"Loving Animals = Awakening Souls" - Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if any member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?” And Jesus said to him, “Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all of his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.

But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, ‘Pay what you owe.’  Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me and I will pay you.’ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.

When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”

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I heard a quotation, just last week, that I knew would be meaningful for today’s occasion:

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.” The words come from a journalist, Anatole France, about whom I know next to nothing else. But this little gem was enough to make me believe I would have liked the guy. “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

I’ve told myself before – and maybe even said out loud more than once – that I’m inclined to like most people – to give anyone and everyone the benefit of the doubt. But, you have an even better chance with me, if you like dogs and can appreciate the music of the Indigo Girls. We’re good, either way, don’t get me wrong – and Jesus still loves you no matter what, of course – but for my money, a love for dogs and/or an affinity for the music and message of the Indigo Girls say a lot to me about the nature and character of a person. But since we’re blessing pets this morning, I’ll leave the Indigo Girls for another day.

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

And, in keeping with the appointed Gospel for today, loving an animal – particularly, perhaps, a dog- or a cat- kind of animal – is good practice at the work of forgiveness, right?

Our house is filled with reminders of all the ways and reasons we have to forgive, Stella, the pound-puppy we rescued at Christmas-time about 8 years ago:

The kitchen chairs are still splintered enough to snag your socks from where she chewed them, that first Spring. There’s a bald spot on the carpet up the stairway, from another chewing fit she had sometime just within the last six-months. And, of course, there aren’t enough candles or essential oils or scented wax burners to convince Christa that our house doesn’t smell like a zoo, thanks to Stella. (Of course, I think Max and Jack are as much to blame for that as the dog is.)

Still, all of it – the constant reminders of Stella’s sins and the imperfection of life with a pet – is an invitation to either keep score and carry a grudge, or to let go and forgive her transgressions, with thanksgiving, instead, for the joy and companionship she brings, in spite of all the rest.

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unwakened.”

Because we need all the practice we can get when it comes to forgiveness, don’t we? And animals like Stella give us practice for what really matters when it comes to forgiving our human brothers and sisters in the world. Just like Peter, we want to know how much forgiveness is enough. How little of it can we get away with? How much grace is too much grace, lest we be made a fool, or be taken advantage of, in some way?

Well, Jesus seems to say there’s no such thing as too much forgiveness. There’s no such thing as too much grace, where God is concerned. Which is easier for the Son of God to say, then it is for most of the rest of us, you have to admit. And he tells that story about the slave and the Lord and the debt he was forgiven, to remind us that each of us is, or has been, or will be forgiven prolifically in this life and the next, so that we might be inspired – if not commanded – to extend the same kind of abundant grace and prolific forgiveness to others as we go.

Back to that quotation: “Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

As much as I love that – and as true as I believe it to be – Jesus’ parable makes me want to turn it around to say even more:

“Until one has been loved by an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

What I mean is, I think the Gospel of God’s kind of grace and mercy and forgiveness is there, somewhere.

“Until one has been loved by an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”

Because no matter how much Stella, the hound at my house, is scolded... No matter how contrite and sad and shamed she feels when she has done wrong... No matter how guilty we make her feel for his misdeeds – or how long we make her wait for dinner; or how much time she spends waiting for someone to come home; or how boring it must be to be a dog in our house a lot of the time, Stella’s love for her people is consistent, constant, unconditional and unwavering in ways most of the humans I know are incapable of offering.

To be loved that way – to be loved by the cats and dogs and creatures that surround us now – is an image of the kind of love Jesus describes and lives and dies for and is raised to new life to inspire in those of us who try to follow him.

We are to receive the fullness of God’s grace and mercy – we are to know we are loved so fully by our creator – that we offer the same measure of that grace, mercy and love to the world around us.

And when we do – when we receive that kind of love in ways that inspire us to offer it up – not just to our pets when it’s easy, but to each other and to all of God’s people, especially when it is not – our souls will be awakened; our lives and the lives of others will be transformed; and our world will change for the glory of God, thanks to the grace we share in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

"Hurricane Harvey and Tasting the Kingdom" - Matthew 16:21-28

Matthew 16:21-28

From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you." But he turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? "For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

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I heard a new thing this week as I stewed about this pretty familiar bit of Matthew’s Gospel – a passage I’ve read and considered and preached on a handful of times before. A lot of this is old, good news, really. All that stuff about denying yourself and taking up your cross; about losing your life in order to find it; and of course all of that stuff about Jesus suffering and dying and being raised on the third day. We need to be reminded of it all over and over again, so we do and we are.

But the new thing hit me when I read that last little bit from Jesus this time around, where he says, “Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” “…some standing here…will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Since he prefaces that statement with talk of “angels” and “repayment for what has been done,” I always and only considered those words as some sort of cosmic prophecy about the end of time; that Jesus was predicting his end-times return to redeem the world; like we read about in Revelation, and that hope-filled and sometimes crazy people have been longing for and making preparations about ever since. And maybe that is what Jesus meant. So frankly, I always and only heard that promise or prediction from Jesus as something he got wrong. After all, every one of those who was listening to him that day – Peter and the other disciples – are dead and long gone, right? Which means they presumably, in fact, “tasted death” before seeing the Son of Man come into his kingdom, as Jesus predicted.

