Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 462

Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD
LORD, hear my voice!
Let your ears be attentive
to my voice in supplication.
If you, O LORD, mark iniquities,
LORD, who can stand?
But with you is forgiveness,
that you may be revered.

Psalm 130, known by its Latin opening De Profundis, is one of the most beautiful penitential psalms. King David wrote many psalms and is traditionally given credit for all of them. If he did not write this one it certainly expresses his profound insight.

So far as I know, David was the first Hebrew to acknowledge his own personal guilt. That is no small accomplishment! As the king of an ancient nation he naturally assumed the identity of the whole people. Like dictators of the twentieth century, he enjoyed all the freedom, power and wealth that a democracy wants to share among the people. He was, in the ancient customs, the nation. His son Solomon would surpass his father, enjoying even the nation’s reputation for wisdom -- despite his mismanagement of personal and national affairs.  

As the king David could be blamed for all the sins of the nation and of the city Jerusalem. Since the days of Elijah, Elisha and Amos prophets had excoriated the people for their sins but they had no king until the Shepherd Warrior united the people under his authority.

When the Prophet Nathan exposed David’s dalliance with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah, David confessed his personal sin. These were not crimes of the entire nation; they were his own. Because he was the king no one could punish him. Loved by his loyal soldiers, his throne was secure. But God was not pleased and David trembled with fear.

He wrote Psalm 51 as an expression of remorse and anguished regret. Recalling Saul’s madness when the prophet Samuel rejected him, David begged, “Do not drive me from before your face, nor take from me your holy spirit.”

Three thousand years later we still struggle with the concepts of sin. Is it personal or collective? Though our courts sometimes reward victims who have been unfairly treated, (e.g. the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and the Japanese American internment) the United States has no ritual way of acknowledging sin. We celebrate Thanksgiving but no Day of Atonement.

Nor is there agreement about personal sins. The media never describe adultery, abortion or drug abuse as sinful behavior. Suicide is regarded as unfortunate but not wicked. Many people say they believe in God but deny any sense of sin or guilt before God.

From ancient times the Jewish, Christian and Muslim religions agree one’s relationship with a personal God is always tainted by sin:

If we say, “We are without sin,” we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us…. If we say, “We have not sinned,” we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Why is this important?

The "problem of evil." It doesn't go away just because you or I deny our part in it. Some would say since there is evil there is no God. An all powerful, all good God should not tolerate the existence of evil. That gives them an excuse for their atheism but it doesn't answer the more important questions of guilt and responsibility. 

King David, confronted with his own immoral, unethical and un-soldierly behavior, was honest enough to admit he had sinned. He did not blame Bathsheba, Uriah or God. He didn't deny Nathan's accusations. He swallowed hard and said, "I have sinned against the Lord." 

That is the only answer we have for the problem of evil. 

Although he was without sin Jesus took upon himself our guilt and became our penitential priest. He leads us through the dark valleys of guilt, remorse and shame to a peace the world cannot give and a joy beyond all bounds.  

If we acknowledge our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from every wrongdoing.