“God’s People Forgiven By Faith”
June 16, 2013
The 4th Sunday of the Christian Season of Ordinary Time/Kingdomtide/Time of the Church
II Samuel 11: 26-12: 10; 13-15/Psalm 32: 1 – 7/Galatians 2: 11 – 21/Luke 7: 36 - 50
His Eminence
The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.
Archbishop of Manila
and
Primate
of the
National Church in the Philippines
and
the Territorial Church of Asia
International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church
As we enter into the Ordinary Time, we are encouraged in our own lives, but also given a message that we are to share with others. Our God is a God of forgiveness. He manifested this in major proportions, in a way that could not be misunderstood or misinterpreted. His heart was for His people. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son.” It shows us the commitment of God at the time when man was rebelling against God, when man had literally lost his relationship with God in great proportions.
God was so compassionate, merciful and gracious that He wanted His creation back. He wanted to have a restoration of His creation. Not only did He send His Son but He sent His Son to take the sins of man upon Himself and restore us by His death. He who knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God.
We easily forget this in the world around us where we are intimidated and threatened many times by circumstances and situations. When someone wrongs us, we want revenge. We want to get even. The character that God has shown to us and the character that He has given to us, having created us in His image and likeness, is one of forgiveness.
In one portion of Scriptures, when Jesus was asked of how many times a person should forgive, He told the disciples, “Seventy times seven.” It is an unending time of giving, that opportunity for others to be restored.
It is amazing many Scriptures are written in the Bible regarding David. The one portion of Scripture that everyone seems to know is David’s failure. We forget his struggles, his battles after being chosen by God to be king, how that he refused to remove Saul even though it seemed as though Saul lost his anointing. He wouldn’t touch him because he was God’s anointed. It was God who was going to be the one to remove him.
David went through many struggles, many battles, and many conflicts running and hiding. He had an opportunity to kill Saul, but he doesn’t do it. It is amazing how all of those things we forget, but God chose David and anointed Him to be king. He was God’s man. He waited for God. He depended upon God.
The Scriptures tells us, as man, that there is no one without sin. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. David also made a mistake. If we would read 2Samuel 11, it should have been that he had gone to battle with his army. But for some reason, he stayed home. Staying home, he did not have much to occupy his time or his efforts. His whole army was gone fighting a war.
The story goes that one day, David was walking around the roof of his house. In those days, the roofs were fixed in a manner that it was meant for relaxation or comfort. He saw a woman, his neighbor, bathing. It was the wife of one of his trusted men. He lusted for her and sent his servants after her. He slept with her and she became pregnant. She sent a message to him that she was now pregnant.
David begins to scheme how to cover up this failure. He sends for the husband, Uriah, to come home and thinking in his mind that if Uriah came home, he would want to go to his own house and sleep with his wife. Then, it would be covered up.
When Uriah came home and was told to go and rest with his wife for a while, he refused. He was loyal to those who were fighting the war. He was loyal to the Ark of the Covenant which was at the battlefront. He was loyal to Israel and Judah. He refused to take comfort for himself when the men were at a point that they were facing a battle.
The men of David told him that Uriah did not go to his house. The next day, David asked Uriah why and he told him to stay for a couple of days in his place. The next evening, David brought him in and fed him. According to Scriptures, David gave him plenty to drink so that he could be drunk. David was thinking that at this state, Uriah would lose his judgment and he would go home. Uriah did not go home and slept again at the gate.
David was frustrated because his sin could not be covered. So what he does is to send a message to Joab that when Uriah comes back, he was to be put on the front line of the battle and pull back so that he would be left alone. They did this and Uriah was killed.
The wife of course was upset and mourning because of the death of her husband. When the mourning time was over, David becomes the big messiah and he takes her as his wife. This was the time that Nathan comes and reveals to David the fact that he is the one that has sinned. David has committed his own punishment by saying, “The one who stole the lamb should be killed.”
