Christ Episcopal Church
September 11, 2011
9/11
The image of 9/11 that collects the horror of that day for me, and perhaps for you, is the image of the collapse of the south tower in an enormous cloud of ugly smoke. At that point, the people on the ground stopped staring at the raging fire burning in the sky and began to flee. One particular image is of people running through the streets of New York with the billowing cloud of dust and ash appearing to chase them out of harm’s way if it did not catch them first. As the morning progressed, there would be many more images of horror as the events of the day unfolded in New York, Pennsylvania, and Washington. But the image of that cloud of darkness tumbling to the ground while holding countless lives is the one that has stuck with me. On the one hand, many people were able to out run that cloud and reach safety. But on the other hand, there was no place for anyone to run where we could hide from the horror of that day. Today, we honor the memory of those who died, we stand with those who grieve and suffer, and we give thanks for the many acts of heroism and kindness. As Christians, we continue to wrestle with how to live faithfully in a world where a cloud of fear and uncertainty seems to hover continually.
In our reading from Exodus this morning, we hear about another cloud. A pillar of cloud came between the army of Israel and the army of Egypt as the Israelites fled Pharaoh’s army. We see Moses stretch out his hand and watch God part the waters so the Israelites can pass through the sea on dry land, and then we may want to shut our eyes as the waters close back over the Egyptians. As the Israelites travel through the wilderness to the Promised Land, they are led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Both pillars were signs of God’s presence and guidance as the cloud sheltered the Israelites from the heat of the sun and the fire gave them light to travel by night.
The cloud we remember from 9/11 was certainly not the cloud that protected us from our enemy. The clouds of 9/11 were clouds that contained human life, and the hopes and dreams of a country. If anything, those clouds remind us of our vulnerability, not our strength, the absence of God rather than the presence of God, and certainly death rather than life. What are we to do with the strong emotions the images of 9/11 evoke within us?
By some divine coincidence, in the gospel lesson appointed for today, we hear Peter ask Jesus "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said to Peter "Not seven times, but seventy times seven." And then Jesus tells Peter a parable about forgiveness. In the parable, the slave who was forgiven his great debt proceeded to refuse to forgive the debt of his fellow slave. The forgiven slave has his fellow slave thrown in jail until that slave can pay his debt, despite the forgiveness he himself has received. When the lord finds out about the actions of the forgiven slave, he hands the forgiven slave over to be tortured until he can pay his entire debt. Because he could not forgive his fellow slave, the once forgiven slave will now be bound to his debt forever.
Granted, Peter asks Jesus how many times he must forgive a member of the church, and when we think about the atrocities of 9/11 we are not thinking about fellow church members. However, the basic principles of forgiveness that Jesus gives us in his parable apply to all occasions where suffering has been inflicted by another human being. If we think that forgiveness is about condoning evil and pretending that atrocious events never happened, I think it is safe to say that forgiveness will never happen, whether we are talking about terrorism, abuse, violent crime, betrayal, or any of the many human acts that cause pain in our lives. God does not want us to condone evil or act like atrocities never happened. But God also does not want us to let our anger and bitterness bind us to those harmful actions. Nelson Mandela, the great South African leader who spent 27 years in jail during apartheid, is quoted as saying "Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies." When we forgive, we refuse to let the actions of another person own us and we release those actions to God, who is the judge of all deeds and the healer of all pain. When we forgive, we mirror the action of God, who has forgiven us. Jesus’ parable reminds us that when we withhold forgiveness, we withhold from others that which has been generously given to us.
The cloud that sheltered the Israelites by day and was a sign of God’s presence with them could not be more different from the dark cloud of dust and ash that descended on New York, and Washington, and Pennsylvania 10 years ago. The cloud of 9/11 seems to be, if anything, a symbol of the utter absence of God and the triumph of evil. As Christians, however, we are called to remember that the cross itself seemed on Good Friday to be the utter absence of God as Jesus cried "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" and the triumph of evil as darkness covered the earth during those hours . 9/11 has challenged us as Christians to claim our identity as people who believe that out of the ashes of Good Friday, God brought new life on Easter. The worst tragedies of our lives do not negate the love of God. The Good News of the gospel is not that we are always safe, or that forgiveness will always be easy, or that it will never look like evil has triumphed. In the letter to the Romans, Paul wrote "For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus." The gospel message is that the ashes of Good Friday will never have the final word. As we mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11, let us live with the humility of people who have been forgiven and the courage of people who believe that out of the ashes of death, Easter life will rise.
Amen.
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