Consequences
When I was a teenager a popular game was Consequences. Everyone had a sheet of paper and wrote a sentence on it to start a story off. This was the folded over and passed on to the next person, who wrote what happened next, and so on, until the paper was unfolded – and with it the story. Of course it was often hilarious because each person had continued their story and so everything was mixed up, but it served to relay a series of events and what could happen – often unexpected.
Consequences is a theme running through this weeks readings.
David gets totally caught up in the consequences of his actions. He had rather taken a fancy to Bathsheba, whom he had seen taking a bath. He had her brought to him, and despite the fact that she was someone else’s wife, had made love to her (2 Samuel 11:4). She discovered she was pregnant, and having failed to get her husband to take some time at home with her so the child would appear to be his – no questions asked – David had arranged for him husband to be killed.
“The Lord was angry at what David had done”
Not surprising! We can all see that what he did was wrong. So God sends along Nathan the prophet with a tale of a man who has little and a man who has everything, who still wants to take the little the other man has. Nathan points out, just in case the penny hasn’t dropped, that man is David – and there will be consequences for his actions, David will suffer as he had made others suffer.
David confesses that he has sinned against the Lord. He receives God’s forgiveness, but there will still be a price to be paid. He might be forgiven, but the repercussions will rumble on.
In Galatians, Paul pick up the theme. It had been assumed that Jews were good by obeying the law. But Paul points out that he now knows that is not true. Obeying the law in itself is not enough – because actually no one does that fully. But all is not lost, because we can be right with God by faith in Jesus. Yes what we have got wrong has its consequences, but they were nailed on the cross with Jesus. The old way of trying to please God has died, and we are alive by faith in Jesus who died and gave his love to each one of us. None of us need by held back any longer by anything we have got wrong, because Jesus has taken it and nailed it. We are free to live for God – the consequences we live with are not those of our actions, but of Jesus.
Jesus himself reiterated this in his meeting with the woman at Simon’s house. This woman was a sinner, didn’t Jesus realise this? Why was he letting her do this? Jesus points out to Simon that the woman, the supposed sinner, had poured out such love and generosity on him; whilst Simon, the upright member of the community, had offered him little. The woman realised how much Jesus had given her in offering her his forgiveness and restoration. She knew the consequences of her life, and that Jesus had lifted her from that – and she was grateful. Simon was not so aware. She was saved and received God’s peace – the same is not said of Simon. Perhaps he thought he’d done nothing wrong. Because he didn’t think he needed anything, he didn’t receive anything. Both will have lived with the consequences.
There are outcomes from our actions in life. But we can turn to Jesus and seek his forgiveness and peace for those things we have got wrong. We do not need to live with guilt and fear. Jesus died to take those things from us if we will hand them over. The consequence of that is a life of peace, love and gratitude. Which will you choose?
Pam's Perambulation 