Do you know what you are doing?

 

Scripture.  Luke 23:33-34.  The Message

When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them; they don’t know what they’re doing.”

Dividing up his clothes, they threw dice for them.

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Good morning!  It is the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany -  the time in between the end of the Christmas Season and the beginning of Lent.  Ash Wednesday is only one month away - February 17th.  But there is a lot going on in these next weeks. There will be a congregational meeting on Zoom January 31st.  Members of First Christian Church in Selma will be receiving copies of the new slate of officers and the proposed budget for 2021 in the next couple of days, which you should mail (or email) back with your vote no later than January 28th.    

We are still in the grip of the pandemic.  Public Health Officials fear it will get worse over the next month.  Please, stay home if you can, only go out if you must, wash your hands, wear your mask.  And pray for everyone, but especially this week for those who have lost loved ones.

We continue our series on prayer with this very short bit of scripture about praying for others.   We should note that this is not simply about praying that other people who have done wrong might be forgiven, but praying specifically for people who do not know that there is anything wrong with what they are doing or saying - who simply have no idea.

There’s a scene in the movie “Spider-man: Homecoming”  when Spider-man takes some kind of alien weapon away from a bad guy - the Vulture - clearly intending to fire it.  The Vulture says “You are messing with things you don’t understand.”  Even though he did not know what he was doing, Spider-man fires the weapon anyway, cutting the Staten Island Ferry in half and putting hundreds of people at risk.  Luckily this was just a movie.  But it really is not all that unusual for people to act or speak when they haven’t a clue about the consequences.

The Roman soldiers followed their orders to execute Jesus, along with two other criminals, then engaged in what was then perfectly acceptable behavior for executioners by dividing up his belongings.  So far as they knew, they were executing the leader of a potential rebellion against Rome, a high crime.  He wasn’t the first rebel leader to be crucified and he wouldn’t be the last.  They did not know that the man they nailed to the cross that day was more than just another rebel, but the son of God.  They really had no idea what they were doing, what would come about as a result of these events.  So Jesus prayed for them, right at the end, while enduring intense pain, saying, “Father, forgive them.  They don’t know what they are doing.” 

Now, there are stories - totally fictitious - about Romans involved with the execution of Jesus later realizing what they have done and living with overwhelming guilt for their actions for the rest of their lives.  This is the premise behind the 1953 classic Christian film “The Robe” which some of you may have seen.  If you haven’t seen it, you can watch it on Amazon Prime or any of several other streaming platforms.  The story is total fiction but it makes an important point about feelings of guilt.   

At some point in our lives we may find ourselves feeling guilty about something that is in no way our fault.  This is fairly common in the children of divorced parents, who frequently believe incorrectly that the divorce is all their fault.  We may experience guilt if we had words with someone who died before we could reconcile.  Sometimes we feel guilty over saying or doing something mean years and years ago, only to find out eventually that the person to whom we were unkind doesn’t even remember the incident - and we wasted all those years feeling terrible. 

People in 12 Step Programs have to deal with guilt and consequences.  We often come into recovery believing “I didn’t hurt anyone but me when I was loaded” but, after some  self examination start saying “OMG. I was a terrible horrible person.  I can never forgive myself for what I did to this person, or what I said to that one.  There is nothing good about me.  Nothing.”  Neither of those things is true.  However, very often we didn’t realize we had done something hurtful until we got to take a sober look back over our lives.  Then comes the guilt. Then comes the self castigation.  Then comes the desire to somehow make up for the wrongs that we have done.   And then we live with that guilt until eventually someone will ask, “Have you forgiven yourself?”

Say what?  

Yeah.  Have you forgiven yourself?  

I can’t possibly.  I am a terrible person.  

Do you believe God has forgiven you?  

Yes.  

Then, if God can forgive you, why won’t you forgive yourself?  Are you better than God?  Well, darn.

Self forgiveness for past wrongs is important, especially in the cases where we didn’t understand that what we were doing was causing pain.  Unlike the Roman executioner in the movie, we are not to wallow in guilt, but allow ourselves to admit our wrong doing - even though we may not have realized we were doing anything wrong - and resolve to go forward armed with this new knowledge.

Or, as Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better.  Then when you know better, do better.”

At my parents’ dinner table I learned every conceivable name for any group you can think of - Black, Jewish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, American Indian, Hispanic, German, French, Protestant, even Irish and Catholic - and we were Irish and Catholic.  My father didn’t limit his use of racist slurs to any particular group.  There are a great number of those words that we don’t use any more.  NOT because of political correctness, but because those words are hurtful.  Their use is intended to make us feel superior to the one we are talking about. They are intended to divide us and anything that leads to division is sinful.  But until we knew better . . . 

This is the weekend we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.   His dream was that a day would come when the color of one’s skin would make no difference in how anyone was treated.  His dream was the building of the Beloved Community, a place where there would be no Greek or Jew, no free or slave, no male or female - a time when we believe in our hearts that all persons are created equal.  A time of reconciliation.  Clearly, we are not there yet.

Reconciliation requires justice. You cannot achieve reconciliation by simply ignoring what has gone before.  We cannot work toward justice without knowing what we have done wrong.  Scripture tells us “Before judgment comes, examine yourself; and at the time of scrutiny you will find forgiveness.” (Sirach 18:20 NRSV)  Once we have learned what we did wrong, once we know better, we can do better.  We can no longer claim innocence through ignorance. We can move forward from that sin and make amends by teaching others what we have learned.  By working toward justice in this way, reconciliation can be accomplished. The world can be changed.  

It is hard to ask God to forgive the person who has hurt me even if I am aware that they did not know what they were doing.  Especially if they don’t appear contrite.  But if they truly didn’t know any better - like the Roman soldiers - forgiveness is necessary.  For them, but also for ourselves if we are holding resentments against them for their words or actions.  When we have reached that point we can ask God to forgive them for the  unintended hurt.  The model Jesus holds up for us here is that of a person who holds no bitterness toward those who are causing him injury, who asks that God also recognize their innocence in this matter.  

God forgives all of us, because God loves all of us.  The challenge is for us to forgive others for harm they have done to us, and to forgive ourselves for the harm we have done to others - knowingly or not.  

Forgive us, Father, for we don’t always know what we are doing.  We believe we are doing the right things.  We are doing what we have been told to do, what we have been taught to do, what is right in the eyes of our particular community.  May we examine ourselves, seeking any wrongs we did not recognize before, so that all your children may be reconciled in you, and all divisions healed, through your son Jesus, the Christ.