Matthew 26:26-29
A homily for the people
Of APLC
April 5, 2017
In 1984, the movie Places in the Heart was released. Some of you may recall the movie. If you don’t or if you haven’t seen it, get
yourself a copy. Seriously. Or come borrow mine.
The story is set in the year 1935 and in Waxahachie, Texas, a small, segregated town in the midst of the Depression. We begin
in church, a place we see the family gather often in community and prayer. It is evident throughout the film that grace
is abundant in the Spalding household.
One evening, Royce Spalding, the local sheriff, leaves the family dinner
table to investigate trouble at the rail yards. He arrives on the scene to
discover a young black man, Wylie, drunk and loud and waving a gun around. You can tell that Royce really likes Wylie
and that this is not the first encounter they’ve had. They have a relationship of some sort and
there appears to be a genuine affection from each man for the other. During their conversation, Wylie shoots
Royce. Royce dies immediately and it is
clear that Wylie is both shocked and saddened by his actions and the death of
the sheriff. In the era of Jim Crow and
lynching, Wylie very likely understood what fate was to befall him. Local white
vigilantes tie Wylie to a truck and drag his body through town, for all the
community to see, before hanging him from a tree.
The remainder of the movie is the story of the sheriff’s widow as
she attempts to keep the family farm with the help of two surprising
partners: a blind white man and a poor
Black man. Natural disaster, the KKK,
and crooked bank officials all conspire to keep the motley team from
success…and I’ll let you remember or watch on your own the details of that
story.
But the scene that always gets me is the closing.
The story ends, as it began, in church in worship among the community
and in prayer. This time, there is the
celebration of the Lord’s Supper. The
congregation passes the bread and the wine down the pews serving one another,
and gathered amidst the living, we witness those who have died in the movie
(for a variety of reasons) also receive and give the elements. The in the very last line of the film, Wylie
hands communion to Royce and says, “Peace of God.”
Wylie and Royce are not only crystal clear images of the communion
of saints, but they also demonstrate the power of the sacrament as they share
the peace and break bread. Forgiveness.
In the Small Catechism, Martin Luther says that it is the words
which Jesus speaks “Take, eat, this is my body which is given for you; do this
in remembrance of me” and “Drink of it all of you; this cup is the new
covenant…the new promise…in my blood, which is shed for you and for all, for
the forgiveness of sins; as often as you drink of this cup, do this for the
remembrance of me.” “These words [the words of institution] assure us that in
the sacrament we receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there
is also life and salvation…It is not the eating and drinking [of bread and
wine] that does this, but the words given and shed for you for the
forgiveness of sins…And whoever believes these words has exactly what they
say, forgiveness of sins.”
It is the words which are important and the command of Jesus that
we do this. That we take the very body
of Christ into our own bodies and that we remember his words of
forgiveness.
“Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and
salvation.”
Life abundant. Salvation,
which means healing. In the world to
come, to be sure, but also in the world that is here and now.
Forgiveness is liberating, life-giving, and healing, both for the
wronged and for the wrong-doer. And
Jesus invites us into forgiveness…that we are released from sin and delivered
through salvation and healing into life abundant. And there we will and we do find the “Peace
of God”. Amen.
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