Forgiveness & Purpose in Life

God chooses strange people to speak for Her. In today's lessons, we heard about St. Peter and St. Paul and how they became apostles and pillars of the church after a very unpromising beginning for both of them.

We are first introduced to Paul, formerly known as Saul, in the book of Acts, when we read about the stoning of Stephen, the Church's first martyr. Stephen was a deacon, chosen to distribute food to poor widows. He is described in Acts as having the face of an angel. He crossed the temple authorities by preaching about Jesus and he was hauled before the high priest's council. When he started talking about Jesus as the long-awaited messiah, they became enraged, and they dragged him out of the city to stone him to death. A young man named Saul held their coats for them and looked on with approval as they stoned Stephen to death.

On that very day, according to Acts, Saul began a severe persecution against the Church. We read that "Saul was ravaging the church by entering house after house; dragging off both men and women, he committed them to prison." He was fanatical and violent, not at all the sort of person you would want to know, let alone have as your spiritual leader.

Peter was no great shakes either. He didn't take part in any murders, but he failed Jesus on the worst day of his life. Most of the disciples, at least the men, ran away when Jesus was arrested. But Peter did something even worse-he denied ever knowing him.

But in today's readings, we see the power of the resurrection for transformation. Each of these men has an encounter with the risen Lord that leaves him no doubt that he is forgiven, loved and redeemed.

Paul experiences the blinding light, and that question that stops him in his tracks: "Why are you persecuting me?" Paul recognizes that he has encountered the Divine, but to make sure, he asks, "Who are you Lord?" And Jesus answers him, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting," and then gives him his marching orders, to proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles.

Peter's encounter is only a little less dramatic. He decides to go fishing and some of the disciples go with him-a return to some semblance of normalcy after the shocking events of Jesus' death and resurrection. They don't catch anything. Jesus calls to them asking if they have caught anything, and when they say no, he tells them to cast the nets out on the other side. There is a miraculous catch of fish, echoing the story we read in Luke, and then one of the disciples recognizes the Lord. Peter jumps in and swims to him. Then Jesus and Peter have that dialogue where Jesus asks him three times if he loves him, and when he says yes, Jesus gives him his marching orders too. "Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, feed my sheep."

In both of these stories we see that no one is beyond the reach of God's forgiveness. Peter and Paul both did awful things and Christ sought them out to forgive them. He has also sought us out and forgiven us, knowing our past and knowing all that we have done. We are forgiven and accepted-we have been made worthy to stand before him.

But Jesus not only forgave Peter and Paul, he also gave them a mission and a purpose in life. All of us need a purpose in life. As human beings, no matter how young or how old we are, we want to contribute and we want our lives to have meaning.

The writer Annie Lamott, whom Dominica referred to in her wonderful sermon last week, says that there are really only two prayers: "help, help, help!" and "thanks, thanks, thanks!" But when I quoted that to a friend of mine, she said, "There is one more---what can I do for you?"

We want to be able to give back in gratitude to God, who loves us and redeems us.' We want to do useful work for God. Our redemption is not complete when we are forgiven. It is only complete when we are given a mission. We need to be needed.

Some years ago, I read about an incident that took place in South Africa under apartheid, which was brought to light by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up by Archbishop Tutu among others, to allow victims of apartheid to tell their stories, and confront the perpetrators. Ideally, the perpetrators would confess and apologize and make amends if they could. The idea was to achieve real reconciliation instead of simply sweeping all the crimes associated with apartheid under the rug or throwing huge numbers of people in jail.

In one case that came before the Commission, a woman testified about how a police officer had seized her husband and her only son and marched them out of the house at gunpoint. He then shot and killed both of them. She described how her husband prayed for God to forgive the policeman as he was about to be shot. The police officer broke down during her testimony and begged her to forgive him. The official turned to the woman and asked what she wanted from him. She said, I want him to accept God's forgiveness, and I want him to come and visit me in my township and be my son, because otherwise I have no family to love.

She offered him forgiveness, and she offered him rehabilitation by giving him a purpose in life. That is what the resurrection means for us---we are forgiven and loved, and God has a purpose for each of us.

This is the new life into which God invites us. In a few moments, we will be baptizing Logan into this new life as well. Baptism is a sign of God's love and forgiveness, and it is also a commission. Though we have different gifts and are called to different paths, we are all called to take part in the mission God entrusted to Peter and Paul: to spread the good news and care for God's sheep. In years to come, when Logan asks why he is here, you can tell him, he is here to love and be loved, forgive and be forgiven, and to care for God's people in the world.