Coming Clean
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
David C. Wright
Matt. 6:12, 14,15; Ps. 32:1-5
October 17, 2010

         Story about me?  In a Pearls Before Swine comic strip, Rat comes to the door of Goat's home holding a pencil and clipboard.  "Hey, Rat, What are you doing?" asks Goat.
"I got a job as a census taker.  So I need you to answer some questions.  First of, how are you registered politically?  Republican?  Democrat? Green Party?"
"None of those," replies Goat.  "I've concluded that the solution to our problems lies not in parties nor in leaders, but in the human heart."
Rat thinks for a moment while looking at his clipboard, before responding, "I'm afraid 'Weirdo' isn't an option."
          From earliest times, religions have struggled to figure out what to do with the human heart.  The Hebrews, followed by Christians, labeled what is wrong with the human heart as "sin."  In the Bible, sin has several definitions.  One involves the same word used to miss a target you are aiming at.  The idea is that we've failed to be the people God created us to be.  We've missed the mark.  Another aspect of sin uses the word used for stepping across a line, of deliberately crossing a boundary God has set for us, of transgressing God's law.  Another word has the connotation of slipping across a line- still crossing the boundary, but doing so unintentionally.  Sin is also seen in the Bible as deliberate rebellion against God and all of God's claim on our lives.  And the final word, used in the Lord's Prayer views sin as a debt that we owe to our Creator and to others we have wronged.
          However we view sin, it is the root cause of our broken relationship between ourselves and God and between one another.  Although we have a tendency to rationalize our sins or attempt to forget about them, most of us are aware of things we have said and done which have caused great pain to others, sometimes having ripple effects far beyond what we intended, like the ripples that spread out widely when we throw a rock in a pond.  We often feel guilty about the things we have done.
          People in all times have had these same struggles.  So what do we do about them?  The religion of ancient people usually tried to appease the gods by offering some kind of sacrifices.  Animal sacrifices- bulls, sheep, goats, doves- were common in the Bible.  Some pagan religions offered human sacrifices, even the sacrifices of children.  Later, the church appointed priests to intervene on behalf of ordinary sinners and plead for their forgiveness.  But how could the priests receive forgiveness?  (clip)  Some of them deliberately inflicted pain or hardship on themselves as a payment or offering for their sin.  None of these worked very well.
          In contemporary time, most psychological and therapeutic thinkers have had no category for sin and evil.  So in a movie like "Eat, Pray, Love," we find some of the characters needing forgiveness of their failings, but having no way to find it.  This is the problem that Jesus is addressing in this part of the Lord's Prayer,(SLIDE #1)  "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors."  Here we find a simple solution to the problem of sin.  We simply ask God, who is a forgiving God, to forgive us, and the slate is cleaned. 
          A brother and sister went to spend the summer at their grandparent's farm.  The grandfather made the boy a slingshot, telling him, "Be careful with this, and never shoot rocks at people or animals."  "OK, Gramps," he promised.  And for the next few days he happily fired rocks at trees and cans and make-believe enemies.  The one morning, far across the pond, he spied his grandmother's pet duck.  Not really aiming, he let a rock fly in its direction, killing the duck.
          He hid the duck under a pile of firewood, relieved that he had gotten away with it, only to hear his sister's voice.  "Oh, brother.  Lunch is ready."  He realized that she had seen everything.
          He was silent through lunch.  His food sat like lead in his stomach.  His sister, however, said nothing.  But after lunch, Grandma said, "Sally, how about helping me wash the dishes?"  To which she replied, "Oh, Johnny was just telling me that he was planning to help in the kitchen today, right Johnny?"  As Johnny was considering whether to protect, she leaned over and hissed, "Remember the duck!"  Johnny grimly realized that bad days were ahead.
          He skipped a fishing trip to help make supper.  He graciously let his sister like the entire fudge pan.  After days of doing all his sister's chores, he couldn't stand it any more.  "Grandma," he blurted out.  "I didn't mean to, but I killed your duck."  "I know, Johnny," she replied.  "I saw the whole thing, and because I love you, I forgave you.  But I had to wait until you were ready to come and ask for forgiveness.  I wondered how long you would let your sister keep you as a slave."
          Sin enslaves us.  We spend inordinate amounts of energy trying to cover it up and rationalize it away.  We struggle with a load of guilt.  Meanwhile, God is waiting patiently for us to admit our sin, to confess it, so our relationship with him can be restored.  And then the Good News of the gospel begins to work.  (CS Lewis)  We are absolved from our sin.  The slate has been washed clean.  God somehow forgets all about what we've done and no longer holds it against us.  We have a second chance, a new beginning.  The Father welcome the Prodigal back home again.  (SLIDE)  The Psalmist put it like this:  Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered... When I kept silent, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.  Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord," and you forgave the guilt of my sin.  (Ps. 32:1,3-5)
          By the promise of God, we have been made clean, whole again.  That is truly good news!  But there is one more thing here, isn't there?  And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors...and then these two words of commentary follow directly after the Lord's Prayer.  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matt. 6:14,15)
          Uh, oh!  We were doing so well, and then Jesus had to go and complicate things!  We have to forgive others, too?  But you don't know what that so-and-so said about me behind my back.  You don't know that person I loved betrayed me.  You don't know what the person stole from me.  You just don't know how much pain that person caused me without any just reason for doing so.  You're right.  I don't know.  But God does.  And Jesus died for that person's sins, as well as yours.  If you withhold forgiveness from someone, you are actually playing God, for only God has the right to that kind of judgment on someone.  Experiencing God's forgiveness for our own sins, and extending forgiveness to others are inextricably linked. 
          Now forgiving someone doesn't mean that you will automatically be best buddies with them again!  It simply means you let go of the wrong done to you, renouncing the possibility of revenge, and entrusting the matter to God.  The possibility of a restored relationship depends on a number of factors, including their trustworthiness and willingness to repent.  Edward Herbert, an English noble who lived in the early 1600's, put it like this, "The one who cannot forgive others, breaks the bridge over which he or she must pass, for every person has need to be forgiven."
          Someone once explained it to me like this.  If your fist is closed around a grudge, around some wrong done to you, then it cannot be open to receive God's forgiveness of your own sin.

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