Hello,
Believe it or not, I, all 5 foot nine of me, played a lot of basketball growing up. I don’t play anymore, but I do enjoy watching it….not the pro’s, but college basketball…and for us University of Illinois fans, watching the Illinois basketball team isn’t quite as painful as watching the football team. Anyway, one of the things that I like about watching basketball is to see the grace and agility of the players, players that would tower over me, but leaping and spinning with quickness and speed that I could never muster.
If you have ever watched a slam dunk contest you know what I mean. Guys taking off from the free-throw line, pirouetting in the air, passing the ball from one hand to another between their legs, and then as if putting an exclamation point on their flight, slamming the ball through a hoop ten feet in the air. And they make it look so easy.
I have never entered a slam dunk contest, for obvious reasons. I am 5 foot nine, carrying more weight than I used to, and my vertical jump is about an inch and a half now. I can only dream of doing what those 7 foot, perfectly in shape, guys with a 48 inch vertical jump can do.
But imagine with me this happening, that one day I go to watch a slam dunk contest, and as I am sitting there in the stands, Lebron James walks up to me, hands me the ball and says, “Hey, you. Here. Let’s see what you can do.”
Of course, I laugh, and say, “Do you mean me.”
“Yeah, you.”
And believing that Lebron may have gotten an elbow in the head the night before and seeing things a bit dazed, I say, “Mr. James, are you serious? Look at me. I could never do a slam dunk.”
And then he looks back at me and says, “What do you mean?”
“Well, isn’t it obvious. I am a short, old, out of shape, gray haired man.”
And then Lebron laughs.
“What’s so funny,” I say back.
“Have you looked at yourself lately?” And putting a mirror in front of me, I see someone who I don’t recognize….me….but now a me who is a young, svelte, person who is standing nose to nose with him. Amazed at what I see, he hands me the ball and says, “Go ahead, you can do it.”
Can you forgive someone 7 times in one day for committing the same sin against you? That is what Jesus told the disciples they must do (Luke 17:4). Other places in the Bible Jesus says the number is higher, 70 times 7. But even 7 times, when the disciples heard that they said, “Lord, increase our faith!” Or in other words, “Are you kidding, we can’t do that.”
To which Jesus replies, “Have you looked at yourself lately? If you had faith the size of a mustard seed (and the Greek, which is the original language of Luke, implies that they indeed do)…If you had faith the size of a mustard seed….and you do….then you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.” You see, the point that Jesus is making here is not the power of faith to uproot and replant mulberry trees….it is the power of faith to forgive.
“Have you looked at yourself, lately?” That is what Jesus was asking the disciples, and that is what Jesus is asking us. The world tells us every day who we are. The world tells us that we are people of short stature hope. That we are people who are so out of spiritual shape that our vertical leap is no higher than getting even with others, or having vengeance on them. That the only way for us to stay in the game is to hold everyone down and keep the guilt of their sins on their back. So, today, when we as the disciples hear Jesus hand us the ball of forgiveness and tells us to slam dunk it 7 times…well even one time seems too much…we find ourselves saying, “Lord, we can’t do that.”
“Have you looked at yourself lately?” That is what Jesus says to you and me today, “Have you looked at yourself, lately.” Today, Jesus, like Lebron James puts a mirror in front of your eyes so that you might see who you really are. You are, as Jesus said to his disciples, people who have the faith of a mustard seed. And how does Jesus know that? Because he has planted it in you. When you were Baptized….when you heard the promise of your forgiveness….when you receive Holy Communion….Jesus is planting seeds of faith … seeds of forgiveness in you….seeds that will rise up and produce a bumper crop of forgiveness and mercy.
Getting even…scoring vengeance….burdening others with guilt and shame, those are nothing but weeds, stealing the nourishment of hope and peace from the soil in which we all live. They are nothing but thistles and briars bringing pain and fear to all who rub up against them. The world may tell us over and over again that that is what we are, weeds and thistles that make life miserable. But today….today Jesus comes to you and me today and says, “Have you looked at yourself lately?” You are forgiven. You are full of forgiveness. There’s not a single thing unforgiven in you. “In Christ,” the Bible says, “you are a new creation. The old has passed away, and you are brand new.”
“Take a look at yourself,” says Jesus. “See who you truly are. You may never be able to slam dunk a basketball….but you do have the faith of a mustard seed….faith powerful enough to enable you to forgive someone 7 times…or even 7 times 70.” So, go out this week with empowered by the faith that Jesus has planted in you, and when someone asks you where you got the power to forgive in an unforgiving world, then you can say with the 7 foot tall basketball player dunking a basket, “Shucks, that was nothing. I just do what God has given me the power to do.” Forgive.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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