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I find this Gospel very difficult. I say to myself – what a
difficult challenge! What helped me were these two stories. Listen.
When Abraham Lincoln was campaigning for the presidency, one
of his arch-enemies was a man named Edwin Stanton. For some reason
Stanton hated Lincoln. He used every ounce of his energy to degrade
Lincoln in the eyes of the public. So deep rooted was Stanton’s hate for
Lincoln that he uttered unkind words about his physical appearance and
sought to embarrass him at every point. But, in spite of this, Lincoln
was elected the sixteenth president of the United States.
Then came the period when Lincoln had to select his cabinet,
which would consist of persons who would be his most intimate
associates in implementing his programs. He started choosing men here
and there for the various positions.
The day finally came for Lincoln to select the all-important post of
Secretary of War. Can you imagine who Lincoln chose to fill this post?
None other than the man named Stanton. There was an immediate
uproar in the president’s inner circle when the news began to spread.
Advisor after advisor was heard saying, “Mr. President, you are making
a mistake. Do you know this man Stanton? Are you familiar with all
the ugly things he said about you? He is your enemy. He will seek to
sabotage your programs. Have you thought this through, Mr.
President?”
Mr. Lincoln’s answer was terse and to the point: “Yes, I know Mr.
Stanton. I am aware of all the terrible things he said about me. But after
looking over the nation, I find he is the best man for the job.” So,
Stanton became Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of War and rendered an
invaluable service to his nation and his president.
Not many years later Lincoln was assassinated. Many laudable
things were said about him. But of all the great statements made about
Abraham Lincoln, the words of Stanton remain among the greatest.
Standing near the dead body of the man he once hated, Stanton referred
to him as one of the greatest men who ever lived and said, “He now
belongs to the ages.”
If Lincoln had hated Stanton both men would have gone to their
graves as bitter enemies. But through the power of forgiveness Lincoln
transformed an enemy into a friend. One simple act of forgiveness can
change people’s lives. Are there any Stanton’s in your life right now?
Some years ago, a pastor in Boston was being harassed by a
woman in his congregation. She started false rumors about him. She
wrote vicious letters about him to his bishop and others. She initiated
petitions to have him removed. After several months of this, the woman
moved to another city and not long afterward was converted to Christ.
Part of the process of her conversion was to realize the terrible wrong
she had done and all the pain and suffering she had inflicted on her
pastor in Boston. Consequently, she wrote him a long letter explaining
what had happened to her and how deeply she regretted what she had
done to him. The pastor immediately sent her a telegram with three
words on it: “Forgiven, forgotten, forever!”
Is there someone we/you/me need to say those words to and mean
them? Forgiven, Forgotten, Forever or do we want to live life like that
trapped rattlesnake filled with resentment and bitterness and bite
ourselves to death! I hope not. Lord help us!

A college lacrosse coach had heard about a high school
player who had all the tools. The coach went to see the student play and
then met with him after the game, offering a scholarship to play for his
team. The student was interested, but declined, telling the coach he
wanted to wait until next spring before making a formal commitment.
But he did give the coach a verbal commitment to play for him in the
fall. The coach said he would hold the scholarship for one year.
Throughout the fall and winter, many college recruiters came to
watch the student play, hoping to sign him up. The student turned them
all down.
When spring arrived, the coach met with the student again and the
student accepted the scholarship. The coach asked why he waited so
long to make his decision.
The student explained, “Coach, I don’t know if you noticed, but a
lot of colleges come to see me play each week. Most of my teammates
weren’t getting scholarship offers or even being recruited earlier this
year, but now they are. By me not committing anywhere, all the college
coaches who were coming to see me play get a chance to discover how
good some of my teammates really are. If I signed early with you, all
the other coaches would’ve stopped coming to the games and none of
my teammates would’ve gotten recruited.”
The coach was stunned. At an age when most young people are
ambitious and self-absorbed, this 17-year-old was already thinking how
he could help other people realize their own hopes and dreams.
