Sermon by Dr. George Bryant Wirth
September 21, 2008
CHRIST AT THE CENTER: THE FAMILY OF
FAITH
BLOOD BROTHERS AND SISTERS
Scripture:
Genesis 16:1-11, 13-16, 21:1-14; Matthew 5:38-48
INTRODUCTION
When candidates of our
political parties running for election refer to the “family values” in the
Bible, sometimes I wonder if any of them have ever read the Book of
Genesis. Because, together with the good
stories about faith and fidelity, love and loyalty, hope and hospitality mixed
in with joy and generosity, it doesn’t take long before the relationships in
Abraham and Sarah’s family tree branch off into deceit and dissension, anger
and aggression and jealousy infecting the following generations, all fueled and
fired up by revenge and retaliation.
So it was, almost 4000 years
ago, as the descendants of Sarah and Abraham tried to find their way in the
Promised Land and struggled to lay down the foundations of The Family of Faith
to which we belong today.
I
A brief synopsis from the
Book of Genesis looks something like this:
Chapter 16 reports the birth
of Ishmael, son of Abraham and his Egyptian maid Hagar. Sarah, who was old and barren, had agreed to
that arrangement, but when it happened, she didn’t like it and had Hagar and
her son banished into the wilderness. As
you know, the descendants of Ishmael are now numbered among the Arabic people
who live in the
Chapter 21 tells us that they
are the Blood Brothers and Sisters of Isaac, Abraham and Sarah’s second son who
became the favored one and through whom the children of
Chapter 24 recounts how Isaac
married Rebekah, and in chapter 25, after both Sarah and Abraham have died,
their twin grandsons, Esau and Jacob are born almost side by side, and therein
lies the dilemma. For Esau, who came
first, should have inherited the family birthright and blessing…but verse 28
says that while “Isaac loved Esau…Rebekah loved Jacob.”
Some of us in our own
families know the fall-out from playing favorites, and that was the end result
between Esau and Jacob. In chapters 25
and 27 the younger brother, conspiring with his mother, gets both the
birthright and the blessing and because of Esau’s rage, Jacob runs away.
Chapter 29 picks up the story
where Jacob, on his journey, meets the daughters of his uncle Laban and falls
in love with one of them named Rachel.
Unfortunately, she is the younger sister to Leah, and Laban tricks his
nephew Jacob, after seven years of labor, into marrying the older sister first
and then seven years later, he also marries the younger one. Needless to say, neither sister is a happy
camper, and yet, both of them, together with their maids, give birth to Jacob’s
12 sons, the last one (in chapter 30) named Joseph, thereby establishing the
twelve tribes of
Then in chapter 33, after all
the years of betrayal, bitterness, favoritism and family dissension, Jacob and
Esau finally meet again and by the grace of God, they find forgiveness and
reconciliation. And that is the story of
The Blood Brothers and Sisters in The Family of Faith, recorded in the Book of
Genesis.
II
Dr. Lewis Smedes, in his
classic book “Forgive and Forget,” summarizes our family stories with these
memorable words:
“When we invest ourselves in deep
personal relationships, we open our souls to the wounds of another’s disloyalty
or even betrayal…We’ve all wished at one time or other that we could reach back
to a painful moment and cut it out of our lives…but most of us find that the
pains of our past keep rolling through our memories, and there’s nothing we can
do to stop the flow.
Nothing? The great Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt…in
her study on “The Human Condition,” shared her discovery of the only power that
can stop the inexorable stream of painful memories: the ‘Faculty of
Forgiveness.’
Forgiveness is God’s invention for
coming to terms with a world in which, despite their best intentions, people
are unfair to one another and hurt each other deeply. God began by forgiving us, and He invites us
all to forgive each other…
Forgiving is love’s toughest work, and
love’s biggest risk…(so) ask yourself these questions:
What do
I do when I forgive someone who has done me wrong? How do I do it? Who is forgivable? Have some people gone beyond the forgiveness
zone? And why should I even try?
