Year C. 4th Sunday of Lent March 25th, 2001 Psalm 32
Title: “Forgiveness”
According to the tradition of the Church and because of its emphasis on the confession of sin, this is one of the seven Psalms of forgiveness which include Psalm 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130 and 143. It does give testimony to the need to repent, especially of long-denied sin, and confess to God, but it also gives testimony to the incomparable bliss of experiencing forgiveness. In fact, it was the favorite Psalm of St. Augustine, a man who knew both the agony of guilt and the ecstasy of God’s love and who wrote commentaries on all the Psalms. He even had this one inscribed on the wall of the room where he lingered before death so he could read it and have others read it to him as he lay dying.
The beginning, verses one and two and the end verses eight to ten, are definitely written from the Wisdom tradition, while the middle verses, three to seven, is structured like an individual Psalm of Thanksgiving. The former would be a written composition from the get-go, composed by a Sage or Wisdom teacher, to be learned in the classroom, passed on in informal instruction in the home and or synagogue, and used in private prayer. The latter would be part of a typical thanksgiving ceremony in which the worshipper offered a sin offering and gave thanks for deliverance, possibly some form of sickness, physical or emotional. This would be sung or recited in the Temple in the presence of others. So, this Psalm is a combination of the two, a basic thanksgiving Psalm adapted according to the Wisdom tradition, probably written rather late in Israel’s history. As such it is useful as a prayer and as an instruction about sin and forgiveness.
In this Psalm there are three different words for sin. One is Hebrew pesha`, translated here as “fault.” It is rebellion against God’s authority, which includes violating one’s own conscience. The second term is Hebrew hatta’ah, translated here as “sin.” It means missing the mark or falling short of the goal, as would an errant arrow. The third term is Hebrew `awon, translated here as “guilt.” It means “crookedness” or “deformity.” The image evoked is a tree gnarled or twisted or crooked, an unnatural shape, deformity or perversion. While all three terms have many nuances, the Psalmist is using them here, by dint of poetic license, to refer to sin, singular and all-inclusive, rather than sins, plural and of different types. All three terms are used as synonyms to refer to the fundamental sin of idolatry, worshipping the creature instead of the Creator or acting as if one is a god oneself, determining by fiat what is and is not reality.
Likewise there is a triad of terms for forgiving sin. The first one is Hebrew nasa’, translated here as “removed.” It means lifting a heavy burden and carrying it away. The second term is Hebrew kasah, translated here as “forgiven.” It means “to cover.” When God is the subject, to “cover” sins means not to “cover up” but to “treat as though not there.” When a human is the subject “cover” usually means “cover up” in the sense of “hide” or “deny,” as in verse five. Certain aspects and consequences of sin do remain even after forgiveness. Restitution or amends are required. This term suggests that God covers them over without denying their existence. The third term is Hebrew hashab, translated here as “imputes.” This is the same word used in Genius 15: 6, where Yahweh “reckoned” righteousness to Abraham and is quoted by Paul in Romans 4: 6 to stress that divine forgiveness is a free act of God rather than an earned condition of humans. It means “amnesty.” The contrast throughout the Psalm is not between a sinless person and a sinner, but between a forgiven sinner and an unforgiven, because unrepentant, one. This contrast is present throughout the psalm, even in the thanksgiving sections of verses three to seven.
Verse one, “Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” “Happy” attempts to translate the Hebrew ‘ashre whose etymology is uncertain and whose meaning defies a one word translation. It means “Oh the bliss of,” “Lucky,” “To be admired,” “Congratulations to,” “Good for the one who,” “Happy,” “Blessed,” “How rewarding the life of.” It really requires a string of translations such as this one to get the flavor of this rich term. This condition is never caused by human power or will, but the result of trusting in God and doing what he reveals or living according to his principles for life laid down in Scripture. There are many such beatitudes, Blessings in the Psalms and in Wisdom Literature, especially the Book of Proverbs. In this case, the happiness of the forgiven sinner is held up for admiration and imitation. Behind the statement is the Wisdom teaching of how foolish a person would be not to admit sins and be forgiven. The experience of forgiveness is overwhelmingly powerful and positive and is but a sincere confession away. This Psalm is teaching, in so far as it is expressed in the presence of other humans, as much as it is prayer.
