talk of loneliness in quiet voices
I am shy but you can reach me
We all live with this lie, don’t we?
The lie that we’re actually good people. All of us, we think that deep down, what we are is good…
Sure, we might goof up from time to time, yes we might fall from grace now and then; but deep down, we all imagine we’re all actually good. We have this illusion that we could just fix these “shortcomings” of our’s with some better ethics or with one more self-help book…
All of us, we harbor this thought that we’re actually good folks; and all we need to do is just start acting like it.
Now, you’d think a few minutes with the front page would dispel that myth; yet on it goes, so powerful is our trust in this lie…
So let me be the one to bust your bubble today; we’re sinners…
And, lest you think you have a leg up on those heathens out there, getting ready to party on a Saturday night or sleeping off their hangover on a Sunday morning; let me be clear: it’s only believers who sin.
You heard me.
Sure those heathens out there, they may be lying and cheating, they may be murdering and stealing; but their transgressions are puny compared to Christian’s, compared to your sin.
It’s only believers who sin. Sorry…
I hate to be the one to break the bad news; but showing up here on a beautiful day when you could just as well be anywhere else; it isn’t earning you a widow’s mite worth of goodness.
Nope, coming here won’t whisk you away from the ranks of the sinful. In fact, coming here only makes matters worse; here you are made to admit the truth of it all. It’s only believers who sin.
You, you’re a sinner.
And, in case you were wondering; me too. I’m a sinner. I’m as much a sinner as they come…
…Wow; you know, that kind of feels good just to say it.
Say it with me: “I’m a sinner.” (I’m a sinner.)
Feels good doesn’t it?
That’s probably why the church, in all her wisdom, has put the confession at very the beginning of worship.
All week we’ve been living under the lie that we’re good people. So here, here in church, we gather and just put away that lie. We gather and finally just admit that we’re not good, that we’re sinners. We gather and confess that it isn’t true, we’re not good; and no amount of believing that myth can save us -in fact, we admit that the lie has been killing us all week with its demands…
For once this week, we just tell the truth; we’re sinners.
We’re sinners, and there isn’t a rotten thing we can do about it; so we just confess that it’s true. And it’s about time too, because I don’t know about you but that lie has worn thin. It isn’t easy to pretend any longer that deep down we’re good, that deep down we’re anything other than sinners.
!Hey; don’t resent me for making you admit that. That’s how it always is for the People of God. God always sends some poor schlep into our midst to deliver the bad news; that we’re sinners.
Today that’s me; but for David it was Nathan.
While I might have to tolerate your furrowed brows, while I might have to put up with your cold shoulders after the sermon; you’re too polite to do any worse.
Imagine how it must have been for poor Nathan!
Nathan, who has to deliver the news to King David.
King David who killed one of his elite soldiers, Uriah; for nothing more than being married to beautiful Bathsheba…
No wonder Nathan delivers the verdict via parable.
“…Kind David,” he starts off, “you see, there were these two men. One was rich and the other was poor…”
And before Nathan can even ask for the king’s verdict; David is jumping on his throne, red faced; pointing and shouting, “that rotten scoundrel deserves to die! At the very least he must repay the poor man four-fold for his act, since he had no pity.”
David’s judgement clearly showing that he cannot judge clearly himself…
David’s pronouncement is still ringing through the palace walls, when Nathan, after taking a breath to steal himself up, looks at the king, and says it, “that you.” “You are the man,” the prophet Natan tells King David.
Finally; finally, David sees clearly.
Finally, David sees what he’s done, he sees the other human beings he’s wronged, he sees the error of his ways. King David sees that there will, that there must be consequences for his actions, even his; king though he may be.
David knows deep down that he is wrong. David admits his guilt.
A little late for poor Uriah and Bathsheba, yes; but there it is…
Finally, David’s lie comes to an end…
But; but it’s an end with a beginning in it…
If it had just ended the way we’d imagine it would, the way King David thought it would; with his underhanded tactics prevailing; there’d be no end. David would be trapped in a cycle of deception of unbridled consumption.
But, as the writer of Second Samuel notes pretty darn casually, that ‘the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.’ So the Lord sends Nathan to confront the king; and David’s lie -just like your’s- comes to an end when confronted with God’s judgement.
But it’s an end, with a beginning in it.
And then; once that the lie is finally put away; David has a real chance.
Now, David knows who he really is, what his mettle is really made of; that he, too, is a sinner. Now, now he actually has a future.
It turns out, in the eyes of God David hasn’t merely taken another innocent woman into his harem; he hasn’t merely murder another righteous man. No, any old king does that; just listen again to Samuel’s prophecy about what a king will do. No, what David has done is worse than that, David has sinned; he has, as the writer puts it, ‘despised the word of the Lord.’
King David is a sinner; and God has sent poor Nathan to deliver the news. With everything put on the table so starkly, all there is for David to do is just confess the truth; like we all did a few moments ago…
Once the lie is dead; God gets to work.
When the lie has been put to rest, David finally hears some news that is actually good; not that he got away with his deception scot-free; but that God won’t let his judgement stand; that he deserves to die…
No sooner has the confession fallen from David’s lips than Nathan declares; your judgement will not stand, you will not die, God has put away your sin. David finally hears Good News.
Yes, it sounds too easy to us, too simple. There must be restitution. How can God just pass over David’s terrible indiscretions like that?!? That is what God has determined to do with sinners, though; save them, forgive them.
Are you listening? That’s true for you too, sisters and brothers.
Here’s the thing; God only came for sinners.
See, God isn’t out to get folks who are on the road to righteousness. God isn’t out to get folks who have their lives in order. God isn’t out to get you on a twelve-step program to a better you; with thinner thighs, too!
No. God is out to get sinners. Actual sinners; flesh and blood sinners.
God is out to get you; ya sinner!
Yes. Yes there will be consequences for David’s actions; as Nathan reports. And yes. Yes, there are consequences for your sins, too. But what a boring, what an obvious thing to say at a time and place like this, to people like you.
Let us say instead, something that can only be said here; what can only be said to you, to sinners; what a schlep like me is lucky enough to be authorized to say: God can handle you sins, God has put them away.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, your sins are forgiven.
Just like that.
So say it with me, “I’m a sinner.” (I’m a sinner.)
Feels good, doesn’t it?
Well, it’s the truth anyway. You’re a sinner; me too.
And that’s exactly the kind of people, the only people in fact, that God came to save.
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