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Forgiven Failures
The Rev. Joseph WinstonJanuary 18, 2009
Sermon
Grace and peace are gifts for you from God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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A very wise person once said something like this, “If you want to find outall of your shortcomings, then all you have to do is to get married. Soon enough,your spouse will know all of your failures and will be more than happy to sharewith you each and every one of your faults. If marriage does not provide you withenough reality on what you can and cannot do, then just have children. They arenot bashful at all and they certainly will tell you of your every weakness.”Those of us that have spent some in the state of marriage know this for a fact.Marriage is nothing like going out on an endless date. It is much more complicatedthan that. Marriage is a life long account of giving and taking. Marriage is a longnarrative of sharing many different things and doing without others. Marriage is a
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Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians1:2, 2 Thessalonians 1:2, Philemon 1:3
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detailed report of how we work together and what we do when we are apart. Thislife style that we have chosen for ourselves makes many demands of us. There arethings that we can and cannot do. We have promised to be faithful. We have givenour word to be with our spouse during the good and the bad. We have publiclystated that we will stay together.This way of life allows our spouse to see just about everything about us andwith this comes the opportunity to see all of our shortcomings. There will be allthose little things that irritate and annoy us like not matching all the socks afterdoing the laundry, forgetting all those important details like the time and placeof our first kiss, or squeezing the toothpaste from the middle instead of rolling itup neatly from the end. Sooner or later, we will show all those behaviors that ourspouse cannot stand and frankly makes them angry such as spending too muchtime out with our friends rather than staying at home, purchasing items that arenot needed, or working way too long.Couples are not the only ones that come to the realization that their partner hasa long list of less than desirable attributes. For you see, children have this amazinggift. They quickly learn that there is a wide difference between what their parentstell them to do and what we actually do. We might ask them to clean up theirrooms but we actually never take the time to put our dirty clothes in the laundrybasket. We want our children to control their emotions so that they do not lashout at their siblings, their parents, or their friends while we adults quite frequentlyloose our temper when we have disagreements. We want them to obey us eventhough we cannot always agree on what to do.2
 
Children, both our own and their friends, soon notice that we do not practicewhat we preach. They are more than willing to inform us of this fact. You do notdo what you require of me.When one takes the time to look out at the world, you soon realize that ourshortcomings are not limited to the way we act in the family. The twenty-eightchapters of Matthew give us a rather bleak view of the disciples’ behavior. Of course, we hear of their successes. Peter, Andrew, James, and John left their fish-ingbusinessandfollowedJesus(Matthew4:18-22).AwhilelaterandattheLord’scommand, these twelve men went into the far corners of Israel. There they broughtthe Good News that the God was in the land and they also healed the sick in God’sName (Matthew 10:2-42). Twice, the disciples worked together with Jesus to feedthe enormous crowds that gathered around Him (Matthew 14:14-21; 15:29-39).The high point of how the disciples act is found in today’s Gospel lesson. Peterconfesses that Jesus is the Christ (Matthew 16:6).The author of Matthew also gives us many examples where the disciples didnot do so well. The twelve men grew very tired of a woman that desperatelywanted to see Jesus. Her daughter was sick with an illness that no one else couldcure. She believed that Jesus could help her if she had a chance to present hercase to Him. But the disciples did not like her or her arguments. In fact, theyactually went to Jesus and ordered Jesus to send her away (Matthew 15:22-28).Then there was the time that the twelve forgot to bring their daily bread. Jesushad to remind them that God gives them what they need to exist (Matthew 15:22-28). The disciples even had problems healing a man because they lacked faith in3
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