In verse two, “Happy are those to whom the LORD imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.” “Deceit” is a sin, here really the cause for preventing forgiveness of sin. The “spirit of deceit” is really denial that one is a sinner and thus in need of repentance and forgiveness. One cannot ask for forgiveness until and unless one stops deceiving oneself and recognizes reality as God sees it.
In verse three, “While I kept silence, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long.” This verse and the next describe what is the result of denying one’s real condition, be it to God, to others or to self. “Silence” is a metaphorical way of expressing the absence of confession in contrast to the speech of confession. The body pays the price of stuffing guilt. There is weight loss, discomfort, restlessness, weakness. The modern notion of psychosomatic illness, wherein the body symptomatically expresses psychic conflict and guilt, was presumed to be a truism even then, even without later scientific proof.
“My groaning all day long,” there is also depression. Guilt and unresolved inner conflict takes its emotional toll as well.
In verse four, “For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” Guilt, being bothered by one’s own conscience, is a divine implant onto the human soul and psyche designed to bring the sinner back to God. It does not force the abandonment of denial nor the acceptance of repentance, but it certainly puts the pressure on to do so. Even though it seems like the Psalmist has taken the initiative in breaking through his denial, it is really the “heavy hand” of God at work that cracks the hard shell.
“My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.” The sinner’s silence, combined with the heavy hand of God, results in a gradual loss of energy, strength and prowess, described here as the dry curling of a tongue desperate for water in a desert.
In verse five, “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.” Confession is more than merely informing God of one’s sins or simply reciting them in his presence. It is also a turning away from them towards God. No longer silent, concealing, denying, the Psalmist experiences the freeing power of revealing, confessing, admitting to Yahweh what he could not formerly admit even to himself. The same three words for sin found in verses one and two are repeated in this pivotal verse.
“I did not hide my iniquity.” This means “finished hiding.” The Psalmist has decided to give up denying his guilt and deceiving himself. He stops hiding it from himself and from God, thus far predominantly interior experiences. He also is impelled by the experience of freedom, to stop hiding it from others. He confesses not only to God but to others. What begins secretly ends up as a public confession, indeed a “missionary” testimony to and before others as to how God has worked in his life.
“And you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Forgiveness takes away the guilt, but not the consequences of sin. Part of making restitution and amends is giving witness to others and encouraging them by means of the forgiven sinner’s experience of freedom, to do likewise.
In verse six, “Therefore let all who are faithful offer prayer to you; at a time of distress, the rush of mighty waters shall not reach them.” Using the logic of “What happened to me can happen to you, if…” the Psalmist tells his story to others and encourages them to repent . He is living proof of the amazing results, cause for celebration of verses one and two as well as imitation of verses eight and nine. Though flood waters threaten, they will never reach them when there is no confession, the waters of guilt accumulate, creating immense pressures on the wall of the human psyche. As soon as the floodgate is opened, the waters subside and the pressure abates.
In verse eight, “I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.” In the earlier formal thanksgiving rites performed in the Temple the priest would usually utter what was considered as a direct oracle from God at the moment of presenting the offering in thanksgiving for whatever, health restored, enemies delivery, rain, etc. In later times, when there was no temple a Wisdom teacher or a prophet would fulfill this function, assuring the offerer that his “sacrificial attitude” was acceptable to God and receiving further instruction from God on how he is to live his life from now on. More likely the Psalmist is recalling his experience at the time of forgiveness for the benefit of others listening to his testimony or if it be a Wisdom classroom learning from his experience. The one who has found this way to freedom wants to share it. God has revealed to him, however he revealed it to him, that now that he is forgiven he need no longer depend on himself to be his own guide. God will gladly do that for him. Now that he is on speaking terms with God, he can become a listener again as well.