(He concludes) I invite you to come
with me in search of the answers I have found along my own journey.” (From “Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts
We Don’t Deserve” by Dr. Lewis B. Smedes, HarperSanFrancisco, 1984)
If you have come here today
looking for, hoping for, praying for forgiveness in your life, then the answers
which Lewis Smedes points us toward are found in the sacrificial love of Jesus
Christ our Lord. He came into this world
preaching and teaching a gospel of grace and forgiveness, and in the Sermon on
the Mount, this is what He told us:
You
have heard that it was said, “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” but I
say to you…if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and
if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if
anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile…
You
have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbor and hate your
enemy,” but I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven… (Matthew 5:38-41, 43-44)
Now, that may not be the kind
of answer that we want to hear, because growing up as children, most of us were
conditioned to react in the opposite direction.
Dr. John Claypool, rest his
soul, describes in his book “Mending the Heart,” how that happened to a young
boy years ago:
“I heard recently about a scuffle on
an elementary school playground. The
teacher in charge finally was able to restore order and said, ‘All right. I want to get to the bottom of this. How did all this commotion break out?’ With that, one boy pointed to another and
accused, ‘It all started when he hit me back!”
(From “Mending the Heart” by Dr. John Claypool, page 28)
As all of us know, that
doesn’t only happen on school playgrounds.
Conflicts inevitably blow up in our own homes. One day, a little girl got into a fight with
her older sister, and at bedtime, as she and her parents knelt down to pray,
that child bowed her head and said “God bless mommy, daddy, gramma and grampa,
and our dog Harry, in Jesus name, Amen.”
The mother and father inquired, “Didn’t you forget someone dear?” So the little girl added to her prayer, “And
Lord, bless my ex-sister Sally.”
I have in my hand a small
painting which my mother gave to me for Christmas when I was 14 years old. It pictures two boys standing together, with
the younger brother tucking his hand inside the older brother’s elbow, and the
words my mother wrote on the back of this portrait say “Just Kids.” It was a reminder to me, as the older of two
sons who had just gone off to boarding school in
But that doesn’t happen
automatically between Blood Brothers and Sisters, or between fathers and
mothers and sons and daughters. The
family stories from the Book of Genesis remind us that relationships can break down
and fall apart even with those whom we’re supposed to love the most.
And if that is something that
you are struggling with in your own family today, then this is the gospel
truth: the healing power of Jesus Christ can help you find the way toward
forgiveness and reconciliation. You may
need the help of a pastor or a professional counselor, so don’t hesitate to
call a member of our staff or the
III
Before we close, there’s
another dimension to these family of faith stories from the Book of
Genesis. And I’m speaking about how we
can seek and find reconciliation between the Blood Brothers and Sisters who
have come from Abraham and Sarah, Hagar and Ishmael, Isaac and Rebekah, Esau
and Jacob, Leah and Rachel and all of their descendants down through the
generations of history – different races and creeds, different nations and
ideologies, different economic situations and theologies – how can we, all of
us, discover the way to live together in peace?
Remember Jesus’ words as they
are heard in this war torn weary world today:
You have heard that it was said,
“An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth”...But I say to you, if anyone
strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue
you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go
one mile, go also the second mile…You have heard that it was said, “You shall
love your neighbor and hate your enemy.”
But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute
you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven.
Those words were brought home
to me in a powerful way two weeks ago when our Holy Land pilgrimage in
In the midst of the conflict
in that region, he and many others – Jews and Muslims and Christians – have
tried to find common ground that would lead toward some kind of hope for the
future. And Fr. Chacour, who has been
nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, wrote a book about that hope years ago,
which includes this story that I want to tell you in conclusion. The book is entitled “Blood Brothers,” and it
offers a vision of the way God wants us to live together and to love one
another:
“On Palm Sunday, every bench was
packed. Nearly the entire congregation
had come, plus a few other villagers whom I had invited. When I stood up, raising my hands to signal
the start of the service, I was jolted by stark, staring faces.
