does not want Jesus to suffer and die. Peter is so convinced that his way is right that he orders Jesus to stop everything from happening. For his effort, Peter is called Christ’s main adversary, Satan (Matthew 16:21-23). The problems continue to mount for Peter. At the Christ’s Transfiguration, Peter wants Jesus to stay rather than continue on to Jerusalem and certain death (Matthew 17:1-9). 4

Peter just does not get it. For all the difficulties that Peter causes, Jesus forgives Peter time and time again. Peter is not all the comfortable that happening for other people. He goes to Jesus and wants to know how many times that he must forgive others (Matthew 18:22-35). Finally, Peter sinks to his lowest point when he betrays Jesus three times (Matthew 26:33-75). It is important for us to hear that we fail. We let our spouses down. We cannot do the things that we would have our children do. Even with Jesus as their teacher, the disciples continue to make one mistake after another. Peter, the star student, suffers the same fate. He fails time and time again. There is a steep price to pay for all this failure that we bring upon ourselves. We will die and there is nothing that we can do about it. Today’s Gospel lesson has one small sliver of hope. • If God can come to Peter, a man who sunk like a rock because he lost faith in Jesus whom he could see, then God can come to you. Even if you have no hope at all, God will show you Jesus. • If God can come to Peter, the one who did not completely understand the Bible with Jesus as his teacher, then God can come you. Even if you never have learned anything at all about the Savior, God will show you the Messiah. • If God can come to Peter, a person who wanted to stop Jesus dead in His tracks and keep Him from saving the world, then God can come to you. Even if you do not want salvation, God will show you His Son. 5

• If God can come to Peter, someone who did everything in his power to keep Christ from His mission, then God can come to you. Even if you have kept others away from Jesus, God will show you the way of salvation. • If God can come to Peter, a man that does not want to forgive others, then God can come to you. Even if you have held grudges your entire life, God will show you the One who forgives everyone. • If God can come to Peter, a disciple that denies three times that he has ever seen his teacher, then God can come to you. Even if you have sworn testimony that you do not know Jesus, God will show you Jesus. We believe in this amazing God. A God that comes to us no matter what we have done and offers to us a way out. Not once, not twice, not even a thousand times, but at every moment of our lives God makes His presence known to us and He clearly points us to the One that can save us from the mess that we have made. This act of never ending love happens to us all the time. In conversations with others, God is there with you telling you that Jesus wants to give you forgiveness. In our daily life, God is walking right beside you and showing you Jesus. In every one of our relationships, God is in the middle of them, declaring that Jesus is among us. Jesus is with us today. He is here because we have gathered together in His name (Matthew 18:20). Christ is here because we are sharing His Meal. Today when the Church remembers the confession of St. Peter that Jesus is the Christ, we also recall that discipleship is a lot like marriage and family life. We 6

try to do what is required of us but more often than not, we fail miserably at the task that has been set before us. If we believe that God comes to each of us no matter what we have done in the past, then why do we spend all this time and energy on telling others about Jesus? The answer is simple. We want to share with everyone that we meet the Good News that Jesus has saved us. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”2

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Philippians 4:7.

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