In verse nine, “Do not be like a horse or a mule, without understanding, whose temper must be curbed with bit and bridle, else it will not stay near you.” Senseless animals always need to be physically constrained or controlled, lest they gallop away in any direction. The disciplined horse, the one “counseled and watched over,” if you will, accepts the guidance of its superior. The wise learn from instruction; the senseless learn only from pain, if at all.
In verse ten, “Many are the torments of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.” One can resist admission, continue denial, and live in pain unrelieved. “But steadfast love surrounds those who trust in the LORD.” One can experienced Yahweh’s restored love.
In verse eleven, “Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart.” This verse returns the Psalm to its thanksgiving motif. It is a typical ending for a thanksgiving Psalm. However, it blends in the term “just,” which is a typical Wisdom word for those who accept the discipline of the Lord and walk his way as well as in his ways.
Everyone knows that confession is good for the soul. However, confession is much more than the recitation of sins. The Psalm captures the various elements or stages of an experience, a process really, the likes of which is unparalleled in any human life. It is the entire experience of being forgiven by God, others and self. The Psalmist here gets to the heart of the matter, which is not so much sins a person has committed, but the state of sin that blocks a person from even recognizing those sins within him or herself. In other words, the denial of sin. Denial is different from lying. When a person lies, he or she knows that he or she is misrepresenting reality at the time of the lie. When a person denies, that person actually believes his or her own “BS.” For instance, an alcoholic, if given a lie detector test and asked whether he or she drinks too much or thinks he or she drinks too much, could answer such a question in the negative and not necessarily have the lie show up on the test results. Denial is that strong! It is only when the alcoholic has “hit bottom” or suffered so much that the wall of denial can come crumbling down and the addict can finally admit powerlessness over the substance. For the alcoholic and for everybody else, the breakthrough of the wall of denial is the beginning of the conversion or repentance process, the road to recovery or salvation. Psalm 32 is a wonderful example, as well as a wonderful prayer, of this process of recovery, long before the Twelve Steps of AA and all the other addiction recovery programs, were written and practiced as such. The key elements of the Twelve Steps are present here in this psalm.
Once we stop using up our energy to deny what is frequently obvious to others and certainly to God, once we breakdown and admit we are powerless over our feelings and behavior and that our feelings are ruling our lives and making them unmanageable, we are taking the first step to recovery. What causes or enables a person to take that step? The Psalmist answers that it is the “heavy hand” of God. It is grace, grace experienced as divine pressure goading the human conscience to take a risky leap out of the mud and mire. All the self-inflicted misery an addict inflicts upon him or herself can now be seen as a form of God’s love, God using that pain to bring a person to his or her senses as in Luke 15: 11-32. Only after the breakdown of denial can a person see his or her life for the mess it really is. Only then can a person call out for help beyond him or herself. Only then does God respond with a wall of help far more powerful than the wall of floodwaters that used to overwhelm the sinner and not merely drown him or her but carry him or her off and deposit him or her even farther away from home than previously. Formerly powerless and helpless, the sinner, after admitting being powerless over sin, is granted forgiveness. Now, united again with the all-powerful God, the forgiven sinner has the resources to fight back and to win. Forgiveness, however, does not make one “sinless.” There remain the consequences of sin and the need to make amends where possible. There remains the propensity to sin again, to backslide, to take back one’s dependence on God when the floodwaters recede and the painful consequences of one’s sins abate. Thus there is constant need for vigilance, for remembering how it was before and how much better it is now. AA meetings and the others which imitate them are constantly having recovering addicts and there are no recover-ed addicts just as there are no sinless sinners, only forgiven and unforgiven ones, give witness by telling their story of how it was and how it now is. They not only give testimony within the meeting for the benefit of themselves and the others there to recover or maintain recovery, they also carry the message to addicts still in denial. They do so not by preaching morality to these folks, but by telling their own story of recovery conversion, repentance and salvation. And most of all, they show its truth by how happy they are, by their obvious and unembarrassed joy.
