THE JOY OF FORGIVENESS
Psalm 32 Luke 7:36-8.3
Let me take you on an unique journey through Psalm 32 using some assistance from the world my daughter inhabits – the world of psychology. She speaks a different language at work than I employ here at church but I’m not all that convinced were all that far apart in intent. You may want to keep a copy of the Psalm close by for reference as we walk through this Psalm quite systematically. You might also want to refresh your memory of the gospel lesson as Jesus takes us into the world of sin and mercy and forgiveness mixed in with a pack of righteousness and some pretty strong holier-than-thou attitudes that come crashing down.
In the gospel story, the woman who washes Jesus' feet out of extravagant gratitude and love is a notorious ‘sinner’ in the town – a woman with a reputation for loose living. She's really known as a sinner "with a capital S." Simon the religious leader may be a sinner because "we're all sinners," but that's different (at least in his own mind). His status as a sinner doesn't make him unworthy to have Jesus visit his home, along with certain other preferred guests, and it certainly doesn't put him above judging the intruding woman and even judging Jesus himself as he witnesses the scene before him. Simon's not moved or touched by the woman's love and tenderness, and he's not impressed by Jesus' lack of discernment and taste. In fact, he's so busy judging that he forgets to take care of the basics of hospitality himself, so it's ironic that the man with all the resources at his command (we can almost picture the setting in his comfortable home) doesn't use them generously for the sake of his guest, and then he turns a blind eye to the grace of a lowly woman entering uninvited into his little party.
Keep this woman and many more close to your heart as we begin a journey through this psalm.
Psychologists tell us that it is absolutely crucial to get out the harmful residue of life - the difficult and dark side that haunts the deepest recesses of our soul. Left to linger and fester, such negative emotions and dark thoughts can destroy a life of happiness and well-being with deep depression and mental states that need counseling, drugs, and further treatment.
Psychologists don't like to use the archaic word 'sin' because it doesn't fit into the psychological profile and professional assessment of the person they are attempting to help. But I can use it because it is the best word to describe the spiritual condition of many people in the world today- they are sin sick and sore from the suffering of the soul.
Let me add that many cross the divide between the psychologist and the preacher. The most famous is still probably Dr. Karl Menninger who says his purpose is to apply psychiatry to a worldwide affliction, the depression, gloom, discouragement and apprehensiveness which are prevalent. The word 'sin', he says, has almost disappeared from our vocabulary, but the sense of guilt remains in our hearts and minds. In an age when many ministers have lost a sense of purpose behind their preaching and pastoral counseling, Menninger challenges us to do what we do best and what no psychologist can ever do - and he says it like this: "Clergy have a golden opportunity to prevent some of the accumulated misapprehensions, guilt, aggressive action, and other roots of later mental suffering and mental disease. How? Preach! Tell it like it is. Say it from the pulpit. Cry it from the housetops. What shall we cry? Cry comfort, cry repentance, cry hope. And so we shall and this is the message of the psalmist to those who would serve as voices for the Lord in the world today get to the core of the problem and dig it out and expose it to the light and love of God and heal it, exorcise it and banish it forever.
The psychologist tells the patient to bring to the surface the negativity, the deep inner darkness, sometimes simple in order to verbalize it and thereby deal with it, other times to write it in a therapeutic journal that is descriptive of the life the patient is living, especially the darkest side, and some psychologists will even have their patients go through a ritual of having the journal burned, symbolic of the end of the negative influence and the start of a new existence. But I can say to a troubled soul quite emphatically that confession is necessary, pouring out all that is contrary to life and love, seeking out all that separates us from God and from one another, and, when confessed and then repented of, I can invite them to stand in the presence of the merciful and forgiving God made known in Jesus Christ and hear, 'your sins are forgiven you. Go, and sin no more.'
The psychologist will seek to integrate the therapeutic sessions with the patient in such a way that a normal and basically happy life becomes a real possibility, maybe for the very first time in a patient's life. I, on the other hand, can turn to scripture and recite the hope we have: "Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity and in whose spirit there is no deceit." "In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven you."
The psychologist begins by taking a case history of a person's problem, seeking out the paths that led the person to this moment of crying out for help. Not only will they look at the mental anguish a person is in because of the complaint that brings them to the psychologist's office, but patients will also be asked about their overall health - mind, body and yes, sometimes even spirit. How are you sleeping? What is your appetite like? Your sex drive? Your mental outlook? I listen to the stories of people's anguish and what I hear is something like: "while 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 the summer." This is a description of a troubled person in need of healing and forgiveness. And people say - see what condition my condition is in.
The psychologist will bluntly tell a patient that they cannot get well until they decide to get well, until they come to that moment of accountability and face reality. Some will talk about the fact that only you can make you happy and no-one is responsible for your happiness -or lack of it- except you yourself. Some will suggest that the record that runs in your mind needs to be changed - you need to stop those negative thought to yourself which say, 'I'm no good, I can't do anything right, I am a rotten person, I am stupid, I am..." - and change the record to one that affirms your goodness and your gifts and your right to happiness and a promising life. I can turn to the other with the love of our Lord and tell them (and pray that they hear) : "Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said,'I will confess my transgression to the Lord.' and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you;..."
The psychologist will talk about a reconstruction in life, seeking new patterns that are affirming of the new you, looking for support and encouragement in the connections and communities that make up your life. The goal is to find the 'self' you can live with and grow into. I share with people the teaching of the church that declares "Self-love is not selfishness. We love and accept ourselves because God has already loved and accepted us in Christ, providing the foundation of our sense of worth." I tell people there is a new and living way made possible in the love of our Lord: "I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding (and I may add, with a real stubborn streak) whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.
And the day comes on which the psychologist will shake your hand and bid you farewell and get on with the next victim of a sick society that is in desperate need of healing. And on a day of deliverance I will praise God for the new life that another child of God has found, and I will invite this precious child to walk with me in the light of the Lord and I will give a blessing to such a one that might sound something like this: "...steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart."
And the psychologist will make a final notation: 'the patient is healed.'
And I will make another prayer. 'Thank you God that this person is restored' (or maybe you prefer 'born again' or 'saved' or 'a new creation', or whatever).
And in all of this, the psychologist remains a psychologist and not a minister of God and I remain a minister of God and not a psychologist, nor should any minister ever pretend to be one. For the faith has something to offer that is precious beyond words and it is the gift of a loving Lord who is present in all the trials and tribulations of life, and it is a gospel of good news of a new life in God's love. And we do the faith a disservice when we offer anything less than the forgiveness of God to a soul in need.
And this is what this psalm is all about - forgiveness and the new life that come with it. And this is what Jesus is all about - offering forgiveness beyond measure, inviting people to repent, that is, to turn around, and look directly at the love of God and reach out and embrace that love and live that love and walk in the light of that love all the days of this life, ... and then beyond - to the fullness of life promised here and in the hereafter. This marginalized and judged woman responds to the generous love and grace of God in a way that the religious leader is unable to do. God’s way is not constrained by legalism. It is a way of grace, forgiveness, generosity, justice, compassion, and inclusion, the very message embodied in Jesus.
And so a simple soul in need of forgiveness finds life in all its fullness.
Thanks be to God!
