Lent 4 09
March 22, 2009
 
SEEING THE TRUTH

 
So last week we experienced the  trauma of the picture directory.  We sat down, some of us smiled, flashes went off, and then
we were taken to view the images.

Personally, that was the painful moment.  I was horrified.  The question in my mind was:
 
            Is that what I really look like?
 
 The amazing thing was to hear person after person emerge from their session saying exactly the same thing.

We do not want  to look at our selves.
 
Last Sunday, I ran us through the ten commandments.  The purpose was t wofold: 
                to recognize God’s will
                to recognize where we are not living as God wants
 
I think it was an uncomfortable Sunday.  There were a lot of people squirming.
 
We don’t  want to look  at the things we do that are sin.
We don’t want to look at the parts of ourselves that are sinful.
 
We don’t want to look at those pictures.  When part of our self is reflected back, we feel revulsion, or shame.
 
 
On Wednesday night, I spoke of David – the shepherd boy who became the great king of Israel.  Lived centuries before Jesus, yet Jesus was called Son of David.  David, however, was far from perfect.  ‘A lowlight’ in his life came when he looked upon the beautiful woman Bathsheba.  She was the wife of Uriah.  In the moment when David saw her, it didn’t matter at all that she was married – he wanted her, he took her.  The adultery was grievous sin enough – but it only got worse when David tried to cover it up.  David brought Uriah home from war, so that he could be with his wife and all would conclude the child Bathsheba would give birth to in eight months was his.  But Uriah was a righteous man – he would not even sleep in his home with her, because he felt it unfair to his brothers still at the battle.  With the potential cover gone, when Uriah returned to battle he carried secret orders from the king – orders that Uriah be placed on the front lines during an attack – and be abandoned on the battle field.  This plan succeeded – Uriah was killed.
 
King David had now successfully broken just about all the commandments in the big ten – coveting, stealing, adultery, murder, false witness....  and at the core of it all, he broke the first commandment – that he should have no other gods.  In breaking all the commandments (and believing him justified in doing so – because he was the king)  he placed himself in that top spot – in his mind, he made himself god.
 
It was a grievous sin.  It could never be made right.
 
But God directed the priest Nathan to confront David – telling him a story of a person who had stolen something precious to another.  David was quick to condemn the man, until Nathan said – “You are the man.”
 
In that moment, he saw the picture of himself.  He saw himself –
It had to be one of the most painful, most devastating moments of his life.  It was also the moment when the possibility of forgiveness became real.
 
In the first lesson from Exodus, God made these people who had been complaining and now feared for their lives look at the thing which caused death.
 
They had to face the consequences of their actions.
 
 
We want life ‘touched up’ – the old freshened up a bit – the sharp edges taken away, the misplaced curl of hair cleaned up.
 
God isn’t one for touching up.  God makes new.  Making new only happens through facing truth  -- even when it is painful.
 
There are many  things that look painful but in fact are instruments of healing:
            syringe for a shot
            surgery
            chemo
            washing a wound...
 
But healing comes through these painful, even frightening means.
 
So too, God brings healing when we face the truth of ourselves.
 
But it is not the honesty alone.  Like the people of Israel who needed to look at the image of the snake – we need to look at Jesus.
 
In him we see the consequences of our sin – death.
We also see the possibility of new life – for he, this man, this person of God, also defeated death.  And he loves – he puts flesh on God’s love for us.
 
Looking at Jesus we see ourselves separated from God.
Looking at Jesus, we see God coming near to bring us back to him – to give us life.
 
 
 
God brings healing through such honest accounting.
 
God brings healing through facing that which we most deeply fear.
 
We want life ‘touched up’ – the old freshened a bit – painlessly made right.
 
In Jesus, God brings life from death. 
 
I do not believe there is anything else that can give us hope.
 
But knowing that God brings life from death – and experiencing this truth in our lives –the possibility of being people of hope becomes real.
 
If the truth of our selves can’t get between ourselves and God – if, in Jesus, that truth becomes the doorway to God, then we really can be people of hope.
 
amen
 
To be “our way” of life (Eph 2:10)
Peterson quote