However, this Psalm is not just for the obviously recovering addicts. It is for everyone. We all suffer from some form of addiction that makes us deny how we really are before God. This is more the condition of sin singular than it is a accumulations of sins plural. Denying, scapegoating, minimizing, rationalizing, etc. are all demonic strategies we frequently use to deceive even ourselves. Until we take the first step the rest of the process of recovery, repentance, forgiveness, salvation cannot even begin, let alone take hold. Praying this Psalm a lot would be a great stimulus to do so and do again and again.
Happiness is not a goal to seek or achieve, but a result of a right relationship with God.
Denial of sin, alienation from God, whether inherited sin, a condition, or actual, over time results in alienation even from one’s own body, not to mention one’s fellow human beings.
While God is free to forgive with or without any conditions or pre-conditions, such as a sincere apology, humans do not benefit from that forgiveness unless they know it has been given.
Confession of sin, admission of guilt, and a sincere decision to make amends and not repeat, allow the person to experience forgiveness.
The power to do this comes from outside the alienated person, from God, experienced as “pangs of conscience,” whose pressure, gentle at times, strong at other times, along with the person’s weakened condition caused by sin’s consequences, breaks down the wall of denial.
The freedom of “happiness,” resulting from sincere apology and assurance of its acceptance, energizes the person to spread the good news by telling his or her story to others in the hopes of being a catalyst for them to repent as well.
The condition of guilt is replaced by a condition of pervading joy.
Psychosomatic illness: Humans have long recognized that emotional disorder shows up in bodily disorders. Modern medical science can point to immediate causes for sickness, be they physical or chemical. So, guilt does not actually cause illness or disability, but it does set the person up for them. It creates the climate for illness or disabilities to flourish and grow. That’s because the person is a unit. What adversely or positively affects one aspect of person’s being, has consequences for the other aspects. Eventually, because the body is a closed system, the effects of emotional or spiritual disease permeate even the body. Thus, confession is not only good for the soul, it is good for the body as well. Even medical science is recognizing this, as it has discovered that a large percentage of people in hospitals are suffering from psychosomatic disorders. Confession is good medicine.
The process of confession: While the act of confessing can be pinpointed, it is also pivotal. That means there is a before and an after. Before the act of confessing one must admit both guilt and powerlessness over not so much the actual sins but the condition that fosters them, the condition of SIN, an all-pervasive alienation. Actually, in that condition sins are rather consistent behavior, the results of being unplugged to God, the source of goodness. Yet, confession, a sincere repentence, besides admitting this general alienation, must also be specific. General or blanket apologies are cop-outs, really not sincere. Step Five of the Twelve Step Program recognizes the need to confess before another person, only one, and to be specific. The specifics come from taking a moral inventory of one’s life, what Lutherans call “an examination of conscience” or a “life’s review” and reciting that in the presence of God and one other trustworthy human being. Otherwise, the repentance will not work or stick. The after consists in maintaining the conversion or recovery by a daily program of repeating the steps which led up to the change of life. Besides asking God to remove all defects of character, something only God can do the repentant person makes amends for past wrongdoing wherever possible and spreads the word, the good news that recovery is not only possible but actual, in all his or her dealings with others, especially those ripe for recovery, like those who have hit rock bottom or are open to the message because they are suffering so much.
Prayers as teaching: As a Psalm of thanksgiving the Psalmist was addressing his thoughts to God. As a wisdom poem the Psalmist was teaching others what he had learned in the hope that they would learn it too or , at least, identify with his experience. Prayers, in so far as they express the beliefs of the Church, are excellent teachers for those struggling with faith, both the “converted” and the unconverted. When asked questions by non-believers, it is good to give them our prayers before we give them our catechisms, prayers like the Psalms and New Testament prayers and hymns. They will teach them a lot more than we can. Amen.
