The Need of Confession

"Blessed is the man whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered." (Psalm 32:1)
The fact is, many of us are not willing to confront our own sins. It is easy to pinpoint the faults of the others. It is easy to see the speck in our brother's eys but forget the log in our own (Matthew 7:3-5) However, it is unacceptable to many that they have flaws. It is a matter of self-image, self-esteem. The more flaws a person has, the lower his self-image is, the harder he will repress this unacceptable thing. When people point our his flaws, it is only natural for him to deny and to defend. Worse still, it is a vicious spiral.

Mostly of the time, we are blind to our own mistakes like the self-righteous Pharisees. They did not think they were wrong in pointing out the mistakes of Jesus. Perhaps they were thinking of saving the soul of Jesus. Perhaps they wanted to protect the multitude from following a strayed Rabbi. Therefore, the leper in today's reading was blessed indeed (Mark 1:40-45). He knew his shortcomings, his flaws and his sins. He acknowledged his need of Christ's salvation. He took concrete steps to obtain his salvation. Woe to the Pharisees. Only a handful of them accepted Jesus such as Jairus, Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.  Most of the rest were diehard opponents of Jesus. When they denied their sins, they denied themselves of God's salvation.

We should also pay attention to the courage this leper had. It was against the law for him to approach, to get close to healthy clean people because he was physically and ritually unclean. He had been ostracized by the law which tried to protect the majority of healthy people. The intention of the law is not bad at all. Lepers are harmful to the community. It is not wrong for the law to ostracize them. However, God is greater than the law. The needs of the sinners whom God loves, are greater than the law. Therefore, sometimes when the situation demands, we need to break the law in order to obtain our own salvation. Do we have the prudence to see the differences between upholding the law and breaching the law?

My situation is not the same. I know my flaws. I know God is always there to forgive me. But I still do not have the guts to confess my sins.
I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord", then thou didst forgive the guilt of my sin. (Psalm 32:5)
Lord, I confess that I have not be chaste. Forgive me. Amen.