‘As the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins.’ Psalm 103:11
The words of today’s Psalm jumped out at me as I pondered one of life’s by-products, dimethyl sulfide likely present in a planet 120 million light-years from our solar system. The observation came from NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope and it got me thinking of the immensity of space and God.
How big is your God? That his choicest gift of life might be widespread is humbling.
Humbling also this week, though, has been the loss of thousands of precious lives in the Moroccan earthquake and Libyan floods.
How can human life, so precious it images God, be treated so casually by the universe? As a student I hitch hiked with a friend on ox carts in the Atlas Mountains staying in houses like those shown sunk into the ground with immense loss of life. ‘God - what are you about?’ has been my prayer, and no doubt yours, at the dreadful scenes of the recovery operation.
‘As the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins.’
Our Christian faith provides a perspective on life, on the universe, on evil including unforgiveness and, supremely, upon the life of the world to come. The readings today hardly need a sermon to explain them. Our Lord's parable of the unforgiving servant demonstrates how paltry is the human grasp upon the miracle of forgiveness which is rooted in the resurrection. We go like children ‘tit for tat’ and our minds and hearts need expanding to cope with our sins being written off.
Have you ever thought - it's as astonishing as God allowing life at the other end of the universe - that when you give your sins to God they fly away as far as the east is from the west? The writer of Ecclesiasticus had his heart expanded into the truth Our Lord Jesus reveals when he wrote the words we just heard read: ‘If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?
Showing no pity for a man like himself, can he then plead for his own sins?
Mere creature of flesh, he cherishes resentment; who will forgive him his sins?
Remember the last things, and stop hating, remember dissolution and death, and live by the commandments’ (Ecclesiasticus 28).
‘I cancelled all that debt of yours when you appealed to me’ the Lord says in the Gospel from Matthew 18. ‘Were you not bound, then, to have pity on your fellow servant just as I had pity on you?”
How big is your God? The Christian religion is a revelation of ‘the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’ (Apostles’ Creed). It is primarily a supernatural religion which is why the flame of Christian faith is burning less in materialistic Europe and more in Africa, Asia and South America. When Anne, John and I were in Guyana we hardly met an atheist. People looked to the all-powerful and ever-living God revealed in Jesus Christ as our be-all and end-all. The God who puts your sins away when you ask forgiveness is the same God who lifts the pall of death to reveal the resurrection and gather us into the communion of saints in his never-ending family.
This world with all its great and beautiful gifts cannot offer what today’s Gospel celebrates - the supernatural grace of Christianity - forgiveness and resurrection. The two are linked - unforgiveness imprisons people’s souls just as death will one day imprison their bodies. One of my greatest privileges as a priest is to pronounce words of absolution to penitent sinners, as from Christ's Cross, by his authority vested in me - and to hear those words for myself in confession. Another privilege is the invitation to attend death beds and see Christian souls loosening themselves from worldly attachments in preparation for the life of the world to come. How often in my ministry I’ve seen long delays in that process through the dying person loosening from unforgiveness or more often awaiting reconciliation with unforgiving children. ‘If a man nurses anger against another, can he then demand compassion from the Lord?’
Welcoming the forgiveness of Our Lord is preparation for heaven. It is central to Mass where it is conveyed to us in the Lord’s body broken for us and his blood shed for that forgiveness. When we receive the body and blood of the Lord his forgiveness enters us in the Bread and Wine. That forgiveness and acceptance expands our hearts, if we will but let it, with his Sacred Heart, to others especially those in the prison of unforgiveness or living in the shadow of death as many are today in Morocco and Libya who await our prayer and giving.
‘As the heavens are high above the earth so strong is his love for those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our sins.’
That is our good news and where on earth or heaven or across the universe could it be found other than in God’s gracious action revealed to us in the bearing of sin upon Calvary and the relief it brings us at Mass, the supernatural resurrection of our soul and the promise of supernatural resurrection of our body with all the saints in ‘the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ’ (2 Corinthians 4:6)
‘The body of our Lord Jesus Christ which was given for you and his blood which was shed for you preserve your body and soul unto everlasting life. Amen’.
Picture: Anne Twisleton
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