Emmanuel Church, Bungay, Suffolk

The Minister's Sermons

"Mulberry Trees, Forgiveness And Grace" (Luke 17:1-10) by Revd Bruce Waldron - 4th October 2004
Jesus said to his disciples ...

	"Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive." The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you. "Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"
I was reading the South Elmham and District Local History Group's newsletter this week, and in it there was a review of a book written by a chap called David Holmes. He told the story of the non-conformists in Halesworth. They were sometimes called "Dissenters". The book centred around a man called Mr Harvey, a brilliant musician and teacher, organist, choirmaster and deacon at the Congregational Chapel in Halesworth. In the 1860's it was a thriving congregation of 200 and as it became more and more mainstream its worship changed and grew. Mr Harvey loved his music and around 1863, he started introducing chants into the service. A sense of foreboding was in the air. Was this the beginning of the return of Liturgy in worship. In 1866, Mr Harvey suggested that The Gloria should be sung in worship and the fat hit the fan. What would these modernisers do next. It was the thin edge of the wedge. The Halesworth Times ran hot with letters of dissenting dissenters and in the following year, Mr Harvey resigned with a number of others, started worshipping separately in the public Meeting Hall. The Pastor tried to reconcile Mr Harvey to his church and role but Mr Harvey laid down conditions for his return that the Pastor decided should not be put to the Church Meeting.
In November 1867 Mr Harvey and 37 others had their names erased from the membership. In 1868, these "modernizers" called their own pastor. The Congregational Union were now involved and tried to get the original congregation to talk with them and go to reconciliation procedures but they refused. A year later the original Congregational Church offered to let the New Congregational Church members come back, but laid down a list of conditions that were completely unacceptable. Walpole Congregational Church were dragged into the affair in 1871 and the bloodletting filled the local newspapers. In 1873, more efforts were made to heal the wounds but the resentments prevailed and the warring parties remained at war until 1877. In that year, finally, reconciliation was achieved. There was a union between the two churches.
	"Occasions for stumbling are bound to come," said Jesus, "but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble. Be on your guard! If another disciple sins, you must rebuke the offender, and if there is repentance, you must forgive. And if the same person sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, 'I repent,' you must forgive." The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
In today's reading from Luke's Gospel, we have reached a point in the gospel where Jesus is drawing very close to the final events of his life and his attention has turned from the earlier issues of repentance and conversion, to addressing the nature of the life amongst his followers, after his death. If the risen Lord is to be amongst them, then what sort of behaviour is going to characterize these people?
Jesus knows that offences will come. They must, because human beings are human beings. But Jesus also knows that so often, the offence is nowhere near as damaging as the unforgiveness that so often attends the aftermath of the offence. The schism at Halesworth a hundred and fifty years ago, wasn't just about whether or not the Gloria should be sung in church or not. They didn't split and spit and fill the local newspapers with brawling between the people who were called to love the world, over whether or not they should sing a particular song in church. That battle came from too much pride and too little love, from a lack of repentance and a lack of forgiveness. Jesus lays a tough call on his disciples. If offence happens seven times a day, if there is repentance, you still forgive. Knowing how difficult this is, the disciples say, "Well, this is a tough call Jesus. Increase our faith. We can't do this with the amount we have at the moment."
If we have faith in Christ at all, we know that we live in Grace. That means that we are loved by God simply because we are loved by God; not because we are specially virtuous or wonderful, but because God knows us as we can be, and God's forgiveness is there to enable us to reach it.
I saw a film once of a blind boy trying to water ski. Time and again he fell off those skis and time and again, sometimes with tears of frustration in his blind eyes, he got back on those skis and fell off again, and time and again the boat driver brought the boat around and let him pick up the rope, and then, suddenly, he was up and skiing, and there was this great and exultant shout, and I was reminded of Jesus words in Luke 15:
	Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
God delights in each person who finds their potential and forgiveness is essential if that is to happen. It is at work here, in this church, daily, and it does something to the people who receive it, something profoundly Christlike. And it doesn't matter if someone falls of their ski's a dozen times, the boat is still there to give them another opportunity to reach that place where the exultant shout of joy fills the air, and is echoed in heaven.
We all live in Grace, if we are called Christian. Forgiveness is the reason we are here; forgiveness so that we can begin again, so that we can finally succeed in becoming who we are created to be. How can we not give forgiveness as we have received it from God?
Paul says you must not take communion if you aren't practicing forgiveness. It isn't safe. You can get sick. You can die. How can anyone take communion, the symbol of our unity with Christ, with unforgiveness in their hearts. We are instantly creating what psychologists call cognitive dissonance. We are acting in a way that is fundamentally opposed to what we believe. We set up an internal conflict at the base of our being, and that can make us sick. Forgiveness is a not an optional extra for the Christian. It is integral. Jesus warns his disciples, in this passage, that it is a very serious matter, to cause offence through lack of forgiveness.
Now what on earth, you might ask, has that got to do with uprooting Mulberry Trees. A Mulberry Tree is like a Horse Chestnut. It has a root system that just goes everywhere. You can't rip the thing out with a team of Suffolk Punches. Forgiveness is like uprooting a horse chestnut. It is that difficult at times. That's why the disciples cry out in dismay "Lord increase our faith." To forgive, we have to pull out roots that go all through our being and are very deep, our fear of being hurt, our pride, our sense of outrage, our anger, our desire to lash back, our primary teaching as children about errant behaviour and punishment. But with the faith as a grain of mustard seed, it can be done because we don't achieve these great things by our great faith.
We achieve great things by having enough faith to get on board with the great God who achieves great things. The disciples have enough faith to be there, and that tiny bit of faith is all that's needed. The massive tree of unforgiveness, with all its deep rooted strength can be uprooted by the mustard seed of faith, because it is God's Spirit who does this, not our faith. This isn't a matter of superior faith or supreme virtue. It is a matter of God's grace, to us.
In the final part of this morning's passage, Jesus tells his disciples that when we've done everything, we should still see ourselves as unworthy slaves. The point is very clear. Humility keeps us humble. Don't get proud, no matter what you've achieved.
Humility is a real issue for Luke's community. People's pride in their spirituality, in their ability to remain faithful in their hostile world, stood in the way of forgiveness of those who had failed when they came under persecution. Pride says "I am better than this other worthless person. I don't need forgiveness like they do and neither would they if they had any faith." And unforgiveness, which springs from pride, stands between us and God. If I need Grace, if I believe God has forgiven me, then surely I will understand the need to forgive others. I cannot be in a state of grace with God if I am not practising grace with others.
But when we read this passage on the slave who's done everything and still shouldn't count himself as anything other than a cheap slave, we must also remember what Luke records just 3 pages ago, and we only reflected on this a few weeks ago. Do you remember the parable? Jesus says that if the Master comes home and finds the slave awake and ready for him, then the Master will tell the slave to sit down and feast, and the master will treat the slave as an honoured guest and serve him. And no, we still haven't earned it. It's given by grace, the same grace we have passed on in our forgiving others, the Amazing Grace in which we live. We will stand and sing the Hymn, Amazing Grace.