The questions come up about the exchange of the peace. And that's a great topic to talk about. In the exchange of the peace, you tend to shake hands, and people have asked me about what they can do if they don't want to shake hands, which they might not. "Pastor," say they, "if I don't want to shake hands with anyone because I don't want to get sick, can I just fist bump?" You sure can. You can fist bump, elbow bump, shake hands, or just wave. It's all fine. I'm non committal, because I happen to be aware that, as a Lutheran, the 'sola scriptura' answer would be to greet one another with a holy kiss … and that gets used a few times in the scriptures. But if you don't want to shake hands, bump fists, elbow bump or kiss, what should you do? Well, ultimately, it doesn't matter. All that matters is that you do something.
You really shouldn't do nothing. And I'll explain what I mean. In a situation in which you're expected to exchange the peace, ask yourself why it would be that someone would not want to shake hands / fist bump / elbow bump / even wave to someone? Is it because you don't want to get sick? Maybe. Or maybe it could be the reality that you don't want to wish someone the peace of God. Because you don't like them very much. Now, there is a possibility that you like everyone, of course, and you have no disputes with anyone. But for the rest of us on planet earth, the story of Jonah is one of the best stories for this. For you grow up hearing the story of Jonah, and it's just the story of a guy and a fish, for a long time. But the story of Jonah has one major complication for all of us that we should, as adults, want to hear about. That is, that in the story of Jonah, the whole reason he runs away from his responsibilities, gets into a storm, gets thrown overboard and gets swallowed by a great fish, is because he doesn't want the people that he has been sent to to be spared. He's perfectly content for Nineveh to be wiped off the map, because he hates them and everything about them. They're his enemies, and he acts accordingly. God wants Jonah to give a message of repentance to the Ninevites, and he refuses to do so probably because he's looking forward to the smiting. Once you get this about Jonah's story, then you can start to get something about your story as well, that there are probably people that you don't want to share the peace with because you don't actually wish them God's peace.
That's normal and human. It's so old and universal that it's part of the Bible. But what you have to contend with is the reality of the words of Christ, who issues all of us a stark warning. He tells us that we have to approach the altar of God with our issues resolved. And that's hard to do. It's hard to do because there are people that you don't like for good reason. I'm not going to do what might be expected, and tell you that you have no real good reason to be angry with people, no you probably DO have VERY GOOD reasons to be angry with people. Because people are bunk. They are lazy, rude, have no respect for you. They tend to take and not give, talk about themselves too much, put their feet on your couch or tell either too many racist jokes, or tell you that your jokes are too racist. There's a good chance that the people you don't like are disliked for good reasons. And I'll agree with you that it's true. But the big difference for the Christian is that it doesn't matter. Not one bit.
How can I be so flippant about this? Because in the big scheme of things, the real disagreements that you have with other people pale in comparison with your disagreements with the Lord your God. It goes this way, if you think about it - God has certain expectations of majesty for all of us, holiness and righteousness, and we don't meet up. But we clearly and openly expect God's attention, his affection, his forgiveness and his company. We expect his blessings even though we are tempted to withhold our forgiveness, blessings, and love from others.
This is the issue. You know that you have true and good reasons to be angry at a large number of people, for sure you do. But you have to deal with the fact that when Christ tells you that you have to deal with, and make peace with people who you don't care for too much. And if you tell me that they're tiresome, unpleasant, or whatever, then you have to deal with the fact that before God, you are as much. And more. And once you work that out, it's very difficult to have a relationship with people in which you can choke them out and ask that they pay back what they owe you. Jesus tells a parable about that, in which a man who was forgiven 10 thousand talents then chokes out a man who owes him 100 days work. If you're wondering how much money ten thousand talents is worth, in today's prices, we're looking at 25479255000
That's a tidy sum. If I did the math right, which is questionable, we're looking at about 25 times the GDP of Canada. That's a lot of money. It's an absurd about of money, so large that that man could never pay it back. Several generations could never pay it back, it's nonsense. And this is the sort of debt that we are dealing with when it comes to God. We sin against him all the time. And when you figure that out, then dealing with one another becomes much easier, because you understand how much you have to be forgiven, and then the concerns that you have with others become easier to deal with. They're easier to deal with because you're not God, and they don't have a massive debt owing to you bigger than the one you yourself owe to God. Essentially, nothing about this is too terribly complicated. If you're a beggar at the foot of the Lord, if your relationship with him is as one who is essentially begging for mercy, then it's extremely difficult to hold grudges against those who have committed relatively minor slights against you. It's really only then that you can make peace with your accuser while you are on the way, because you are both in debt to the same master, and it is that master who forgives the massive debts of you both.
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