As Nathan confronts David, David confesses. I think it is very interesting to see his confession. According to Scriptures, David did not say that he had sinned against Uriah or against Bathsheba. He said, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
This is where sin is. It is not following the commandments of God. It is not living as God has told us to be. David said, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan, speaking on behalf of the Lord, says, “The Lord has also taken away your sin. You will not die.” God forgave him because he confessed.
In my life, I had always had trouble understanding what this is all about. How could David make this mistake and be forgiven so easily and so quickly? Scriptures tell us that David was God’s chosen. God chose David to do the task. Very possibly, God understood that David, being flesh, there would be some times where he might fail. God was a God of forgiveness.
Scriptures tell us that the child that Bathsheba bore died. After the forgiveness, David mourned for this child and interceded. He wouldn’t eat; he lay on the ground; he fasted; he prayed that God would have mercy on this child. As soon as he got the message that the child was dead, he rose and took a bath. He put on his robes and he called for a feast. His servants were confused and asked, “When the child was sick, you mourned. When the child died, you rejoiced. Why?” David said, “I was asking God for mercy. When the child died, there is no more to do so therefore I need not mourn any longer.”
As you go on through the Scriptures, David then comforted his wife, Bathsheba. He went into her and lay with her and she gave birth to a son. He named him Solomon. This is what the Scriptures say and I have never heard this before and I have never heard anybody say this. After this has happened and Bathsheba bears a son, it says, “Now, the Lord loved him.” This name given by Joab means “the favorite of Yahweh; the love of Yahweh.”
How so easily this forgiveness comes and we see that which God has shown upon His chosen – willing to wipe away the sin. Yes, David had problems with his family. His son turned against him. His son, Absalom was also guilty of murder. His son tried to take over the throne and he did pretend to be more compassionate that his father; pretending to be the answer for the people of Israel that when they had a problem, he would take care of them. He says, “Even if my father will not, I will.” He turned the people against David. He was proclaimed king of Israel.
David had to go into hiding again. The difference between the forgiveness of David and what happened to Absalom is great. In battle against the forces of David, Absalom was hung on a tree by his hair. He was a very proud person, a handsome man. He had long hair and it got caught in the tree. The soldiers killed him. David mourned for his son even though his son came against him.
The second story that we have today about forgiveness is in Luke. It is an interesting story again. When Jesus was invited to the home of a Pharisee to have a meal, to dine, Simon, the one who invited Him, does not given Him honor. He was obviously interested in Him, but he does not believe in Him. He does not have faith in Him. He invites Him to come to the house for a meal.
The story shows us a woman, a prostitute, who heard that Christ was going to be having this meal in the house of this Pharisee. She gets a vial of a very expensive perfume and she is at the feet of Jesus as He is reclining at the table. They did not set a table; the lay down at the table. This woman is at the feet of Jesus. She is washing His feet with her tears, drying His feet with her hair, anointing His feet with costly perfume and kissing His feet repeatedly.
Simon, in his mind, is saying, “How could this man be a prophet? He doesn’t know who this woman is?” My question is this: how did this woman get into the house of Simon? Did she have access to the house? Was she a frequent visitor in the house so that the servants were not surprised that she was there?
If you invited someone of respect to the house for a meal and someone from the street who had an ill reputation, would you just be silent? Or would you command them to be taken out of the house? How come Simon did not do something? How come this woman was so comfortable in this house?
Simon, in his mind, was thinking, “This woman is a prostitute. Why is she wiping His feet? Why is she putting this perfume on Him? Does He not know that she is leading up to something else?” It was in the mind of an evil person, possibly because he had this woman there before. He did not see his heart. He did not understand the compassion, her expression. He was accusing her of something possibly she wasn’t even thinking.
