March 19, 2004
Mistakes were made
And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Lk 15.21).
“Mistakes were made.”
In the great political panorama of our times, that’s about as close to a personal admission of error as anybody ever gets. And yet, and usually after the fact, it seems always to be said that if only they’d owned up to it, they’d probably have been forgiven on the spot and even restored to whatever it was they’d screwed up in the first place. “Forgiveness is always easier to get than permission.”
Lent’s a good time to review the bidding on confession, to come out from behind the Liturgy’s “we did it and we’re sorry” first person plural, and to face up to the singular. Sorry doesn’t mean sorrowful anyway. It means sore, and that might be a good place to start.
Whether or not the prodigal son was a prodigy, we’ll never know, but it’s evident in the text that he squandered everything he had and had been given and yet was gifted enough to figure it out on his own and not only to do something about it, but to do the right thing about it. He was sorry, all right, about as sorry as a guy can get.
The big savaging emotions of anxiety and anger, guilt and resentment, the kind — real or imagined — that usually hang around what we call sin, are all forms of fear — fear of the future, fear of the present, and fear of the past. And it’s so often fear that stands between us and whoever it is we’ve sinned against, ourselves, our neighbors, or God — or all three. There’s little love around when we’re afraid and practically no awareness of the grace that could buffer us against any onslaught, especially the onslaught of our own foolish dishonesty and denial.
There’s finally only one unforgivable sin, the sin that comes from the pride that thinks we’re so bad that even God is not interested in hearing about it, let alone forgiving it. That’s the sin against — that closes the door against — the Holy Spirit. It was a colossal piece of stupid theology that ever said that cursing is that sin. Rather was it — is it — the sin that disenfranchises God, that robs God of his very way and willingness to forgive — Whole-making Spirit — to restore, to reconcile, to heal, to mend, to welcome us with the open arms and fatted calves that always sets the self-righteous on their ear.
Mistakes were and are made all right. There’s lying and greed and stupidity and just plain bumbling in high places and low places in all branches of government and all orders of ministry and everywhere else. But mistakes can be made all right by the grace and reconciliation of God. Just open the door and admit them.