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Sunday, January 10, 2010
Forgive and Forget
By Rev. Jerry Herships
Galatians 3:26-29
26for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. 27As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.
I have liked this piece of scripture since hearing about it my first year in seminary. After my first year in seminary, I went back to Florida to go in front of my committee on ordained ministry. Florida is a pretty conservative United Methodist community. They knew I went to Iliff, a pretty liberal seminary, and they didn’t really know what kind of “theological training” I was getting there. Long story short, I had a target painted on my back.
They started grilling me and after awhile they brought up this passage. We had studied this passage in New Testament class, and when they asked me about the “promise through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe,” I said, “well that depends if you are using the subjective genitive or objective genitive. One is referring to the faith in Christ that we have and the other is referring to the faith of Christ with which he led his life and took him to the cross.
“To which are you referring, I said.”
After that there were no more questions. I so wanted to go, “In your face! In your face!” but thought that probably wouldn’t show good Christian love towards my brothers and sisters and probably would be a poor political move, so I kept my mouth shut.
While you could do a whole sermon on that part of the passage alone, I want to focus on what Paul is suggesting. To the Jewish community in Paul’s day, this would have been like a bomb dropping. The Jews were the children of God. The phrase “Sons of God” was used in the Old Testament and among the Jewish people as a designation for Israel as God’s elect people. Paul was saying that through faith, ALL were children of God. HUGE! HUGE!
Now it might seem easy to say that we believe that as well. It might, also, seem hard to relate this to today. After all, we are not dealing with Jews and Greeks. We aren’t dealing, thank God, with slaves and free. Granted we don’t have to deal with Male and Female because they are being treated equally, right ladies? All said, Paul uses examples of his day and that can sometimes make it hard to relate.
It can get easier if we switch it to some modern day vernacular and stories. What we are really talking about here is how we put people into groups and define them through that. Paul wasn’t saying that men and women went away and a hybrid type of person developed. Everyone retained their uniqueness, they just were not to judge on those things that made them different from their neighbors. I heard a preacher say one time that everyone is equal and that might only seem like a bummer until you realized that this was awesome club in which to belong.
So we are not just talking about differences, but the judgment we place on those differences. We might not have those things that were mentioned in the passage but we pull out the tape measure in all kinds of areas in today’s life and times. And, we can get so wrapped up in how those tape measures read. We find ourselves held hostage by six little words: WHAT WILL THEY THINK OF ME?
This week I have had a number of encounters regarding jobs and the money we make at them. It is so easy to judge others….and yourself, by the all mighty dollar.
I remember when I was doing the show biz gig. When I was working, I was making great money, thousands of dollars for a half hours work. Did you catch the phrase, “when I was working?” When I didn’t land those gigs, I was working at the GAP at the Burbank Mall. I was 30. I literally had weeks when I would get picked up in a limo, go stay at the Four Seasons, work with a celebrity, eat fancy meals, and then come home to change into my khaki’s to go do my shift at the GAP. If money and a job define you, and it changes daily, that is a pretty schizophrenic existence.
On the one hand, when I was working in Show Biz, I felt great. I was living the life and making all kinds of money. When I was at the GAP, I was miserable. Here’s the kicker: BOTH ARE WRONG. I was letting my job and what the world thought decide how I would see myself. One time one of the producers I had worked with on a show came in to get some chinos. I was mortified. I was a wreck because of those six lousy words: what will they think of me?
Now granted, some of us might have heard some pretty lousy things said about us when we were growing up. But even after those people went away, we still play those tapes in our head…many times saying things much worse than when they were said by someone else.
It does come down to how we value ourselves doesn’t it? Job and money is just one way. Even the kind of career, even the kind of career within a career is a way to value ourselves. Humor me for a second. Close your eyes, everyone, even the cool people. What do you think of when I say these jobs: Monk…do you have a picture in front of you? Picture a man of the cloth. Now try TV Evangelist. How about fast food cook, the kind of guy that would work in a diner or greasy spoon… and celebrity chef? Used car salesman…Ferrari salesman. Do we know anything about these people? Or do we base our judgment of them (and ourselves) on what they do for a living.
Try this one. Think of the people that eat and drink these things: Sushi/New York Strip/Montrachet, 1st Cru and Opus One…can you picture someone? And what about Mac-n-cheese, fried bologna sandwich, PBR Tallboy and Jack Daniels. Do you get a different picture? Nothing is wrong with seeing a different picture. Where we jump the rails is when we make a judgment based on that different picture. Some of the most outstanding people I know like steak and fine wine…and others are fans of Mac-n-cheese and Yukon Jack.
What if they are wearing suits or wranglers or tuxes or Cowboy hats? Drive a Prius or a Benz? Have a wine cellar or a barn? These things MIGHT give us clues on what people might hold important but they don’t DEFINE the person. Try as we might, if someone lives in Greenwood Village or Five Points…we probably notice.
And we do it with ourselves as well.
And often, the things we dislike in others are the very things we dislike the most in ourselves. I like working with the homeless and am amazed when some of the guys will come around and drop off stuff they have…FOR OTHER HOMELESS PEOPLE. I can’t stand the fact that there are people that have tons of everything and don’t share them when I see homeless people giving things away. And yet one of those people who have tons of everything IS ME! Ask yourself if the things that you most dislike in others are not the same things that, deep down, you dislike about yourself? It is with me.
The only way to fix this is to forgive others their shortcomings. Know that they are a work in progress. They are doing the best they can at this moment in their life and that they will ALWAYS be a work in progress. Now apply those same things to yourself. When you learn to forgive others, you learn to, subconsciously, forgive yourself and be a little easier on everyone.
Paul in this passage reminds us that the only club that we have to remember we belong in is the one called children of God. And as we learned a few weeks back, the main commandment is to love God and love each other…AS YOUR SELF. When we love others, we love ourselves. And when we love others, because as you do to the least of my brothers you do unto me…we love God as well. We are all Children of God and it is an awesome club to belong to.
Paul reminds us that there is no Jew nor Greek, nor slave nor free, nor male and female. This also means today there is no Monk nor used car salesman. No eater of Sushi or Mac-n-chesses. No resident of Five Points or Greenwood Village. We are all just members of the family of God.
We need to remember to “forgive” others and “forget” the old labels and judgments.