Let Us Avoid The Near Occasions Of Sin

Friday of the Third Week Integral 2026

Last Sunday we heard the words of Jesus commanding all to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” We know Jesus was telling the truth, because He is divine, and wherever Jesus is must be called “the kingdom of heaven.” We believe that He rules in heaven now and will return in the Father’s timetable to be seen by everyone as King of the Universe. But to be a triumphant part of that kingdom we must repent. The great spiritual masters recommended we examine our consciences each evening before retiring and confess our sins, asking the Lord for forgiveness.

A commonly used prayer for that purpose has these words: “O my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee, and I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of Heaven and the pains of Hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace, to confess my sins, to do penance, and to avoid the near occasions of sin. Amen.”

King David is known in Scripture as a “man after God’s own heart.” God’s loving heart wants only good for His human creatures. Reading the early stories of David ben Jesse gives us a feeling for what that means. He had the humility to stay tending his father’s sheep even while his older brothers went to be considered for royal favor by the prophet Samuel. He risked his life for Israel by confronting the giant Goliath. He respected king Saul, even though the man pursued David to kill him. He loved his people, Israel, brought them unity and peace and security.

But today’s reading from Second Samuel tells us when springtime came and other nations mobilized under their kings for war, David stayed home in idleness. He even took afternoon naps and got up and wandered around the roof of his palace. He did not practice modesty of the eyes and saw a beautiful woman bathing. He already had more than one wife, but he yielded to the near occasion of sin, Bathsheba, and committed adultery with her. We’ll see tomorrow that this grave sin dominoed through conspiracy, deceit and even murder, but we will also see that David kept an understanding of the need for immediate repentance and contrition. God forgave him, but he still had to undergo a very stiff and bloody time of atonement to bring him and his family back into coherence with God’s own heart.

David and those around him learned the hard way about avoiding the near occasions of sin.

Jesus asked His disciples with what to compare the kingdom He was sent to establish. As He often did, He explained with an agricultural analogy. There’s something in a tiny plant seed that when planted in the ground causes a new plant to germinate, poke its cotyledon through the surface, and grow into an herb many thousands of times larger than the seed. That’s like the kingdom of God. The apostles went forth after Pentecost preaching Christ and the Resurrection from the dead all over the known world. Despite persecutions and heresies, within four centuries there were Christian churches all over the Roman empire and a bit beyond. It was a huge plant in which dwelled dozens of different languages and ethnicities, engaged in right worship and right living. It was a miracle just as hard to explain as the growth of a mustard seed. It was only possible because of the Spirit of Jesus working in His disciples day by day.