Sunday, June 12, 2016

Homily: 11th Sunday in OT 2016 - Your sins are forgiven



Some pretty heavy topics in our readings this weekend—sin and forgiveness and repentance with tears.

In our first reading, David, having sinned, is confronted by God’s Prophet. Remember, the role of the prophet, over and over in the Old Testament, is to call the unfaithful back to faithfulness. How had David been unfaithful? Do you remember the story?


It happened, late one afternoon, David was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.  Failing to control his eyes, the sin of lust struck at David’s heart.  So, he sent someone to inquire as to the identity of this woman, and he learned that the woman’s name was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.  Even though, he knew that she was a married woman, David sent messengers to arrange a meeting with Mrs. Uriah.  She came to him, and as a consequence of their adultery, Bathsheba became pregnant.

Already having gravely transgressed the commandments of God, David did not stop there.  Desiring Bathsheba for himself, he engineered the death of her husband Uriah.  He sends Uriah to the front lines of battle, where he would likely be killed. And when he was, David brought Bathsheba to his house, married her, and she bore him a son.

David had clearly lost the sense of right and wrong here—he had lost his sense of sin.  And it is not until Nathan, the prophet, admonishes him, and names his actions as evil—it is not until then that David confesses with contrition, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

How had David, God’s anointed, rescued from Saul, fallen so far? Why did it take being confronted by a prophet to realize the gravity of his sin? How had his conscience become so deadened?

There is another story about conscience and sin.  One of my favorite films as a kid—the story of a wooden puppet brought to life by a blue fairy.  How may know the story of Pinocchio. Pinocchio is much more than a story about a wooden boy whose nose grows when he lies.  Remember, Pinocchio’s greatest hope was to one day become a real boy of flesh and blood.  The fairy told Pinocchio that if he wants to become a real boy he must prove himself to be brave, truthful, unselfish and able to tell right from wrong by listening to his conscience. 

His conscience, “Jiminy Cricket” explains to Pinocchio that the world is full of temptations, the wrong things that seem right at the time. But it doesn’t take take long for Pinocchio to begin ignoring his conscience.  Following the bad advice of some local ne’er-do-wells, Pinocchio skips school and goes to the theater.  Not only that, but he sings boosts in front of everyone that he’s not going to follow any rules anymore, he sings, “I’ve got no strings to tie me down.” He concludes that being a rule boy means not having to follow any rules.

The next day Pinocchio ignores Jiminy Cricket again and travels to Pleasure Island where he is soon gambling, smoking, getting drunk, destroying property.  The curse of Pleasure Island is that those who misbehave—those who make “donkeys” of themselves, turn into real donkeys. 

Pinocchio cannot escape the curse, and begins to transform into a donkey.  Though his greatest dream was to become a real boy, he loses, through sin, what humanity he did possess.  JC—Jiminy Cricket, shows up just in time to rescue Pinocchio from his sin, from the sinful pleasures of Pleasure island.  A wonderful Christian allegory if there ever was one. Who else do we know with the initials JC who saves us from our sins? In fact, who else do we know who dresses in blue who says, do whatever he tells you.

Jiminy Cricket was right, the world is full of temptations, just ask King David. Even the best of us are no strangers to sin. For both David and Pinocchio, the slide into sin was gradual, it began with small glances in the wrong direction, then they begin to entertain the sin, then they walked toward it, and finally, fell into it. Both became deadened to the seriousness of their actions as they continued down that path. And the same can happen to any one of us.

Every time we sin, we ignore the teachings of Jesus and the urging of our conscience, we become less and less who we are meant to be. Like Pinocchio turning into a donkey, we lose our humanity. 

Which is why we need to keep our consciences alive and healthy by reading God’s word, studying our faith, examining our conscience on a daily basis, making regular use of the sacrament of confession. 

Parents, grandparents, and teachers, you have such an important role in forming the consciences of the next generation. You are called, like an Apostle to preach the faith to your children, and if and when they transgress the Lord’s teachings, to be like the prophet Nathan to our young people.

Next week is Father’s Day weekend, when we consider the role of fathers in forming their children in the truth, and we turn to God in gratitude for their tireless service to their families. 

There is another story from the Old Testament, from the first book of Kings, where the priest Eli hesitates to correct the blasphemous offenses of his sons, he not only brings disaster upon himself but upon his sons and whole household.  He doesn’t take his role as father seriously, and it brings ruin to his family. Being silent when it is our duty to speak out, especially when we are in positions of authority, is a sin of omission.

It is an act of mercy to instruct those ignorant of God’s law in the truth. It is an act of mercy to help a sinner acknowledge their sin and return to the Lord. It is an act of love to bring a sinner to the font of God’s mercy.

And we hear of that boundless mercy in the Gospel today.  There was a woman known to be a public sinner—probably a prostitute.  And when she approaches Jesus’ mercy, Jesus was not reviled by her, Jesus was not repulsed by her sins.  He embraces her and pronounces her sins forgiven.

In this beautiful encounter, we realize there is no sin too big to be forgiven by Christ, the Lord offers mercy to all, and invite all into intimate friendship with him.  It is only the sin that is not repented of that is not forgiven.


It is through forgiveness that Christians obtain true freedom.  As we continue our Eucharistic celebration for the self-sacrifice of his Son that brings mercy to us sinners, let us offer up supplications for all unrepentant sinners, those who think, maybe God will never forgive them, those trapped in sin, and let us pray also for ourselves, that we, like King David might acknowledge our sinfulness before God and ask of his mercy, and like the prophet Nathan, might be instruments of God’s mercy towards others, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.

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