Healing Hearts
Pentecost 4c (Father's Day), June 16, 2013
Luke 7:36-8:3 with I Kings 121:1-21a in the bg
Have you ever wondered how some people can actually forgive?
For example, do you remember the shooting in 2006 when a man went into an Amish school and began shooting children? To refresh our memories: on October 2, 2006, a shooting occurred at the West Nickel Mines School, an Amish one-room schoolhouse in the Old Order Amish community of Nickel Mines, a village in Bart Township of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.[1][2][3] Gunman Charles Carl Roberts IV took hostages and shot ten girls (aged 6–13), killing five, before committing suicide in the schoolhouse.[1][2][3][4]
I wonder what my or our response might have been under similar circumstances? On the very day of the shooting, a grandfather of one of the murdered Amish girls was heard warning some young relatives not to hate the killer, saying, "We must not think evil of this man."[15] Another Amish father noted, "He had a mother and a wife and a soul and now he's standing before a just God."[16] Jack Meyer, a member of the Brethren com- munity living near the Amish in Lancaster County, explained: "I don't think there's anybody here that wants to do anything but forgive and not only reach out to those who have suffered a loss in that way but to reach out to the family of the man who committed these acts."[15]
What do we think of these reactions: naive, foolish, out of touch with reality? Listen to some more of what these Amish people undertook.
A Roberts family spokesman said an Amish neighbor comforted the Roberts family hours after the shooting and extended forgiveness to them.[17] Amish community members visited and comforted Roberts' widow, parents, and parents-in-law. One Amish man held Roberts' sobbing father in his arms, reportedly for as long as an hour, to comfort him.[18]The Amish have also set up a charitable fund for the family of the shooter.[19] About 30 members of the Amish community attended Roberts' funeral,[18] and Marie Roberts, the widow of the killer, was one of the few outsiders invited to the funeral of one of the victims.[20]
Marie Roberts wrote an open letter to her Amish neighbors thanking them for their forgiveness, grace, and mercy. She wrote, "Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need. Gifts you've given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you."[20]
Some commentators criticized the quick and complete forgiveness with which the Amish responded, arguing that forgiveness is inappropriate when no remorse has been expressed, and that such an attitude runs the risk of denying the existence of evil,[22][23][24] while others were supportive.[25][26] Donald Kraybill and two other scholars of Amish life noted that "letting go of grudges" is a deeply rooted value in Amish culture, which remembers forgiving martyrs including Jesus himself. They explained that the Amish willingness to forgo vengeance does not undo the tragedy or pardon the wrong, but rather constitutes a first step toward a future that is more hopeful.[27][28]
Think about that: a future that is more hopeful – don't we all need that?
I raise this account of life and these questions because of the gospel lesson today, because of the very gospel itself. We probably feel a long way removed from a Pharisee's house and even a seemingly "sinful" woman who dares to weep openly as she approaches Jesus and then anoints his feet with expensive oil and wipes them with her hair. What could ever move a woman to do such a thing? How can we possibly identify with her?
Yet in the light of the shooting of the Pennsylvania Amish children – a reality which can feel closer to us, because there are shootings near us, and tragedies have occurred to children around us. We too have a love for children, particularly "our" children and grand children. If anything even remotely like this were to happen to us, how might we react?
These particular Amish people have a very real sense of the forgiveness and love of God in Jesus Christ as a daily part of their lives. For them, such love and forgiveness isn't just a discussion item, nor a philosophy to be pondered, nor merely a word mentioned in worship. Forgiveness is the very essence of their lives. They know they are being forgiven, that they are loved and accepted by God as they are. They also experience being changed, even transformed by God daily in the way they relate to each other and creation. They wish this, and pray this for all people.
Out of this radical sense of gratitude, of daily being forgiven themselves – they seek to forgive others – not by denying the reality of evil within and without but by facing it, walking into it, by seeking to follow Jesus who also walks into it. As such they do not stand in condemning judgment of others. Instead they look first to God and then also to themselves with honesty and humility. As a result they are moved to love and generosity, at times even to selflessness and hope. A mere 6 months after the tragic killings of their children these people erected a new schoolhouse. They call it HOPE Schoolhouse!
How about us? Can we be like the sinful woman who in approaching Jesus is moved to tears of gratitude and actions of love, not caring what others think? In the long run what others may think, others who at times like us are filled with a sense of counting but little honesty regarding their own sin and a limited perspective of the radical love of God, must not limit or control our actions. Might we be like these Amish people who even in the midst of incomprehensible tragedy and pain still choose to reach out to those who are related to the one who has hurt them? They reach out with a love so deep that it changes and has the power to bring healing. Can we so live, love and forgive?
Certainly not on our own nor by our own power – never! Left to our own devices we are more likely to hate, to bear grudges, to demand vengeance.
But with and through God's love – anything is possible!
We believe oh God, forgive and help our unbelief!
Looking to the cross of Christ may we see and experience healing for our minds, bodies and spirit and for the world! In Christ's action is hope, hope for us and hope for the world, a hope that does not disappoint but instead a hope which often bears new life. May it be so with us, in us and through us, for Christ's sake. Amen.