But I wonder if, just like Peter, I’ve missed the point all these years. I’ve looked at those words and that promise and Jesus’ prediction with the wrong set of eyes; from the wrong kind of perspective.

Because what if it wasn’t that end-times, apocalyptic, second-coming Jesus was talking about? What if every one of those disciples really did see the Son of Man “coming into his kingdom” when they witnessed and participated in all the things Jesus had JUST predicted and JUST promised them would happen, in the verses just beforehand – namely, that great suffering, that dying and that resurrection on the third day?

What I mean is, the Son of Man “came into his kingdom” when he made his way to Jerusalem. The Son of Man “came into his kingdom” when he was handed over to the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes. The Son of Man “came into his kingdom” while he was crucified, as he suffered, and the moment he took his last breath on the cross. And of course, the Son of Man “came into his kingdom” when he was raised on the third day.

And every one of them saw it. We’ve all heard about it. They and we just can’t seem to wrap our heads – still – around a kingdom that’s humble; a kingdom that hurts sometimes; a kingdom that’s hard more often than we’d like; and a kingdom that is hopeful in spite of so many reasons not to be.

In other words, we are so much like Simon Peter who has so much to teach us through his relationship with Jesus, about our own relationship with Jesus. Whether he’s walking on water and then sinking; whether he’s refusing to wash Jesus’ feet, before submitting to the role of that kind of servanthood; or whether he’s trying to keep Jesus from being arrested in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter is us – and we are Peter: struggling with faith, neglecting opportunities to serve humbly, placing roadblocks in the way of God’s grace. We think too often with our heads about what God is calling us toward, rather than seeing with the eyes of our hearts – as that song sings – sensing what God is already up to in our midst.

But God is already and always up to something in our midst. And haven’t we seen some measure of that in Houston over the course of the last week – heavenly things, I mean, in the face of so many earthly obstacles and limitations? As horrible as Hurricane Harvey was; as much loss as we can count there, in terms of lives and real estate and things; and as much devastation as has befallen that part of our country – the kingdom has come among us in that place.

Every story about the “Cajun Navy” – and every example of average Joe’s and trained professionals – showing up to rescue those in need, is a story of the kingdom coming among us.

Every church that opens its doors or sends its people or collects supplies, is a story of the kingdom alive and well in our midst.

Every penny that gets sent for the good of the cause, with no strings attached, is the kingdom of God coming for the sake of the world.

Every black man carrying a white child, every white man carrying a brown child, every boat weighed down – like so many miniature arks, if you will – weighed down with men, women, children and animals of every size, shape, age and color is a picture of God’s kingdom, come.

I especially liked the video I saw of three or four African-American teenage boys – wearing black hoodies, even – who helped steer the floating car of a little old white lady to safety.

All of it is the kingdom of God breaking into the world as we know it. And it’s kind of amusing to me that it comes as a surprise to people, still.

People have a habit of behaving differently in the face of tragedy like we’ve seen in Houston this week; or in Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina; or in New York, on September 11th; or when a loved-one gets sick; or when a neighbor loses his job; or whatever. When the you-know-what hits the fan, the grace of God moves in and for and through people who are created in the image of that same God, remember.

Walls come down, and they should. Politics cease to matter, and they shouldn’t. Help is asked for, help offered, help is received without question, without boundary, without limit – and it all happens from those who can, and for those who need it most. In the midst of great tragedy and suffering and struggle, the kingdom comes among us more fully and more often than not, it seems to me, by the grace of God.

And what must be so frustrating to our creator – like it must have been for Jesus – is that it takes some measure of tragedy and suffering and struggle for us to get it; to do it; to receive it; to celebrate it; to see it, even, this kingdom in our midst. And that we struggle or neglect to allow that kind of kingdom living to thrive among us even when life is good and things are well.

What I think Jesus is trying to show his disciples – and what we’re supposed to have caught onto by now – what we’re still learning as followers of Christ – is that we shouldn’t wait for tragedy to strike – or to strike close to home – before we allow ourselves to live in all the ways God invites us to live in this world. (You all realize that in addition to Houston, over 1,200 people have died thanks to a monsoon in India over the course of the last week, too, right?)

What I think living with faith is about is learning to listen and to see and to live with our hearts, more than with our heads – where we see a bigger picture.  When we get our heads out of the way – our scope is broadened.  When we set our minds, daily, on divine things like resurrection and forgiveness and new life and the power of grace – the stuff of the world falls away and we live differently because of it.

And the kingdom comes among us… And the kingdom comes because of us… And the kingdom comes through us… The kingdom comes – here and now – and for the sake of the world, in the name of Jesus who was, who is, and who is to come.

Amen