Mar | 16 | Burning Flesh

Key Word:- MERCY

Title:- Burning Flesh

2 Corinthians 3:3 ‘clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.’
 
‘The Scarlet Letter’ is a story of adultery and betrayal in Colonial America and was written by Nathaniel Hawthorne and published today in 1855. In his book, the 'Scarlet Letter' is in fact a gold embroidered red patch of cloth, shaped into the letter ‘A,’ which the adulterous woman, Hester, is forced to wear on her clothing, whilst continuing to live within the Puritan community. The local Pastor, Rev Dimmesdale, is in fact her undisclosed lover ,who out of deep shame, privately burns the same shameful letter 'A' into the flesh of his own chest, thus agonizingly branding himself to so quietly join his own inward burning guilt, to Hester's very outward shame.

In examining the main themes of the book (that of Sin, Knowledge, and the Human condition) Sparks’ Notes presents the two adulterers, Hester (the married woman) and Dimmesdale (the local Pastor) as ‘two people forced by their own bad choices to 'contemplate their own sinfulness on a daily basis and try to reconcile it with their lived experiences', whilst the Puritan congregation and elders on the other hand, 'insist on seeing earthly experience as merely an obstacle on the path to heaven;' and in viewing 'sin, as a threat to the community that should be both punished and suppressed.'

In light of these observations, the book tells of the community's answer to Hester’s open sin as being that of ostracising her. However, the writer, through Hester and Dimmesdale’s most devastating of stories, shows very clearly that even the most horrible state of sinfulness can be so wonderfully redeemed, that it leads to personal growth, sympathy, and a deep understanding of others. “Paradoxically,” says Sparks, “these qualities are shown to be incompatible with a state of purity found in the stagnant colonial Puritan community.” Now that’s the shame of it!You see in Hawthorne’s story, eventually these two forgiven sinners, find redemption and life, whilst society and the embittered, evil and revengeful protagonists, find death! Sparks goes on to say that, “The book is a great study on the human condition and a ‘must read’.” It is indeed!
Having spent probably too many years in Theological institutions, I must tell you that one of the most frightening things I have seen, are young men who have neither loved much nor lived much, prepared primarily intellectually for the ministry and placed on the stretched string of a theological baccalaureate bow, only to be too soon let loose upon an already lost and hurting public. Do you not agree that there is something supremely scary about a minister that has neither wound nor scar? Now friends, I am not saying that we should allow sin to abound, just so that grace and growth would much more abound; no, but rather I am simply acknowledging the truth of our Lord, that those forgiven much, love much. Common sense and experience tell us that those with little experience of life, loving and loss, can rarely appreciate and minister to the wounds of others. I have observed that such Puritanical youth, are often tyrannical in their application of black and white religious legislation, and to such pure pastoral folk, even the very repentance of sin they see birthed in blood bought sinners, for them, still has a scorched and offensive smell about it! However, we see from the Scriptures that sinners of every kind, truly repentant and mercifully forgiven, carry with them no scorched chest and no burnt breast but rather, an alabaster flask of such fragrant oil, that when it is broken over the feet of their forgiving Master, its pungent smell is sniffed in the halls of heaven by awed and watching angels. There is no smell you see, either on the clothes or bodies of the blood washed forgiven.Let me ask you again today then, are you a known betrayer? Have you been found unfaithful to Jesus your Lord? Have you sold Him for far less than 30 pieces of silver? Friends, in our flesh, like the character Dimmesdale and the nation of Israel of old, we may all carry the scarlet letter of the adulterer, burnt deep and red over our heart. Yet I tell you the truth, that they who know their sin, and know their Saviour, also know His healing and His sealing, and carry with them an utterly unique fragrance of forgiveness that when broken over the feet of the Saviour, will not only be sniffed in heaven but be spoken of throughout the world, even until the end of the age! Whenever this same thorny spikenard is released in a journeying community, it too just might be lovingly broken over even your hurt and dirty little feet dear friend, to in turn comfort you, with heaven’s all forgiving love.

Listen: - I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; Ezekiel 6:9

Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.? Luke 7:44b-47

Pray: - Lord, I am so sorry for when I have sold you for less than 30 pieces of silver. I am so sorry for my two-timing selfishness. Lord, please allure me into Your quiet wilderness and speak comfort to me. Please will You give me vineyards from here, and make my path of destruction turn into a doorway of hope; make me sing again like the first time we met, like the first time You came and got me, redeemed me and washed me; make it like the first time again, please dear Lord Jesus. Amen. (from Hosea 2:14-17)