Homily for March 15, 2009
Father Tom’s Homily
3rd Sunday of Lent
March 15, 2009
In one of his plays Jean Anouilh describes the last judgment as he imagines it.
The good are clustered at the gate of heaven, eager to march in, sure of their reserved seats, bursting with impatience. Bad sinners, meanwhile, are on a faraway hill waiting their sentence of condemnation.
But then, a rumor starts spreading among the righteous that God is going to forgive those others too.
When this sinks in, they become dumfounded with disbelief. The whispers of people at the gate become shouts: “After all the trouble I went through!” If only I had known this.” “I just cannot get over this.”
Some work themselves into a fury, cursing God. And that is the moment of judgment. They have condemned themselves by their disbelief in God’s infinite mercy.
In the presence of divine forgiveness, they refuse to believe in it. It seems so unfair. And indeed, God’s mercy is not fair. It knows no boundaries.
The outcry of the doubters goes up, “We don’t approve of a heaven opened to just anyone, like those awful sinners.” “We reject a God who does not do “justice” to sinners. We cannot love a God who loves others so foolishly.”
And because they cannot love the God who is Love, they cannot recognize and accept such a God.
Accordingly the final judgment is about faith in the mercy of God, rather than personal virtue. After all, no one is worthy of heaven by one’s own virtue. We are all sinners who desperately need God’s mercy.
Anouilh’s last judgment scenario is an expression of the notion of the unpardonable sin mentioned in a couple of passages of the gospels.
Jesus says in Matthew 12:32: “Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.” In Mark’s gospel Jesus says the same thing, adding that this is “the eternal sin.”
The unpardonable sin against the Holy Spirit refers to a radical rejection of the possibility of divine forgiveness in all situations.
What Jesus is denouncing is the kind of spiritual obtuseness, which refuses to accept that God is forgiving. It means a rejection of divine forgiveness because one does not believe in forgiveness or considers one’s sins to be unforgivable.
This appears to be the reason that Judas hung himself in despair because he did not believe that he could ever be forgiven for betraying Jesus.
One other matter should be noted in regard to receiving God’s forgiveness.
In the 6th chapter of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus teaches his disciples the Lord’s Prayer. It teaches us to forgive with these familiar words, “And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Jesus gives his interpretation of this after the conclusion of the Lord’s Prayer. He says, “If you do not forgive your brother, the Father will not forgive you.”
To receive God’s forgiveness, we must not only believe in it, but also practice it with others.
At this Eucharist, we open our hearts to the greatest gift that God wishes to give us – His mercy. We need it more than anything else in the world.
He gives it to us lavishly, because we need it.
