We Must Become a New Person In Christ

Deacon Michael did become a new person in Christ, but it was a long process. As a convert, he had to face the reality of people who “knew him when...” But he had the advantage of being able to enter a new world as a deacon and present to this new world his new self. He had the support of people who loved him.

He couldn’t leave his old self entirely behind, because he still had to make a living as a lawyer, and a trial lawyer has to put himself out there in a way that some people are just going to hate him. He could see that no matter how just and proper the decision of the court was, someone was going to be angry.

He understood the reality of the burdens that people carry, and was very tolerant of others. He knew what it was like to be angry and resentful and hated. As usual, he speaks from his heart.

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That last description in the gospel is a fairly accurate description of what they call debtors prison. You go to court; you are found liable to pay money; you don't have money; they would throw you in prison until you pay it off. It was amazing how it motivated your family members to get you out of jail until you paid your debt or you would sell things from jail so you could pay your debts off.

One of the interesting stories by Charles Dickens, just, I don't like Charles Dickens as a writer, is the Christmas Carol. It is so very interesting because of Ebenezer Scrooge. Ebenezer Scrooge was a nasty, greedy old man who felt like the world owed him something. He was always angry with somebody, and somebody was always angry with him. And then, boom, Christmas came along and Ebenezer Scrooge was the nicest person in the whole world.

Well, that not how it works. He had all of those years accumulating all these sins against people, the hate of his brothers, friends, family members and everything else that just doesn't go away, snap!

And in my life, I have had the experience for a long period of time of knowing this person, this one, a little woman, little, literally little, who grew up basically thinking that the whole world didn't like her. They didn't give her what she was due. And she became a very bitter person.

She would come up, and walk up to a person and say, "Robert, you're getting old. That means you're going to Hell." She would tell everybody they were going to Hell. "I don't like your dress. You're gonna go to Hell."

And it got so bad that one of her sons, who is a wonderful man, his life-changing experience that brought him back to the Church in Christ was the ability to be nice to his mother. That was his conversion event.

Well, she changed. Somewhere along the line she began to realize what a horrible person she is. She is now in the process of trying to undo probably sixty-five years of being a nasty little person. And, in fact, the expression that people who know her is, "She's either a vicious little bitch, or she's just crazy."

And she's having a problem. The problem is that people go, "Whoa!" The problem is where you are, like Jesus is talking about, is you have something against your brother, and if you take this and nurture it within you, "Oh, you know, George has been mean to me ever since I have known him. He has always been mean to me. I can't forgive George. And wait a minute, were you like George? I can't be nice to you either."

And it twists what's within you. And it changes who you are. Just as loving thy neighbor makes you into something different, not loving thy neighbor makes you into something different. It changes you and molds what you become. And you become something that is unattractive to God, who is there saying, "Look, I'll forgive you. I will forgive you. I'm here." This is what we have in both the readings, "I'm here to forgive you. Just ask for forgiveness, I'll give it to you."

But it changes who you are to the rest of the world. And so when Ebenezer Scrooge went, "Ah! I'm nice now!" everybody went, "Yeah, right." There is more to it.

And so when we see this necessity that Jesus is talking about of forgiving my brother, what I have against him, before I get to the altar, we know that God is going to forgive us. We can know that we can go to Confession, but it's something more that is involved in this penitential season.

Mayve, for example, I'm just picking on Mayve, Mayve, from the day I met her, doesn't like me because my hair is a natural blonde and hers isn't. Hers probably is, but that's another issue. She never liked me. And as a result, I don't like her. And because you're smiling about it, I don't like you either. And some of you don't talk loud enough and I don't hear very well, and I don't like you.

When I come to love my brother, there is a forgiveness of God that is there. But more than that, there is forgiveness, repentance and the genuine urge to change, to become something different. That nice Greek word, metanoia, becoming something different.

And this Lenten process of penance is a process that, okay, Robert did something wrong yesterday, he goes to Confession, he confesses it, the priest forgives him, God loves him again, and Robert goes out and does it again. He's the same old person. He hasn't changed.

And what we are called to do in this reading, especially by St. Matthew, is the process of going in and forgiving your brother and changing, of being something different, of being something God wants us to be. God wants to forgive us, but he wants us to change, to be forgiven. And it is in this process of changing into a person who loves thy neighbor, who loves your brother no matter how obnoxious he is, who loves people as opposed to approaching people with going, "Haa, I just don't trust them. I don't believe in them. If they don't like it, I'll sue them." Whatever.

And so when we are in this process of Lent, of looking at our sins, we have to understand that a very important part of the Sacrament of Reconciliation is the genuine intention of sinning no more. Because many times, like this little person I was describing to you, if you don't get yourself to the point where you have honestly come to the point where you love they neighbor, it's going to be more and more difficult as you have nurtured these dislikes and these sins all these years, and it is going to be more and more difficult for people who are around you not to go, "Yeah, you say you've changed, but I've known you for sixty-six years. It's just not going to happen."

Because it takes more than mere forgiveness. We know that God will forgive us, but we have to change. And we have to be able, in this process of change, to recognize that we are becoming a new person in Christ. And it may take a while for the rest of the world to recognize this new person in Christ. And that is part of the process of bringing ourselves as a sacrifice to Christ, bringing our sacrifice to the altar, the sacrifice of Christ on the altar, the sacrifice of the crucifixion, the passion, the crucifixion, and ultimately, the promise of eternal life though Our Lord Jesus Christ.

March 15, 2019 2