Loving God, you amaze us with your readiness to forgive, and sometimes even offend our sense of fairness and justice.  Guide us by your Spirit as we gather together today, renewing our hearts and minds and filling us with your love; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    I’m curious today how many people can relate to the depth of sorrow for sin that we find in Psalm 51.  Is it something we can relate to, or does it seem really over the top?  Listen to this:

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; in your great compassion blot out my offenses.  Wash me through and through from my wickedness, and cleanse me from my sin.  For I know my offenses, and my sin is ever before me.  Against you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are justified when you speak and right in your judgment.  Indeed, I was born steeped in wickedness, a sinner from my mother’s womb (Ps. 51:1-5).

“Remove my sins... wash me... Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my wickedness” (Ps. 51:7, 9).

    Can you relate to this at all, or does it seem like some other person’s experience? [responses] Related question: Do you think of King David as a faithful person or a wicked person? [perhaps both?] Most people, I think, would emphasize David’s faith.  However, this Psalm is attributed to David in some very specific circumstances.

    In some Bibles, Psalm 51 has this heading: “A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.”  For those who might not know the whole story, David had seen his neighbour’s wife - Bathsheba - bathing, and had her brought to him for a little tryst.  The result was that Bathsheba ended up pregnant while her husband Uriah was away fighting on David’s behalf.  After trying to cover it up by bringing Uriah home for a time, David then sends Uriah back to the battle and makes sure that others pull back from him so that he is killed.  David later takes Bathsheba as his wife.  Nathan the prophet is then sent to David with a message that God knows what he has done, and that the child that is born to Bathsheba will die (2 Sam. 11-12).  Then, expressed in this Psalm, is David’s sorrow for his sin.

    To me, this Psalm becomes even more meaningful when you know what was going on at the time.  Here is David - a person who exhibits such unshakable faith at certain points in his life - who is also an adulterer and a murderer.  You can just feel the depth of longing in this Psalm that somehow he might be put right with God and allowed to enter God’s presence once again.

    And so, imagine for just a moment that you are in God’s place.  How would you respond to David’s plea for cleansing and renewal and blotting out his sins?  Would you be saying, “You’re gonna pay, mister!”?  Would you turn a deaf ear?  Would you lock him up and throw away the key?  Or, would you forgive him?

    Had the letter of the law been followed, David would have been put to death.  However, God’s message comes to David through the prophet Nathan: “The Lord has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Sam. 12:13).  The child, though, does die – because David has “utterly scorned the Lord.”  It is a life for a life, in typical Old Testament (or old covenant) fashion.

    In a commentary related to last week’s readings, I came across the question, “Does God punish sin or does God forgive it?”  If we were to search the Scriptures, we would undoubtedly find examples of both.  However, I would guess that in the New Testament, God probably forgives sin at least nine times out of ten.  Even in the Old Testament, though, consider how amazing God’s actions are in today’s first reading from Jeremiah.

    Jeremiah refers to the covenant that God made with the people of Israel at Mount Sinai - the covenant that included the 10 commandments.  This covenant had been broken many times over by God’s people, who are compared to an unfaithful spouse going and running after other gods.  However, instead of heaping punishment upon these people, God announces an amazing thing.  God is going to purposely forget their sin.  God will “forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:34).

    This will pave the way for a brand new covenant that will no longer be carved in stone, but written on their hearts.  And all will know the Lord, “from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord.”  It’s not difficult for Christians to see the connections with Jesus in this passage.  It’s right there in the words of institution for the Lord’s Supper - “this cup is the new covenant in my blood” (cf. Mt. 26:28; Mk. 14:24; Lk. 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25).  This new covenant is characterized by love and forgiveness, as God puts aside, or even forgets, sin.

    Many of us, it seems, have a hard time even imagining this.  After all, when people do things to us, we want them to pay!  And if people do horrible things, they should pay!  And if somebody hurts another person, they should pay, too!  Most of us have a hard time with forgiveness, and very long memories when it comes to sins against us.  Yet, here’s God, ready to forgive and ready to purposely forget sin.

    I asked earlier how many could actually relate to the depth of sorrow for sin that’s expressed in Psalm 51.  I have to wonder if those who can relate have an easier time with forgiveness.  I mean, think about it for a moment – if you know in your heart of hearts that you have made terrible mistakes, and you also know that God has forgiven you, aren’t you going to be a little more compassionate towards others who seek forgiveness?

    On the other hand, if you think that you’ve never really done anything all that bad, perhaps you’ll even be offended by God’s offer of forgiveness - both to you and to others!  After all, many people (and especially religious leaders) were quite offended that Jesus was going around announcing forgiveness to so many people.  What right did he have, anyway?  Wasn’t God the only one who could forgive sins?  And so, this was one of the things that led Jesus to the cross - where he continued to forgive even those who were crucifying him.

    God has made a new covenant with us through Jesus Christ – a covenant marked by love and the readiness to forgive.  God has announced it to us and invited our response.  Let us then live in communion with the one who loves us – the one who died and rose for us – the one who offers to forgive us and to remember our sin no more.  Amen.

Lent 5(B)                                    Psalm 51:1-12
March 25, 2012                                Jeremiah 31:31-34
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2012 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved