What's Past is Past

 

In Matthew’s deceptively simple parable (Matthew 21 28-32), Jesus invites his adversaries to look at the future, as one not dominated by the arguments of the past, but one that is open to God’s presence in our lives to restore, and make all things new. 

The chief priests and elders do not accept this invitation. The idea of the "presence of God in the lives of man" is not only foreign, it is blasphemous. Besides, they have too much invested in the past and their beliefs which are defined by their own man-made rules that they have they have assumed the “authority” to enforce. 

They have become dependent on their self-created identities and  refuse to give it up for an unknown future. But those who are “down and out,” and represent the marginalized , e.g., the poor, the tax collectors and prostitutes have no past to define or follow them into the future. They eagerly embrace Jesus’ promise of a new life in God's kingdom. 

Throughout our readings of Matthew these past weeks, Jesus makes this same promise to us. We are forgiven solely because there is a forgiver. We are loved unconditionally; we cannot earn or lose God’s love. No matter what we have done, no matter what may have been done to us, the future is still open. Whatever hurt we may have experienced or done in the past is, ultimately…in the past. We do not have to allow the past to define our future or our identity. We do not have to drag our past around with us and take it out whenever we feel the need to linger in its memory. We are more than the sum total of all that has happened to us. 

The future is open. It may seem almost impossible to let go of the past and walk into the future. After all, the past is a known entity; it’s familiar, whereas the future is open… and can be scary. But if we meditate on and invoke the words of Thomas Merton, we know that we are not alone: l will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me alone. No, you will never leave me alone. (excerpts in part from Partner in Preaching, David Lose, 9/22/14)