Jesus, understanding what Simon was thinking, says to him, “Simon, I want to say something.” Simon gives Him permission and He talks about these two men who owe this money-lender money – one, five hundred dinari; and the other, fifty. Now, the money- lender sees that they cannot pay him, so he forgives them. He asks Simon, “Simon, which one do you think is more thankful for being forgiven?” Simon responds, “I supposed it would be the one who would be forgiven the most.” Jesus said, “Yes.”
Jesus turns to the woman and says to Simon, “You see this woman. I entered your house and you did not give Me water for My feet.” It was common courtesy and honor that whenever anyone would come to the house, their feet were washed because of the dust on the road and the kind of sandals they wore. They were going to lay down at the table.
Jesus said, “You did not wash My feet. Not only did you not wash My feet, this woman has been wetting My feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair. When I came in, you did not give Me a kiss.” The kiss was customary as a sign of respect. “She has kissed My feet repeatedly. You did not anoint My head with oil.” This was also customary because in the heat, the head would be hot and so they would put oil in the head when a person would come to the house. “She has anointed My feet with costly perfume.”
For this reason, Jesus said to Simon, “Her sins which are many have been forgiven.” Jesus forgave the woman. Simon saw her with evil. He judged her according to his own thinking. Jesus saw her heart. He understood her love. Jesus said, “She loved much. He who is forgiven little loves little.”
How true this is. Many times, those who have committed the greatest offenses, when they are forgiven, they become the greatest in the kingdom of God. Jesus said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” The Pharisees, reclining at the table, were wondering, “Who is this man?” Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
We have two examples of God’s forgiveness through Christ. Intense, perhaps. These are not the only places in Scripture were that there was forgiveness. Another prostitute, caught in the act, brought to Jesus by the Pharisees and the Sadducees, wanted to stone her and they wanted Jesus to okay the stoning. He wrote something on the ground and said to them, “You, who are without sin, throw the first stone.” When Jesus looked up, they were all gone because no one is without sin.
This story of the woman with the Pharisee, Ambros of Milan says that this is the Church. “The Church is justified being greater than the law. For the law does not know the forgiveness of sins nor the mystery in which secret sins are cleansed. Therefore, what is lacking in the law is perfected in the Church.” It shares with us the fact that God is above the ways of man. His compassion and His mercy bring us to a point of peace and security. Knowing that Christ has forgiven our sin; knowing that He has taken it away and wiped it out of the book. When we fail, we come to Him in confession, acknowledging our failure. He forgives us. He puts upon us a responsibility that we are to be like Him. This is what we are committed to be in creation.
Galatians 6:1-3 says, “Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens and thus fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” In our culture, gossip is so rampant and common. We long, we lust to find out that somebody has made a mistake or failed so that we can talk about it. Scriptures tells us that we are not to do that but we are to restore the one who is guilty. We are to go to them and we are to minister to them.
Matthew 18, the story of the Good Shepherd, shows Christ speaking to us, showing His heart. A hundred sheep and one is missing. Ninety-nine are saved but he leaves the ninety-nine to go out and to restore and to bring back the one that is lost. He does not give up until that one is brought back.
This is the heart of God; the love of our Father. This is the compassion, the grace, the mercy of our Lord. It brings to us peace and security knowing that if we fail, and we will, He is forgiving. He does not want to destroy us. He wants to restore us. He wants us to come back into the fullness of His grace and His mercy.
We are reminded today in these stories from Scriptures that we are in the Season wherein we are to be telling the world, by word and by example, the love of God. God is not here to destroy us, to bring judgment upon us. He would rather bring us back into His kingdom. He doesn’t want to destroy; He wants to restore. His love, He took care of us before we even ask for forgiveness.
This woman did not ask for forgiveness, but her actions showed her compassion and her love for the greatness of God. She knew who Christ was. She was accepting Him for what He was and she was ministering to Him while Simon was there judging her. Simon lost the blessing because he was in judgment. The woman, one who was judged as sinner, was forgiven because of love.
May we learn and begin to demonstrate. May we live out an example for the world so that they can see the love of God in our lives, Amen.
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