Looks of open hostility greeted
me. The one faction was clustered on one
side of the church, almost challenging me with their icy glares. Indifferently, those whom they had ostracized
sat on the opposite side.
I rose and began the first hymn,
certain that no one would be attracted by our pathetically dismal singing. I thought, with sadness, of the battle lines
that were drawn across the aisles of that sanctuary. And nervously, I hoped that no one would
notice the odd lump in the pocket beneath my vestment.
What followed was undoubtedly the
stiffest service, the most unimpassioned sermon of my life. The congregation endured me indifferently,
fulfilling their holiday obligation to warm the benches. But then, they did not suspect what was
coming. At the close of the liturgy,
everyone rose for the benediction. I
lifted my hand, my stomach fluttering, and paused. It was now or never.
Swiftly, I dropped my hand and strode
toward the open doors at the back of the church. Every eye followed me with curiosity. I drew shut the huge double doors which
workmen had rehung for me. From my
pocket I pulled a thick chain, laced it through the handles and fastened it
firmly with a padlock.
Returning to the front, I could almost
feel the temperature rising. Or was it
just me? Turning to face the
congregation, I took a deep breath.
‘Sitting in this building does not
make you a Christian,’ I began awkwardly.
My voice seemed to echo too loudly in the shocked silence. The sisters’ eyes were shut, their lips
moving furiously in prayer.
‘You are a people divided. You argue and hate each other – gossip and
spread malicious lies. If you can’t love
your brother that you see, how can you say you love God who is invisible? You have allowed the body of Christ to be
disgraced.
Plunging ahead, my voice rose. ‘For many months, I’ve tried to unite
you. I’ve failed, because I am only a
man. But there is someone else who can
bring you together in true unity. His name
is Jesus Christ. He is the one who gives
you power to forgive. So now I will be
quiet and allow Him to give you that power.
If you will not forgive, we will stay locked in here. You can kill each other and I’ll provide your
funerals for free.’
Silence hung. Tight-lipped, fists clenched, everyone glared
at me as if carved from stone. I
waited. With agonizing slowness, the
minutes passed. Three
minutes…five…ten…Then a sudden movement caught my eye.
Someone was standing. Abu Mouhib rose and faced the congregation,
his head bowed, remorse shining in his eyes.
With his first words, I could scarcely believe that this was the same
hard-bitten policeman who had treated me too brusquely.
‘I am sorry,’ he faltered. All eyes were on him. ‘I am the worst one of all. I’ve hated my own brothers. Hated them so much I wanted to kill
them. More than any of you I need forgiveness.’
And then he turned to me. ‘Can you forgive me, too, Abuna?’
I was amazed! Abuna means ‘our father,’ a term of affection
and respect. I had been called other
things since arriving in Ibillin, but nothing so warm.
‘Come here,’ I replied, motioning him
to my side. He came, and we greeted each
other with the kiss of peace. ‘Of course
I forgive you,’ I said. ‘Now go and
greet your brothers.’
Before he was halfway down the aisle,
his three brothers had rushed to him.
They held each other in a long embrace, each one asking forgiveness of
the others.
In an instant the church was a chaos
of embracing and repentance. Cousins who
had not spoken to each other in years, wept together openly. Women asked forgiveness for malicious
gossip. Men confessed to passing
damaging lies about each other. People
who had ignored the sisters and myself in the streets now begged us to come to
their homes. This second church service
– a liturgy of love and reconciliation – went on for nearly a full hour.
In the midst of these joyful reunions,
I announced: ‘We’re not going to wait
until next week to celebrate the Resurrection.
Let’s celebrate it now. We were
dead to each other. Now we are alive
again.’”
I
saw a bumper sticker in
You
see, through the sacrificial love of Jesus, forgiveness and reconciliation is
the way God wants it to be. So let’s
continue to work and to pray for peace on earth, and let it begin with you and
with me.
In
the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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