March 19, 2007
Mistakes
This Lent brings around the parable of the prodigal son and that fabulous, paradigmatic confession: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son” (Lk 15.21).
Such forthrightness is rather startling these days, considering the current popular substitute, “Mistakes were made.” It’s about as close to a personal admission of error as anybody ever gets. Nobody ever seems to remember or even want to remember the old adage that forgiveness is always easier to get than permission. They just assume permission while dancing the empirical two-step.
Lent’s a good time to review the bidding on confession, to come out from behind the liturgical “we” and get sorry in the first person singular. Actually, sorry doesn’t mean sorrowful anyway. It means sore, and that might be a good place to start.
Whether or not the prodigal was a prodigy, we’ll never know, but it’s evident in the text that he was gifted enough to figure out on his own the mess he’d made 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, our God — or all three. There’s little love around when we’re so afraid. There’s practically no awareness of the grace that could buffer us against any onslaught, especially the onslaught of our own foolish dishonesty and denial — “mistakes were made.”
There’s finally only one unforgivable sin, and that’s the one that comes from the pride that thinks we’re so downright bad that even God is not even interested in hearing about us, let alone forgiving us. That’s the sin that blasphemously slams the door on 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 arrogantly 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 incompetence in high places and low places in all branches of government and all orders of ministry and everywhere else. The biggest mistake of all is not opening that door and ‘fessing up.
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