“The Personnel Evaluation Form”

Rockledge Presbyterian Church

October 2, 2016   -   World Communion Sunday

Luke 17: 1-10     “The Personnel Evaluation Form”

I’ve travelled a rather winding path in my ministry.  I started out in a 3-point yoked parish, then switched to a Presbyterian social work agency doing newsletters and grant applications, then jumped into health care as a hospital CEO and then hospital facilities planning and development, and finally back to full time parish ministry.  Throughout all of those years and different jobs I always continued to preach and teach in churches.  I tell you all of this as way of explanation about one of my bosses in healthcare. 

Gerry was an interesting character.  He liked to run things by what are today called “metrics.”  You wrote a plan; you implemented a plan; you measured the effectiveness of the plan; you modified the plan, and you began again.  He was also one of the most human people I ever worked with.  But he really liked logic and quantifiable measures.  He had an interesting take on personnel evaluations.  The form he used had 5 measures of performance:  Excellent – someone who exceeds all expectations; Good – someone who exceeds some expectations; Satisfactory – someone who meets all expectations; Fair – someone who meets only some expectations; Unsatisfactory – someone who doesn’t meet expectations.   

The five of us who answered directly to Gerry were a pretty accomplished and aggressive group.  All of us worked at levels that we always thought deserved the very highest level of performance evaluation.  Gerry took those top three levels very seriously.  He explained that someone who got a “satisfactory” rating, that is someone who met all expectations, was the kind of person that everyone should want working for them.  Just doing your job fully and to the best of your abilities was nothing to be dismissed.

Well we thought a bit more highly of ourselves.  We didn’t even want to be judged as only exceeding “some expectations.”  We all believed that we exceeded all expectations.  To which Gerry pointed out that if we all had elevated our performance levels to exceeding all expectations then we had raised the bar on ourselves and clearly raised the level of expectations to the point where if we all achieved that status we were obviously just meeting expectations!  You have only done what you ought to have done.  He got a good laugh out of that!

The Gospel lesson this morning is not one that preachers would put in their top 5 stories. 

When you decide that you’ve found the “true religion,” it’s hard to think of yourself as anything less than the perfect disciple.  At the beginning of this lesson Luke uses the word “disciple” as an indication that Jesus is talking to a group of followers, possibly a large group.  We’re used to hearing Jesus’ admonitions to his followers about tripping up “these little ones.” 

In this instance he’s not talking about abstract theology or rigid customs.  He’s talking about being an example to one another through the act of forgiveness.  Extravagant forgiveness. If someone “sins against you seven times a day, and turns back to you seven times and says, ‘I repent’, you must forgive.”

Then Luke changes from “disciples” to “apostles.”  Now it’s the 12 who are complaining.  It’s the one’s who perhaps think that they are special.  Each probably thinks that he deserves that “Excellent” evaluation.  Scripture actually says, “Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’“ but I think I can actually hear them saying, “Give me a break!”  Jesus tells them that if they had even the tiniest bit of faith they could do all sorts of incredible things.  And at that point Jesus offers a metaphor that seems very harsh.  It’s why a lot of preachers avoid this reading. 

We’re not comfortable with the terms “slaves” and “masters.”  We have to understand simply that this story isn’t a commentary on slavery.  This is a story set in a context that his listeners could understand. It’s about doing your job and recognizing that doing your job doesn’t come with special rewards.  It’s just meeting expectations.  It’s about doing “’only what we ought to have done!’”

He’s telling them that there should be nothing extraordinary about forgiving one another.  Constantly and continually.  After all Christ has brought us that kind of forgiveness in a love that knows no boundaries.  Don’t complain about how hard it is; about how much more strength you need; about how much more faith you need.  You have all the strength you need.  You have all the faith you need when you say that your faith is in Jesus. 

That’s all you need and this is a baseline expectation that comes if you say you have faith in Jesus.  Forgive one another.  If you believe in what Jesus has done for you then forgiving one another shouldn’t be that hard.  It’s baseline behavior.  You will have done only what you ought to have done. 

Now let’s go back to the beginning of that story.  Don’t misunderstand, forgiveness is a way of life that we are called to show to all the world.  It’s one of the ways we can show the world what faith in Jesus means in practical terms.  But as is often the case Jesus is telling his followers how important it is to treat one another with forgiveness.  How important it is here in this congregation to treat one another with loving forgiveness.  Even more so, not to forgive – or not to be an example of a forgiving person – is putting a stumbling block in the midst of the lives of other believers.

Being realists – perhaps more than you and me – the apostles admitted the courage that it takes to live with forgiveness as a mark of your life.  They weren’t sure that they had enough faith to be that strong and courageous. 

There are at least three sides to this story about forgiveness.  If someone wrongs you and they ask for your forgiveness, you must free them from their guilt and shame.  If someone wrongs you and you let that wrong fester within your heart, you will only find wholeness through forgiving them and releasing yourself from the shackles of self-pity and retribution.  We all know and admit those two things.

What’s the third thing?  When Jesus talks about making believers stumble, he’s often talking about how what you do and say is seen by others.  What do your children learn when they see a hurt and vindictive spirit in you?  What do other members of the congregation learn when they see and hear you nursing hurts and spewing vindictive invective toward others in the congregation? 

I think that the stumbling block that Jesus is talking about here is what happens when we model the wrong behavior within the congregation.  I think that the stumbling block here is when we fail to act like the disciples of a loving and forgiving Lord who called himself a servant of us all.  I think the stumbling block here is when we – people who call themselves followers of a servant Lord – refuse to act toward one another as Christ has acted toward us. 

The way we treat one another is a much  louder statement of our faith than all the pretty words of scripture that we can quote. 

The way we treat one another is a much  louder statement of our faith than all the pretty words of scripture that we can quote. 

On this day millions of people who follow our Lord are gathered together to share in God’s grace by sharing at this table with one another.  We come together as equals, fallen and forgiven, broken and redeemed, looking with grace on one another as God’s grace has been offered to each of us. 

“Increase our faith.”  God has already given us faith.  Live your life renewing and reinforcing the faith you have with every action that you show to one another in gratitude for all that God has given us.  There are expectations and responsibilities with being a Christian.  Strive every day to meet those expectations.  As a Christian, just do your job. It is truly its own reward.

Let us pray:

New every morning are your mercies, dear God.  As we begin this new day, make us as merciful to others as you have been to us.

Strengthen us in faith so that we may trust in you with our whole hearts. If any trouble overtakes us today, help us to wait and to hope in you. May the Holy Spirit help us as we both guard and give away to others

the treasure of Jesus Christ, our Savior.

Amen.