One of the things we people have a hard time learning is that actions and decisions always have consequences. If I pull a thread on my sweater, it's going to unravel. If I leave an egg on the counter, I am going to have to clean up the mess it makes when it rolls off onto the floor and breaks. There is no getting away from it. Everything we do, or don't do, makes something else happen, or NOT happen.
We all learned that long ago when we were children, when Mom said, "If you don't clean your room, you can't go to the movies." We know it. But we don't want it to be true, and so we pretend not to know it, until things get to the point where we HAVE to face facts and say, "Yes, this happened, because I did that other thing." Or, sometimes, "I wanted this to happen, but I DIDN'T do this other thing, so what I wanted didn't happen."
That's the situation that the people of Israel were in, at the time of the prophet Jeremiah. They had not obeyed God's laws, and so God was not protecting them. The enemy army was about to invade Jerusalem, and all the things that go with the fear of war were happening...people buying and hoarding food, running away to get out of the city and go to a safe place, ignoring other people who needed help because they were only interested in saving their own skins.
And you heard what the people were saying to God: God, don't you love us any more? Yes, yes, we know we have sinned and done wrong, but why aren't you taking care of us like you promised? We want peace, but the army is coming, and we know what will happen when they get here. God, we're sorry for all our sins, can't you forgive us and take care of us again?
If this was the first time they had sinned, maybe we could understand why they were so surprised. But the Bible tells us that this same thing had happened over and over again. Maybe God was tired of hearing their excuses and their promises to do better next time. Maybe he felt that they needed to see what happens when people do not obey God. And so he said, These people! they love to turn away from me, and they will not take responsibility for their own actions. I have to punish them, because they need to learn what happens when they sin.
Well, we know what happened. The enemy army did come, and they destroyed the city of Jerusalem, and captured the king, and took many of the people to a far country to be slaves there. But the lesson did not seem to be well learned, because the people came home many years later, and did it all over again. and again. And again. Just like us.
Some four or five hundred years later, Jesus pointed out two men at the Temple, who were praying. One man was telling God all about what a good person HE was. He told God, I'm so glad that I'm not a sinner, or nasty, or bad, like those other people over there. I go without food three days a week and I give one tenth of my income to the temple. See what a good guy I am! But if I have done any little sins....I couldn't possibly do any big sins, you know...you'll forgive me, won't you?
The people who prayed to God to save them and their city sounded like that, too: Oh, yes, God, we know that we have sinned and done wrong, but you'll forgive us and take good care of us again, won't you?
The second man that Jesus saw at the Temple was so ashamed of his sins that he would not even look up to heaven. He just stood there and looked down at the floor and said, Lord God, I know I am a sinner. Please forgive me.
The second man, Jesus said, would be forgiven his sins. He was honest with God. He knew he had done wrong and he was really sorry. He loved God and wanted to make things right with God again.
The first man didn't really believe that he would be punished for his sins, and didn't really believe that his sins mattered anyway. So he tried to order God around and tell God to forgive him, and not pay attention to his sins...just like the people in Jerusalem so long ago.
St. Paul wrote to his friend Timothy. Paul was in jail and he knew that soon he would be put to death. And so he wrote to Timothy and said: It is time for me to leave this life. I have worked hard for God and I have tried hard to keep the faith, the promises I made to obey God. But God has been with me all along and gave me strength to work for him, and so I know he will continue to take care of me. I am going to him now....
Do YOU know that your actions will have consequences? Do YOU really understand how much your sins hurt God and yourself and others? Do YOU believe that you are a sinner and really need to be forgiven? Are YOU really sorry for your sins? And do YOU really try hard to keep the faith that God gave you as a great gift? Are you honest with God and with yourself? Amen.
The Rev. Virginia W. Nagel
Ephphatha Parish of the Deaf
Episcopal Diocese of Central NY
