Kharma, Grace and Repentance
A Sermon by Brent J. Eelman
March 11, 2007
Abington Presbyterian Church

Luke 13: 1-9
    At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? ³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. ⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’
    ⁶ Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” ⁸He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. ⁹If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”*

“Someday, some way, you will get what you deserve.” I think that most of us want to believe that. This sentiment is immortalized in a pop song by Alicia Keys: “It’s called karma, baby… and it goes around. What goes around comes around. What goes up must come down.” The idea expressed is that there is some type of ultimate retribution. Ultimately the wicked pay and victims are redeemed.

There is a television show called My Name Is Earl. I am not recommending the show, but was intrigued by its tagline, “Karma is a funny thing.” The show is about a guy named Earl who is a petty crook and hustler who won a 100,000 dollars in the lottery. He loses the ticket when he is hit by a car. He then learns about the concept of kharma while in the hospital bed: that good things happen to people who do good and bad things happen to people who do otherwise… He believes it because of his accident and he decides to turn his life around. After a few good deeds, he gets his 100.000 lottery ticket back and then proceeds to make a list of all the bad things he has done and correct them one by one. I suppose it makes for an interesting television show, but it is poor theology. At the heart of our faith is the idea grace: that we do not get what we deserve. It is scandalous, bothersome and troubling. For the next few minutes I would like to examine these ideas in terms of the teachings of Jesus. 1.Kharma, 2. Grace and 3. Repentance.

I

Kharma: Jesus was teaching his followers about the judgment of God. Someone in the crowd asked him: “What about the massacre that occurred under Pontius Pilate?” Apparently when Pilate came to power he placed a heavy tax upon the Hebrew people and also took part of the temple treasury for his ambitious building projects. This resulted in rebellion among the Jews and many of those who demonstrated against Pilate were brutally killed. The question was simple: “Did they do something that we don’t know about? Did they deserve this?” It is the same issue that Job dealt with. His friends see him in pain and suffering and conclude, “Job, you must have done something to deserve this.” The answer is “no”. Jesus said, “No I tell you….” The God of Jesus does operate in this manner. There is no divine retribution system. God is not an accountant, keeping a ledger sheet of our sins and the good things that we do. The kharma that is described in popular culture, suggests that there is some type of divine accounting system.. so we lose our lottery ticket because we have been bad, and find it again after some good deeds. Jesus said “No… that is not how things work.”

II

Grace: I have often shared a very vivid dream that I had almost thirty years ago. This was a time when computers were first coming into vogue. The dream was one where I died and faced the last judgment. The angel in charge of my case sat me down in an office and pulled out this huge computer printout. On the printout was a list of all my sins… everything that I had done wrong in my life. (Don’t ask me how thick the printout was!) He then commenced to review my deeds one by one. He continued for a period of time and I started to sweat. Finally in desperation, I yelled, “Stop!” He looked up and I asked: “What about grace?” He looked back at me and responded in a bureaucratic tone, “Grace?? We went off of that system two years ago when we got computers.”

Is that our vision of God? An accountant with a large computer keeping tabs on our behavior and ultimately balancing the books at the end of our life? Grace is much different.

What is grace? Consider: when a person works an 8 hour day and receives a fair day’s pay for her time, that is a wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for her long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize, and deserves no reward –yet receives such a gift anyway—that is a good picture of God’s unmerited favor. This is what we mean by grace: receiving that which we do not deserve.

We do not deserve to be forgiven, yet God forgives us. We do not deserve God’s love, yet God loves us. We do not deserve eternal life, yet God grants us life. We do not deserve that Jesus should die on our behalf, yet Christ did. Grace is receiving that which we do not deserve to receive.

III

But Jesus introduced a third concept into this discussion: Repentance. Jesus’ insistence on repentance in this context has often struck me as strangely inconsistent. If grace is receiving that which we do not deserve, does repenting make us any more deserving? I don’t think so. Then why the emphasis on repentance? The Apostle Paul asked this same question. “If grace is so wonderful, should I not sin all the more so that grace will abound?”

Why the emphasis on repentance? Because grace, without some type of significant response from us, becomes cheapened. The martyr theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, termed the expression, “Cheap grace.” He used it to refer to the idea of unmerited reward from God that does not result in any type of behavioral change on our part. For example: One aspect of God’s grace is forgiveness. When we are forgiven, we are called to change our behavior… not to continue it.

The word for repent in Greek is metanoia. It means to literally change one’s mind or way of thinking. This word is used by the gospel writers to indicate that Christ is calling us not merely to admit that we are sinners, but to make the changes necessary so that we do not continue to do it. Anything less would be cheap grace and flimsy forgiveness.

Today is the third Sunday in the season of Lent. Lent is a time of penance and is often a time when we “give up” something. Usually what we give up is something that we enjoy. I have to question whether God wants us not to enjoy life. What we need to give up are the behaviors that are sinful and cause others hurt and suffering. We can make a case about chocolate being sinful… but there are a whole lot of other things that most of us do that are worse, (and I am not talking about eating). This is the time to look at your life and examine your behavior, your thoughts and your priorities. Grace is the gift that gives you the room to change them.

Karma, Grace and Repentance:

Karma: God is not an accountant keeping a spreadsheet of our sins and good deeds, determining our ultimate reward or punishment on this basis.

Grace: God is a God of love, who relates to his children through grace, forgiveness and giving us… that which we do not deserve.

Repentance: How should we respond to God’s unmerited love and graciousness? Repent.. change our behavior… anything less than this cheapens God’s gift of grace. This is the challenge and the good news of the gospel. Amen.
 

*The New Revised Standard Version Bible, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers) 1989.

Abington Presbyterian Church, Abington, Pennsylvania,  www.apcusa.org