In the name of Jesus Amen.
Introduction: It’s 102 minutes the world will likely never forget. That’s the time that passed between the first plane crashing into the World Trade Center and the collapse of the second tower, on September 11, 2001, twenty-five years ago this past Friday. Most of us alive that day remember where we were when we saw or heard about the attack. We might still feel the shock and pain as we think back to that horrific morning. It may have begun as bewilderment that a plane could crash into a skyscraper on such a clear, sunny day … then, when another plane hit the other tower, we came to the sudden, awful awareness that this was intentional and that America was under attack. A third plane crashing into the Pentagon and a fourth into a field neat Shanksville, Pennsylvania left us with no doubt that we were being attacked. Many have said that society must never forget what happened on that September 11 as nearly 3,000 people were killed, including more than 400 first responders. Countless other lives were changed in those 102 minutes.
Yet today, we do not simply remember the evil at work in this world. More than that, we remember our God, that He works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. Therefore, as the Psalmist today declares “Forget Not All His Benefits” so we make this our theme.
Even as we cannot forget the significance of this day to the world around us, so also we “forget not” the benefits of God who has always been in the business of freeing His people from the terror of sin and a sinful world! We have abundant proof of this in the past. In Vv. 6-7 the Divinely-inspired David reminds us how God worked justice and righteousness for the ancient Israelites as He freed them from the terror of sin and slavery in Egypt. The Lord made His will known to Moses (v 7a) and called Moses to set His people free (Exo 3:1-10).
In Exodus 33:12-22, Moses tells us how he had asked God to make His ways known to him again. And God promised to go with Moses. But Moses also wanted to see the glory of God. And God showed Moses all that was possible for Moses (or any person, for that matter) to see and yet live — His back.
In v 7b David also reminds us that the Lord made known His acts to the people of Israel (Ex 34:1-7). Remember that even though God had freed the Israelites from Egypt, they sinned greatly by worshiping a golden calf. Yet God is compassionate with His people, “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (v. 8). “11For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (vv. 11-12).
But we do not only have proof from the past, we also have a promise for the future. God has also freed us from the terror and slavery of our sin. He also works justice and righteousness for us (vv 1-6). He is merciful and gracious to us as He was to ancient Israel.
When we see great evils in the world around us, like the attacks of 9/11, there is a temptation to become hopeless under such terror and oppression. And because of our sinful nature and all our actual sins we are prone to give in to despair and forget God’s blessings. Nevertheless, our Psalm text reminds us that The Lord “forgives all [our] iniquity … heals all [our] diseases … redeems [our] life from the pit” and “crowns [us] with steadfast love and mercy” (v. 4).
Notice that David declares that the Lord “does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities” (v. 10). In fact, the very sins for which we deserve nothing but temporal death and eternal torment in hell are placed on Christ as God has turned His fierce wrath upon Him. The Divinely-inspired St. Peter writes “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. (1 Peter 2:24). And again: “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God…” (1 Peter 3:18).
In this world, like Moses, we only see the back side of God. Instead of seeing our Lord’s glory in gleaming radiance and might, we see it revealed in the suffering, despised, and crucified Jesus. At the cross Jesus is our substitute … the innocent one for the guilty ones. He suffered and died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. And just as we rejoice in His resurrection victory over sin, satan and death, we also rejoice in His abounding love knowing and believing that those things that are begun with evil intent become the means by which we experience His goodness; as Joseph told his brothers in today’s Old Testament reading (Gen 50:15-21). And so, as we also heard in today’s Gospel, Jesus leads us beyond grudges and anger to live in peace and forgiveness (St. Matthew 18:21-35).
The Hebrew word translated as “his benefits” (גְּמוּלָֽי), is used in this text (as it is elsewhere in the Old Testament) to refer to the restitution and rewards that come by God’s grace rather than human efforts. Jesus brings us God’s benefits in the Means of Grace. There in the Word and Sacraments we receive the benefits of all that Christ did for us in His passion, suffering, death and resurrection. His forgiveness comes to us in His Word in all its forms. His benefits are there in His Word in the Holy Scriptures – read, spoken, and expounded, here among us. His benefits are there in His Word connected to water in Holy Baptism which forgives sin, creates faith, and brings us into the kingdom of God. His benefits are there in His Word of Holy Absolution which by the pastor’s individual and personal announcement of forgiveness comforts us and releases us from despair. His benefits are there in His Word which make the elements of bread and wine the sacrament of the Holy Supper which nourishes us with His true body and His true blood given and shed for us.
And so, we are called and enabled to live in repentance and faith. The Holy Spirit leads us to have sorrow for our wicked high treason against the Lord of Heaven and earth … and to believe “that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ” (AC XII.3-6) … and with that faith we desire to do better than to keep on sinning. When we repent then God forgives us of our sinful nature and all our actual sins. He forgives us for Jesus’ sake.
Conclusion: On this past Friday’s Patriot Day 2026, the twenty-fifth anniversary of September 11, 2001, thousands of people stood at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum in lower Manhattan on the sidewalks near Ground Zero, once the site of the twin towers of New York’s World Trade Center. They remembered those chilling scenes of airplanes crashing into buildings and towers crumbling to earth. Likewise, thousands of visitors attended ceremonies at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania.
On September 11, twenty-five years ago, in a very few minutes, the world was changed. For those of us alive that day, even if we wanted to forget it, we probably cannot. And I doubt that I am the only person here that does not know people who are scarred by 9/11. Yet in it all we also forget not the Lord’s benefits. He has worked justice and righteousness for His people, forgiving their sins for the sake of Christ crucified and risen; in whom we see the true glory of God.
Sometimes in the excitement and stress and even tragedies of life we may forget the boundless blessings of body and soul that God has given us through Jesus Christ. So, David, the psalmist calls us to remember and not forget. The world about us will grieve, and we are empathetic, but we also sing boldly with David our song of praise: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (vv 1-2).
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ SDG +
