13 September 1998
It has been all over the front pages of the newspapers, on all the television channels, on the Internet in all its "lurid" details -- the story of our President admitting very very publically that he has sinned and asking his family and his colleagues and his country for forgiveness. I'm not going to use the pulpit this morning to take a political stance on what should happen next -- but I was struck by the movement of the readings today as a story of the road to forgiveness -- and in fact beyond.
The readings begin with the story of God's people getting off the track. Moses is away, and the people are restless. They go to Aaron and ask him to make gods for them. He gathers up their gold, melts it down, and makes the image of a calf, and then makes an altar where the people can worship it and make sacrifices to it.
Later the Psalmist would say about the heathen, Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; eyes have they, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; feet, but they cannot walk; they make no sound with their throat. Those who make them are like them, and so are all who put their trust in them. [Ps. 115: 4-8]
Well, of course, we might say. With all our modern enlightenment, we might consider the idea of building and worshiping a golden calf pretty silly. But are we so far away from that? In fact, we are quite regularly asked to bring our "gold" (now "green"!) to trade for something set up before us as having great value -- a luxury car, perhaps, or a bigger house, or a gorgeous outfit, that we think will "go before us" to prepare a way into community standing or the attraction of someone we want to impress or what we're encouraged to think of as "the good life". Or we become workaholics for many of the same reasons. In other words, around us are invitations to get off the track -- to accept false "gods". But a car has no more real power than a calf -- except to take you down a road a bit faster.
Poor Moses gets thrust back into the middle of it again -- remember him asking God how long he has to put up with this wayward bunch? God sends him back into the fray, saying that He plans a scorched-earth policy and will make a new nation of Moses. But Moses bargains for his people again, reminding God about the covenant He has made with the patriarchs and with Israel... Moses is not above the "What will the Egyptians say?" tack, either, and God does relent.
What will the people need to do when Moses comes back? They will need to turn away from the shiny easy answer they have made for themselves and turn back to God and God's ways.
Psalm 51, which we read together today, and which is often suggested as part of preparation for people planning to make confession, is a model for that step. First we acknowledge the need for God's mercy and ask for cleansing from sin. None of us goes all through life without the need to ask deeply and sincerely for God's mercy and forgiveness when we get off the path of faith. But it is not about groveling, about what we used to call "worm theology" in seminary. Because even as we admit our need for mercy, we speak of hope, saying Purge me from my sin, and I shall be pure; wash me, and I shall be clean indeed.
After we come to God in faith and re-turn to Him, Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all those who with hearty repentance and true faith turn unto him, will have mercy upon us, granting pardon and delivering us from all our sins -- but it is not just an exchange that grants pardon. God's love goes beyond that. God will confirm and strengthen [us] in all goodness, and bring [us] to everlasting life. This is God who loves us, came to walk among us, yearns for us, as Jesus said, like a mother hen sheltering her chickens under her wing.
The words of the Epistle tell the story of a sinner forgiven and gifted with overflowing grace. Again we hear words we use following confession and absolution in our service: This is a true saying, and worthy of all [men] to be received, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Paul claims to be "the foremost" of sinners, and says But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To Paul, who persecuted the church with great zeal and violence, and who was a self-confessed blasphemer, his Lord shows mercy -- and not only that, but sends him out to do the work of the Kingdom. There goes the excuse of "I'm not good enough, saintly enough, etc..." -- right out the window! If God can forgive Paul -- whom some of us still have difficulty loving on occasion! -- He can and will forgive any and all who come to him in faith.
There are two possible detours off the path that bear mentioning here. One is believing that our sins are such that God can't really forgive us -- that's really (if often unintentionally) a way of claiming that we have more power than God! And the other, sometimes indulged in by religious folk, and perhaps flirted with here by Paul, is to claim the position of "foremost among sinners" as a distinction that can involve another kind of covert pride...
But when we do earnestly and truly repent, there is great rejoicing in heaven! In the Gospel reading, the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling (as usual) and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." Yes, he does. Still does. Thanks be to God. To respond, he turns to his favorite tool, story. Two stories, in fact, both about finding what has been lost, and the joy that brings to the finder and his or her friends.
The first story is of the shepherd who leaves 99 sheep in the wilderness to search for a lost one until he finds it. The story gives a window into God's extravagant love -- it's not about having a good percentage, but about having all the sheep (and all the sinners) safe in the fold. What would have been expedient, sensible, reasonable would be for the shepherd simply to write off the lost one, but that is not what our Shepherd does. He seeks for us until he finds us and brings us home -- and invites the angels to rejoice over us. Like the woman with the lost coin, he lights the lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until he finds us and reclaims us -- and calls for a party!
Ultimately the road to forgiveness takes us to being found again -- and finding the joy of living in the fold of our Shepherd again. So we are bold to say in the Lord's prayer, as he taught us, forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us, knowing that we and all others who come to him in faith and repentance are welcomed home with joy.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux said it well: It is easier that heaven and earth should pass, than, if thou seek God, not to find Him; or that, if thou ask, not to receive; or if thou knock, not be opened unto. So let us come to Him in faith.
Ex. 32:1, 7-14; Psalm 51:1-11; I Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10
The Rev. Lois Hart
26 July 98