[Propertalk] Fwd: Re: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 19A: “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” (Thomas Szasz)

Sun Sep 17 19:19:37 EDT 2017

Forwarded:

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-------- Original message --------From: Judith Boli <judy_boli at ecunet.org> Date: 9/17/17  7:04 PM  (GMT-05:00) To: Joe Parrish <joeparrish at compuserve.com> Subject: Re: [propertalk.topic] Sermon for Proper 19A: “The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” (Thomas Szasz) 
Sure, Joe.  God bless you and Bob as you live in the unknown.
This morning we found out that our apprentice social ministry worker's brother visiting from Memphis was jumped and robbed yesterday.  He is in critical condition at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor (about 100 miles from Saginaw) while surgeons reconstruct his face.  He has lost an eye and is not doing well.  The timing of the sermon couldn't have been better, although the circumstances are awful!  Here's the sermon.  Hope you get it this time.

STRAIGHT
FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW: “Jesus
said: “Peter came up to the Lord and asked, “How many times should I forgive
someone who does something wrong to me? Is seven times enough?’ Jesus answered:
“Not just seven times, but seventy-seven times!”    

CONTINUED
STRAIGHT FROM THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW: “This
story will show you what the kingdom of heaven is like: One day a king decided
to call in his officials and ask them to give an account of what they owed
him.   As he was doing this, one official
was brought in who owed him fifty million silver coins.  (One denarius = about 100 day’s labor; 1
year’s work= ~3.5 coins; what he owed would take ~14,285,714 years!) But he
didn't have any money to pay what he owed. The king ordered him to be sold,
along with his wife and children and all he owned, in order to pay the
debt.  The official got down on his knees
and began begging, ‘Have pity on me, and I will pay you every cent I owe!’   The king felt sorry for him and let him go
free. He even told the official that he did not have to pay back the
money.  As the official was leaving, he
happened to meet another official, who owed him a hundred silver coins. So he
grabbed the man by the throat. He started choking him and said, ‘Pay me what
you owe! ‘The man got down on his knees and began begging, ‘Have pity on me,
and I will pay you back.’  But the first
official refused to have pity. Instead, he went and had the other official put
in jail until he could pay what he owed. 
When some other officials found out what had happened, they felt sorry
for the man who had been put in jail. Then they told the king what had
happened.   The king called the first
official back in and said, ‘You're an evil man! When you begged for mercy, I
said you did not have to pay back a cent. 
Don't you think you should show pity to someone else, as I did to you?’ The
king was so angry that he ordered the official to be tortured until he could
pay back everything he owed.   That
is how my Father in heaven will treat you, if you don't forgive each of my
followers with all your heart.”

Did you hear what Jesus
said.  He said the same thing in the
Lord’s Prayer:  “Forgive us our sins AS we
forgive those who sin against us.” 
In case we don’t get it, when he finishes teaching us how to pray, he
says,
“If you forgive others for the wrongs they do to you, your Father in heaven
will forgive you. But if you don’t forgive others, your Father will not forgive
your sins.” (Matthew 6: 14-15)

Now, if we choose to try to live
the way Jesus said, let’s see what’s involved. 

This is what NOT to do.  Someone overheard a conversation between a
husband and wife. It was Thanksgiving, and a husband was telling his wife how
thankful he was for her even-temperedness. 
He said, “When I get mad at you, you never try to get revenge or give me
the silent treatment.  How do you manage
to forgive me so easily?”  His wife
answered, “I clean the toilet.”  “How
does that work?” asked the puzzled husband. 
“Well,” said his blushing wife.  “When
I’m really mad at you, I clean it very slowly and it really helps me.”  “How does cleaning the toilet help?” the
husband asked.  “Oh, that’s easy!” the
wife replied.  “I use your
toothbrush.”  

OK- so we’re not going to get
even subtle revenge.  What are we going
to do?

FIRST-
WHAT?  What are we talking about when we say
“forgive.”  Here’s the best definition of
forgiveness I’ve heard: “Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hate you for
hurting me.” (Anonymous)

SECOND-
TO WHAT EXTENT?  What if the person did something terrible to
you or someone you love, and you can’t stand their guts?!  C. S. Lewis said, “Everyone thinks
forgiveness is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive.”  Of course you don’t like the person.  They hurt you or someone you love, and they
probably did it on purpose!

THIRD-
WHAT IF THEY KEEP DOING IT? Then,
keep forgiving them, but go back to the drawing board and solve the
problem.  Remember, Jesus did say 70 X 10
+ 7 times. (7 and 10 are both Bible coding for the whole thing).  In other words, the whole thing times the
whole thing plus the whole thing.

FOURTH-
DO YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE AND FORGET?  No, you have to forgive and
remember, just don’t dwell on it.  Forgiving
does not mean forgetting that you have been wronged or pretending you have not
been hurt.  If you forget, you open
yourself up to being hurt again and you also open yourself up to tempting the
other person to sin again by hurting you again.

FIFTH-
DO YOU HAVE TO FORGIVE THEM IF THEY’RE NOT SORRY?  Yes,
it’s not about them, it’s about you and God. 
They might even be dead.  

WHY
SHOULD YOU DO SUCH A HARD, ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE THING? The reasons you forgive are:

1.     
Jesus
said to do it.

2.     
The big
one: So you can be forgiven by God: “Forgive us our sins/trespasses/debts AS
(maybe even “when”) we forgive those who sin against us.” (Lord’s Prayer)

3.     
For
your own serenity.  Your choice is to
live at peace or to live in bitterness with mental illness, heart disease, migraines,
ulcers, high blood pressure.  You want to
live a fulfilled happy life, and not die a bitter old (or not so old) man or
woman.

4.     
You
have a better chance of sleeping well at night.

5.     
THE OTHER BIG ONE: Jesus’ Way is the only way that makes life
work.

NOW,
YOUR CHOICE:  Very shortly, we’re going to sing- “I Have
Decided to Follow Jesus.”  I personally decided
that when I was four years old, and I continue to make that decision daily,
sometimes on a hard day minute by minute. 
Where are you?  Remember the sermon
title by Thomas Szasz (American psychiatrist): “The stupid neither forgive nor
forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget.” Let’s
not be stupid.  Let’s not be naïve.  Let’s choose to be wise. 

On Sun, Sep 17, 2017 at 8:55 AM, Joe Parrish <joeparrish at compuserve.com> wrote:
Hi Judy,Your sermon came to me blank.Can you please resend?
Bob is still waiting for surgeon's decision.
Thanks for prayers.Peace and blessings,Joe

Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device

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