Proper 19, Year A, 2011

Matthew 18:21-35

Sermon for American Churches on the 10^th Anniversary of 9-11

The Rev. Ronald N. Johnson

Today is the tenth anniversary of Al Qaeda’s attack on America.  There have been other days of infamy in our history.  Pearl Harbor comes immediately to mine.  Unprovoked, unjustified, a sneak attack that brought us into the Second World War.  The attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001 brought us into a war that has lasted 10 years, the longest in American history.  Nine-Eleven is not all that Al Qaeda has done in the name of God.  There have been embassy bombings, passenger airline bombings, train bombings, bombings in London, Madrid.  Anything Western seems to them a legitimate target, and they hate us because we do not share their religion and their sense of morality.  But then again, they even hate their fellow Muslims, especially the Shiite and they are unconcerned about how much human suffering they inflict, as long as they can destroy those who differ from themselves.  And, the gospel for today tells us that we should forgive them!

My first thought is no way, but immediately I know that I am wrong.  Eternal torture, Jesus said, is God’s promise for those who do not forgive from the heart.  Let me be clear about one thing, though.  Willingness to forgive does not mean that we abandon our efforts to destroy Al Qaeda.  This war is as just as any war in history, and we have an obligation along with our allies to defeat these people who so distort God’s will in the very name of God.  And we owe eternal gratitude to those men and women of our Armed Forces who have given so much to defeat this threat to not just America but to all the people of the world.  But forgive we ultimately must, just as we have forgiven the English, the Germans, the Italians, the Spanish, the Chinese, the Koreans, the Japanese and all others with whom we have been forced into war. 

If we do not forgive, we will destroy not Al Qaeda but ourselves.  I’m seeing, in myself, something that I do not like.  I struggle not to hate Muslim people, and yet I know that Islam is not in and of itself bad and that the majority of Muslim people do not embrace terrorism.  I have what I have to acknowledge as evil thoughts when I see a Muslim woman boarding an airplane and wonder whether I really want to be on the same flight with her.  If I am unwilling to forgive, I know that I will end up hating myself.   Today's gospel says torture is the payment for those who refuse to forgive. It doesn't have to be the torture of hell that pays back the sinner. A psychological reality is that those who refuse to forgive find their hell on earth. We have to realize that we can be right and miserable, but by forgiving we can be happy. Truly, the door to happiness is forgiveness. When we forgive, we join with God in doing God's essential work of bringing the peace of God to this broken world. The peace we bring may be minor and applicable to only a very small place in this world, but it is a peace that indeed passes understanding because it is the peace that comes from God.  As a nation, if we do not forgive our national character will be so changed that the very things that define us – life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness will be forever lost.  Our national character is defined by its essential goodness and that is something we should never lose. 

I have said before that discipleship is not easy.  Being true to Jesus requires us to do things that are hard.  Forgiving those who have brought this war to us may be the hardest of all, but if we ask, “What would Jesus do?” I think we know what he expects of us.  Amen.