The cry of a sinner; "Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness."

The cry of a sinner;”Have mercy on me, God, in your goodness!

Words from David as he relents of the evil he had done.  They also are the expression of the tax collector as he and a Pharisee were both in the temple.  He stayed at a distance from the front and beat his breast praying: “O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”  (Lk 18: 13). 

Both he and King David failed before the eyes of God, in the same manner that all of us reach a low-point in our growth to accept God in our deepest falling away from grace.  Was it an evil impulse that caught David looking at Bathsheba while she was naked?  When the tax collector became tempted while pocketing more taxes than were required, was it something new in his position?  Each time we as individuals slip into sin, because of sin itself, are we finding new ways to insult God by forgetting who he is and what his sending Jesus for the very reasons that found David, the tax collector, and each of us any time sin gets the best of us?

Who else has discovered how quickly human beings can fall, even when we know we should stop and consider the consequences of our acts?  

“Then one of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?”  They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.  (M 26: 14 - 16).

“But after I have been raised up, I shall go before you to Galilee.”  Peter said to him in reply , “Though all may have their faith in you shaken, mine will never be.”  Jesus said to him, “Amen, I say to you, this very night before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.”  (M 26: 32 - 34).  

“Now Simon Peter was standing there keeping warm.  And they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples, are you?”  He denied it and said, “I am not.”  One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the one whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you in the garden with him.   Again Peter denied it.  And immediately the cock crowed.  (Jn 18: 25 - 27).  (2nd and 3rd denials).  Peter went off and cried bitterly.

There are times that all of us fall and then may be reluctant to ask for forgiveness, thinking how could I ask his mercy right after committing a sin?  What other choice does one have except to beat your breast and ask God to forgive you?

Yes, we know we are sinning but know that the Passion of Christ on that tree at Calvary is the only possible recourse we have whether our sin is months old, or five minutes ago.  It may appear as a temptation towards God, but when he died on the Cross it was done for King David, the tax collector, Peter’s denials, and the very sin you and I just committed. 

“In your abundant compassion blot out my offense.  Wash away all my guilt; from my sin cleanse me.  For I know my offense; my sin is always before me.  Against you alone have I sinned; I have done such evil in your sight that you are just in your sentence, blameless when you condemn.  True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me.  Still, you insist on sincerity of heart; in my inmost being teach me wisdom.  Cleanse me with hyssop, that I may be pure; wash me, make me whiter than snow.  Let me hear sounds of joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.”  “Turn away your face from my sins; blot out all my guilt.  A clean heart create for me, God; renew in me a steadfast spirit.”  (Ps 51: 3b - 12).

Isn’t it strange that if we view others who sin and question their position of seeking mercy, our own temptation is to ignore what we must do to seek the same forgiveness?  Again, the Incarnation is the first step that leads all of us to Calvary and finds that the world’s sinfulness was placed within Jesus and destroyed by his Blood he willingly shed; for that sin months old and the one 5 minutes ago.  

Ralph B. Hathaway