It would be tempting - especially after the past couple of weeks - to look at today’s reading in Exodus and say, “See? God gets us through the flood waters. God sees us safely through to the other side.”
Tempting but wrong. Because that's not really what the story of the parting of the Red Sea is about. And it's certainly not what our gospel today is about.
I mean, maybe they are about getting us through water, but not the floods or torments of something like Harvey, or Irma, or Katia, or Jose. Not today's readings. They're more about getting us through the angry waters - that is the anger that surrounds and threatens to drown us every day.
Here's what I mean.
You know how in Exodus, Moses brings the people out of Egypt. But Pharaoh is furious about them getting away - especially after doing so much damage to Egypt in general and to him personally. Even though he told them to leave, he now decides he’d rather just have them dead, so he goes after them.
Now, it is true that God saves the Israelites through the waters of the Red Sea. But the heart of this story is Pharaoh’s murderous rage. It's his anger - his blind rage - that leads him to disaster.
I would like to point out that the Israelites sing a victory song after this. You know, “the horse and the rider, God has thrown into the sea” But while it celebrates the Egyptians’ defeat, it’s not as much a song of anger or vengeance as one of relief and deliverance. They did not live in anger.
Today's Gospel deals even more directly with anger and its effects, and it does so in two ways.
First, there's Peter who asks Jesus how many times they should forgive a brother or sister (this translation said “member of the church” but virtually every other translation says brother, so…). Anyway, Peter thinks this is pretty generous - forgiving a brother seven times for the same thing is considered the top end of what you ought to have to put up with.
But what Peter’s really saying is, “When can I get mad? When can I lose patience? When can I finally write off that jerk?”
He may have asked this question because Jesus had been talking about how to deal with a brother who sins against you - remember that from last week? Go to them in private first, then bring a witness…. But Peter's question assumes the person has already asked for forgiveness, and then gone and done whatever sin it was again. And again. And again.
But still, Jesus doesn’t allow for the anger of impatience. God's love simply does not count the number of chances we get - or give. When forgiveness is sought, we forgive. Even seventy-seven times.
Then he goes into the parable of the servant who owes an incredible amount to the king. He begs for forgiveness and is forgiven. Then he runs into a poor guy who owes him a little money - and refuses to grant him the same leniency that the king showed him.
Why is he so angry? You might say he’s displaying hypocrisy rather than anger, but the two seem closely related. After all, he grabs the guy by the throat. Blind to the mercy that’s been shown to him, he can only see the supposed injury this poor man has done to him - and it outrages him. Perhaps he's only seen life as the things others have done to him, and so he lives - and drowns - in angry waters.
Each of these stories has at its heart a self-centered anger that drives us away from each other and from God.
Two quick examples:
On Sunday, I went to a celebration of the 250th anniversary of St. Peter's in Peekskill - the parish I first served at as a priest. While we were vesting in the sacristy, talk was all about Hurricane Irma, and someone said that, while they didn't wish harm on anyone, they kind of hoped the resort belonging to a certain politician could take a direct hit.
Bishop Dietsche became serious at this and said we make a grave mistake focusing our rage on one man, not only because it's not effective but because it risks our soul. We are not called to be people of such blind anger.
Then, Monday night, I was giving the invocation at the 9/11 ceremony in town. Afterward, no less than four people came up to talk about their experience of America today. They said that following 9/11, there had been such a unity in the country where nobody saw race or nationality or gender or sexual orientation, but now, there was such division, such mistrust, such anger toward each other. I might argue with their memory of our supposed unity, but the idea of respecting each other, of setting aside differences was important to them.
That's what they - we - long for. That is the dream of God, that we love and care for each other on earth as in heaven.
Now, this does not mean that all anger is wrong. It's natural to feel angry when someone hurts you or when you see injustice being done to someone. That's a feeling, and you don't get to control when feelings come. But you do control what you do with them, and you can choose whether or not to live in anger. You can choose to turn your anger into positive action or into destruction. These stories are all about making anger both their defining characteristic and a weapon against others.
Those sorts of anger are raging waters that can - and do - drown us.
Jesus offers a different way that will see us safely to the other side. Winning a brother or sister back rather than beating them in a fight. Forgiving even when you know it won't be for the last time. Letting go of past harms to explore new ways forward. And understanding just how much we ourselves have been forgiven for our own sins. In short, in a world of anger - which can drown us in hatred - Jesus calls us to love. Because when we embrace God's love as our way of life, we can trust that God really will see us safely through to the other side. Amen.
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