Counting on Grace. Luke 16:1-13

Preached by Rev. James Murray at Dominion-Chalmers United Church. Sept 23 2013

Dave Woodard is remembered as a loving husband, father, and grandfather. His wife Terry called him ‘her prince’. Dave Woodard loved his job. When his union went on strike, he volunteered to help drive elderly and handicapped people. Dave was in good spirits and in good health. On Wednesday, the OC Transpo bus Dave Woodard was driving went through the crossing  barriers and crashed into an oncoming VIA Rail train. Dave Woodard died immediately in the crash, along with five other passengers. Thirty passengers on the bus were also injured.

After the crash, we are all left with questions. Was this a case of driver error? Was this a brake malfunction? We don’t know. What we do know is that people have died and people are suffering. And when we don’t know, and we hurt, we start to speculate. We try to make sense of the senseless.

On Wednesday I heard people in several different  places saying that they thought it was good that the driver died in the accident, because he would never be able to live with shame and guilt of being responsible for this tragic accident. Others went farther, saying it was divine justice that he died the way he did, as payment for his crime. My jaw was rather sore after I picked it up off the floor. I didn’t realize we lived in a society which still practiced ‘an eye for an eye’. I didn’t know that the burden of shame was something which could never be lifted. My mother and father raised me to believe in a different kind of society. My parents taught me to forgive those who do wrong.  My parents taught me the gospel of Jesus Christ, who sets us free from our sins, our mistakes. They introduced me to Jesus, who heals us. Who reconciles us when things fall apart. They taught me to trust in a loving God who never gives up on us. The idea that Dave Woodard would be forever burdened because of this accident is surely a definition of Hell on Earth. May God have mercy on us if we were to treat him that way. My deepest sympathies goes out to his wife and family on their tragic loss.  There were six victims of the bus crash on Wednesday, not five. All six families deserve our sympathy and support. 

It is a natural desire to want to assign blame. It is easy to rush to judgement. But a spirit of judgement will not heal us. It will not free us from our pain. Jesus shared with us this morning one of his extreme, exaggerated examples of the way God looks at the world. He describes a dishonest manager who gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar. The manager in Jesus’ story was certainly a quick thinker. He knew that if he was accused of acting badly, the community would think the same of the owner, since all of those transactions were done on the owner’s behalf. By writing down the loans, the owner will face a short term loss. But it will be a short term loss which will be followed by a long term gain. All the people who owe the owner money know they are in the owner’s debt, in more ways than one. What the owner will lose in money today, he will gain back in customer loyalty, and in honour tomorrow. The owner comes out of this little scandal looking a little foolish. He also ends up looking like a very generous guy. This is why the owner congratulates his manager when he finds out what he has done. The manager has used the gift of forgiveness to find a way out of his bad situation. And this gift of forgiveness has made the owner look like a very gracious decent guy. This is not the outcome we expect. We want to see the manager end up in jail. We want to see him punished for his deceit. We expect the owner to be repaid in full.  And God laughs at our expectation. This is an extravagant misuse of forgiveness, yet Jesus seems to think it is a good thing.

It is a hard thing to try to follow Jesus. We think we know what he wants. He wants us to be good. He wants us to resist evil. But sometimes Jesus takes these really strange ways of getting there. He keeps calling us to trust in God’s grace and mercy. Grace is not just God overlooking sin, grace actually is God coming to us, dwelling with us, entering our lives in their pain, and sticking with us day by day. Grace is God’s presence with us as we walk toward wholeness and the reality that God will stick with us every step of the way. God’s grace gives us what we need, even on the days when life doesn’t give us what we want. No one wanted that bus to crash. No one wants to get sick. No one wants to have to let go of the things they hold dear. But hard times do happen. Bad things happen. And God’s spirit of grace is there, in the midst of our pain. God is present in our worst tragedy. God is with us when we cry out. God doesn’t give up on us when the going gets rough. God is present, working for good, in every moment.

Frederick Faber was a an Anglican Priest who converted to Catholicism about 150 years ago. This was an unusual step since his parents were Hugenots, which are French Protestants. In the mid 1800‘s the Protestant Church was known for its lively congregational hymn singing. The Catholic Church in England was not known for its singing. In order to encourage the singing in his Catholic parish, Faber wrote many great hymns. His most famous is “Faith of our Fathers”. In time, Faber’s hymns found a warm reception in the Protestant Church.  My favourite Faber hymn is called There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy. Our hymn book only includes five of the original twelve verses. I’d like to close by sharing Faber’s understanding of God’s mercy. He writes: 

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, Like the wideness of the sea;

There’s a kindness in His justice, Which is more than liberty. 

There is no place where earth’s sorrows, Are more felt than up in Heaven;

There is no place where earth’s failings, Have such kindly judgment given.

There is plentiful redemption In the blood that has been shed;

There is joy for all the members, In the sorrows of the Head.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter,  Like a crowd of frightened sheep?

Foolish hearts! why will ye wander From a love so true and deep?

It is God: His love looks mighty, But is mightier than it seems;

’Tis our Father: and His fondness, Goes far out beyond our dreams.

But we make His love too narrow By false limits of our own;

And we magnify His strictness With a zeal He will not own.

Was there ever kinder shepherd Half so gentle, half so sweet,

As the Savior who would have us, Come and gather at His feet?

For the love of God is broader Than the measure of our mind;

And the heart of the Eternal Is most wonderfully kind.