The cover-up

When my nephew was a toddler his parents banned him from entering the kitchen. Besides that restriction he had free reign of the rest of the downstairs. However, whenever his dad was in the kitchen, my nephew would leave his toys, bypass the cloakroom, dining room and understair cupboard - none of which had a law against going into them - and hang out in the doorway of the forbidden kitchen. He would stand as close to the line as possible, his toes touching it, looking inside longingly yet wouldn’t step over as he knew what the law was.

But one day he had an idea. His dad was in the kitchen so, as usual, my nephew waited obediently at the door. But on this particular day he had picked up a ball. I watched him casually and deliberately roll his ball into the kitchen. Then looking his dad straight in the eye he boldly marched across the line into the forbidden room to retrieve it.

We all knew that he had done this on purpose so that he could have a perfect excuse for breaking his parent’s “no kitchen” law: ‘It was the ball’s fault!’

The incident was funny and cute but it also showed me something about temptation. As humans, even as toddlers, when we are given a law to obey, the temptation to break it is never too far behind. We see in our Old Testament and Gospel readings this morning that being tempted is part of being human and was experienced by Adam, Eve and Jesus.

Adam and Eve provide an example of how to give in to temptation. Eve wasn’t clear on exactly what God had said. She made the law seem worse than it was. She magnified the restriction of the law and minimised the dangers of breaking it. Adam, who – the Bible tells us – was with her while she spoke to the serpent, had been given the law directly but didn’t speak up to tell Eve the truth or correct the serpent’s lies. Perhaps they had both already been considering this forbidden tree – just like my nephew spent a lot of time gazing into the forbidden kitchen.

Adam and Eve didn’t take much convincing, almost as though they were looking for an excuse to give in and cross the line. The serpent gave them an excuse to doubt the truth of God’s word, doubt God’s good intentions towards them, and to take a short-cut to becoming wise rather than developing that wisdom through their relationship with the All-wise God.

Now let’s see the way Jesus handled temptation. Jesus wins the battle by knowing God’s character; knowing God’s word and believing it to be true. Because he trusted that God’s plan for him was the right one he was able to reject any offered shortcut to receive the same end results without going through the pain of the cross.

Ideally, as followers of Christ, we always want to follow what Jesus did and successfully resist temptation. But just as the devil left Jesus until another time of weakness, the same happens to us. Each day there are new temptations to resist, new moments of weakness. And sometimes, like Adam and Eve and like Kofi, when we face temptation we throw our ball over the line, make our pre-excuses and self-justifications and step across.

So what do we do when we give in to temptation? Do we cover up? Adam and Eve did. They sewed together fig leaves to cover up their feelings of guilt. They tried to hide from God and, when confronted about what they had done, Adam blamed God for giving him Eve, then blamed Eve for giving him the fruit. Eve blamed the serpent’s trickery. They both tried to cover-up their own responsibility for breaking God’s law.

Creating a cover up is also what King David, the writer of today’s Psalm, did. When he slept with Bathsheba, a married woman, while her husband Uriah was at war, she became pregnant. David took increasingly desperate measures to cover up his actions. First he called Bathsheba’s husband home from war hoping he would sleep with his wife. When this didn’t work, he crossed yet another line; this time breaking God’s law against murder. David arranged for Uriah to be killed in battle. He thought the cover-up had worked and the truth of his sin was dead and buried with Uriah. But God confronted him through the Prophet Nathan and the secret was out. David’s cover was blown.

That’s the trouble with the cover-up. Like an outfit made of fig leaves, there are always gaps. So we cover up those gaps with fig leaves of lies, excuses, ‘good works’ or self-righteousness.

But there is another alternative: a better way to handle those occasions when we give in to temptation and go against God’s way. Instead of hiding our transgression of the law with our cover-ups we can opt for confession and God’s covering.

David’s Psalm begins: ‘Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.’ The covering for our sin is God’s forgiveness, grace and righteousness received through Jesus Christ. God’s covering for sin is not like our cover-up attempts. While the ‘cover-up’ tries to hide and disguise the sin, receiving Jesus, ‘the covering’ means we have to acknowledge the sin and not hide the truth. The ‘cover-up’ blames God and others. When we choose the ‘covering’, we confess to God and admit our wrong doing. We receive forgiveness and – clothed and covered by Christ – we stand in God’s grace.

God’s covering for confessed sins is available to everyone. But we are not to take it lightly and then go straight back to doing the same wrong actions. Confession without repentance – genuine remorse and desire to turn away from our wrongdoing – is not true confession. God’s ‘covering’ is not cheap. God’s grace came at a cost. He so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

Our sins have consequences both to ourselves and to others. David was genuinely repentant over what he had done. He confessed and received forgiveness but his sinful actions led to great personal loss in his life and damaged relationships within his family. The same was true for Adam and Eve. They lost their close relationship with God and their home in the garden of Eden. Thankfully God didn’t give up on them and doesn’t give up on us.

Lent is a gift. It is our time for fasting, self-examination, and prayer. So, let’s pray that God will lead us away from temptation, but let’s also examine ourselves and be honest about those occasions when we ignore his guidance – like the untamed horses in David’s Psalm that refuse to be led.

Let us acknowledge our sins and remember to go immediately in confession to Jesus, our covering.

Because of Jesus, who covers our sins, we can join the Psalmist in singing: ‘Happy are those whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Happy are those to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. While I kept silence, my body wasted away… Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin.’