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.