This student mirrors the “blessed” of today’s Gospel. In Luke’s
Gospel, the “blessed” are those who see beyond their own needs and
wants in the present moment to work for a better future not only for
themselves but for other – but “woe” to those, Jesus warns, who seek
their own “fill” now with no concern for the future or for others. In this
“Sermon on the Plain” Jesus challenges us to put aside the “woe” of self-
centeredness and embrace the “blessedness” that can only be
experienced by seeing ourselves not as the center of the world but as a
means for transforming the world for the “blessedness” of all. Jesus
calls us to measure our life’s worth not in terms of wealth or power or
fame but to embrace a vision and perspective of life that honors humility
and compassion, that places the common good before our own, that frees
us from the pursuit of the things of this world in order to seek the lasting
things of God.

What I find helps me understand the Scriptures better is to get on
the inside of some of the characters. These characters are human beings-
just like us. I try to feel what they are feeling – I try to walk in their
shoes.
In our first reading and Gospel we have two characters – human
beings, Isaiah and Simon-Peter. They are both suffering from what we
call today an “Inferiority Complex,” when it comes to God. Like these
two characters, I believe many of us who come here Sunday after
Sunday, also are suffering from an inferiority complex when it comes to
God – How do I know? What do I hear?
1. We are not good enough.
2. We are not wise enough in God’s ways to consider ourselves
religious.
Like Isaiah and Simon-Peter – we shy away because we cannot
imagine God loving sinful people like us.
A perfect example – This week I had four appointments in a row – There was a basic theme that ran through all these people’s stories. “I
feel unworthy” to be in a relationship with God. How could I be part of
the church with all my sins, failures, and frustrations? How can I share
in the ministry of Jesus Christ like he wants me – us to do?
These people’s reactions sound pretty similar to Isaiah and Simon-
Peter’s reaction. We hear God say, “Listen – I have a special job for you
to do.” We hear them say, “Leave me alone Lord – I am a sinful person
– I am unable and unworthy to be used by you”.
Isaiah and Simon-Peter, all of us here we need to be reminded over
and over again – of three very important points:
1. The Mystery of God – is that God loves us despite ourselves –
Thomas Merton wrote that the root of Christian love is not the will
to love, but the faith that one is loved by God irrespective of one’s
worth. I heard someone define a disciple of Jesus as a “loved
sinner.”
2. We don’t have to be Perfect First to be used by God. God
wants our yes – God will take care of the rest. There is a prayer card that reads: “Nothing would be done at all if a person waited until they could do it so well – that no one could find fault with it.”
3. The “Break Thru” point – in being in a healthy relationship with
God in truly being a disciple of Jesus Christ is this: Trusting
enough to give our faults – failures – sins to God and allowing the
healing power of God to work through us and with us – When
Isaiah and Simon-Peter finally trusted enough to do this, it
changed their lives- they were both able to say and believe it,
Here I am Lord – Send Me – Send Me.
4. Let me close with a very few words from the wonderful
spiritual writer and speaker Maya Angelou. I hope and pray these
words – touch the hearts of those of us with the inferiority complex
when it comes to God. Listen carefully:
“In my twenties in San Francisco, I began acting agnostic. It
wasn’t that I stopped believing in God; it’s just that God didn’t seem to
be around the neighborhoods I frequented. One day my voice teacher
asked me to read a passage from a book. A section which ended with
these words: God loves me. I read it again and closed the book, and my teacher said, ‘Read it again.’ I pointedly opened the book, and I sarcastically read, God loves me. He said, ‘Read it again.’
“After about the seventh repetition, I began to sense that there
might be truth in the statement, that there was a possibility that God
really did love me – me, Maya Angelou. I suddenly began to cry at the
grandness of it all. I knew that if God loved me, then I could do
wonderful things, I could try great things, learn anything, achieve
anything. For what could stand against me and God?” Maya Angelou
went on to say,
“…That knowledge humbles me, melts my bones, closes my ears
and makes my teeth rock loosely in their gums. And it also liberates
me.” “God loves me.” “Believe it”.