Dear brothers and sisters, when we have unforgiveness, it will show on our face, and on our tongue. Sir 27:28 Mockery and abuse issue from the proud man, but vengeance lies in wait for him like a lion. Those who are full of pride, will mock and abuse others. They will not see the good in others. They will speak negative things about others, gossip. Mockery and abuse are symptoms of pride and vengeance lies in wait for such people. It isn’t God who will take vengeance. But when we mock or abuse, we character assassinate others and hence have blood on our hands. Is 1:15 When you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. There are times we may say we are doing rosaries, stations of the Cross, giving alms and fasting but God isn’t answering our prayers, because as in the previous verse we have blood on our hands. 

What is this blood? 

Acts 18:6 And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be upon your heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.” The Bible says when some people started gossiping about St Paul, he approached them, dusted his clothes and said your blood on your own heads. This means that gossip is equal to taking the life of another. Therefore, the Bible says if we gossip against someone innocent, our hands will be full of blood and our prayers will not be heard. This is because we are destroying another person and bringing blood on our hands which is a block for our spiritual lives. 

At one point, the Jews were gossiping against Jesus. When he questioned them, the Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?” (John 8:48) Samaritans were hated by Jews and they knew that there was some ambiguity about Jesus’ father. The supernatural birth of Jesus was known at that time. But the Jews even called Jesus a demon because he was able to cast out demons. Their Rabbis couldn’t cast out the demons, so according to the Jews, Jesus was casting out demons with the agreement of Belzebbul. But Jesus said, “I have not a demon; but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me (John 8:49). Anyone who gossips, dishonours the innocent and brings blood on their hands and that will cry out in front of God. And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground (Gen 4:9). God will have to come to answer the cry just like he came to confront Cain. When we speak against someone, thinking no one knows, their blood will cry against us.

This is also what happened at Sodom and Gomorrah. Then the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomor′rah is great and their sin is very grave (Gen 18:20). The people of Sodom and Gomorrah were enjoying their lives, in lustful tendencies, but there was an outcry against them. No one prayed, repented or cried to the Lord. The people there were having a good time. It makes us wonder why God said there was an outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah. Who was crying against them? If you study the background of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his family lived there. But they too were enjoying themselves.  We must remember, dear brothers and sisters, when we commit a sin against our bodies, there is an outcry from our own bodies, because I am not my own, but I belong to God.  God’s spirit is in me. The spirit that is contaminated by sin, cries out to God. Therefore, there was an outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah from themselves. Therefore, the Bible says do not grieve the Holy Spirit. If we continue to Gen 18 verse 21, God continues, “I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry which has come to me; and if not, I will know.” 

 They may escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will (2 Tim 2:26) When we commit sin, we are in the captive of the devil and we need to escape from the snare. When King David committed adultery and murder, he knew his spirit would cry to God, so he repented and cried out to God, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me (Psalm 51:10-11). King David didn’t ask God not to take away the kingship, he didn’t care about it. As per the law of Moses, David should be killed. If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death (Lev 20:10).  But God forgave David since he asked for forgiveness. David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” And Nathan said to David, The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die (2 Sam 12:13).

Dear brothers and sisters, we need to be mindful of all the times we sin, we complain, hurt others through our words or actions, or keep unforgiveness, we get bloodstained. There will be an outcry against us when we commit sins in our bodies. God will come down to bring justice. David’s sins were forgiven but he still had to pay the debt and had to bear the consequences. Hence, Nathan said, “Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child that is born to you shall die (2 Sam 12:14).” If you put a nail through a table, when you remove the nail, there will still be a scar/hole in the table. Every sin therefore has a debt/consequence to pay. So, Jesus Christ had to come down and die on Calvary. Jesus not only forgave all our sins but paid the price of it by bearing the consequence of sin in his body. 

In the case of David, who lived before Jesus, you can see the consequence he went through. When David committed sin, Nathan said to him, “Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me, and have taken the wife of Uri′ah the Hittite to be your wife (2 Sam 12:10).”  If you read through the Bible, the sword never departed from the house of David. His son killed another son, one of his sons chased him out of kingship, his son raped his own daughter, his son committed adultery, a son took David’s wife as his own. There was one tragedy after another. Every sin has a consequence. The consequences of sin are increasing just like sin is increasing. Truly no man can ransom himself, or give to God the price of his life (Ps 49:7). No human can pay the ransom for their lives. Even if a priest tries to pay ransom, who will pay the ransom for the priest? We all are already desecrated so none of us can pay the price for our lives. Hence, the sinless God came down and paid the price of our sins. He went through the consequences of our sins. Though David was so close to God, he had the most miserable last days. His kingship was considered the golden era of Israel, yet his last days were painful, he went through rejection, familial discord. If he had lived the life of a shepherd, he probably wouldn’t go through it all. But God gave him kingship, and David became proud and committed terrible sins of murder and adultery. 

If you look around the world, you can see the consequences of sin. No one can pay the price of sin, not even the most powerful leader. Only God can pay the ransom and the price. It is beyond human capacity and control, for the ransom of his life is costly, and can never suffice (Psalm 49:8). That was the reason God promised his own son. When Jesus came into the world, John the Baptist looked at him and said, Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the whole world. When Adam and Eve committed sin, they covered themselves with leaves thinking they could handle their sin. But God came and gave them the skin of sheep, he handled their sin.  This was a prophecy of what God was to do in the future. The lamb was to be slain on Mount Calvary and we are to put on the lamb, put on Jesus Christ and be clean. Jesus took the pain of the sins of humanity and all the consequences of sin and died on the Cross. Therefore, if Jesus sets us free, we are free indeed. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1). When we are united with Jesus, our sins will disappear and so will the consequences of sin. We and our families will be saved. The only way to save the world is for everyone in the world to be united to Christ. So, our obligation is to evangelise and tell the whole world to put on Jesus, to believe in Jesus. 

Let us pray that we are united to Jesus so that our sin and the consequence of sin is paid.

Transcribed by Roseline Fernandes