Sin's Callback Joke

Two guys were having a brick throwing contest, to see who could throw the brick highest in the air. The first one threw it pretty far. When it came back down, it cracked the pavement. The second guy said, "That was pretty impressive. But not as impressive as MY throw's gonna be." And he chucked it. And they waited....and waited.
But the brick never came down.

If you don't know the story of David and Bathsheba you can read it here.  The super quick version is that King David has sex with Uriah's wife Bathsheba and gets her pregnant. In order to hide his sin he has Uriah killed and marries Bathsheba.  A prophet by the name of Nathan tells David about a rich man with a lot of sheep who steals his poor neighbor's sheep to feed to a visitor.  Enraged, King David sentences the man to death! And the poor man is to be given four sheep to replace the one that was taken from him.  Nathan then utters the condemnation to David, "You are that man."

The King repents and God does not exact his own pronouncement of death...But God does promise that the fourfold reimbursement will occur.  That is the awful truth of sin.  It has terrible and far reaching consequences.

First there are the immediate results of sin.  For David it was the death of his first child with Bathsheba.  While we may not see such tragic a result, a parent can hurt a child and cause them sorrow. A husband or wife can cause anger, resentment or depression in their spouse.  Even hidden sins have a direct and immediate effect on our souls.

Then there are the callbacks.  In comedy, a callback is a reference a comedian makes to an earlier joke in a set. Callbacks are usually made in a different context and remind the audience of an earlier joke, creating multiple layers and building more than one laugh from a single joke. When used at the end of a set, callbacks can bring a comic's routine full circle and give closure to the set. Sin’s callbacks are not for comedy, but tragedy. David’s penchant for disregarding God’s laws for marriage show up again when his son, Amnon, rapes his half-sister, Tamar.  Tamar’s full brother Absalom ends up killing Amnon.  Absalom and David have a five year break in their relationship.  Absalom ends up trying to overthrow David’s thrown and has sex with David’s ten concubines on the same roof where David first spied Bathsheba.  Classic Devil comedy.  Absalom’s head gets stuck in a tree during a battle with David’s army and is stabbed in the heart with three javelins.  

Again, our children will probably never try to usurp our authority, but if we do not resolve sin and teach our children a better path we can lose them to the world.  If we sin again our children and do not seek their forgiveness, we can create breaches in the relationship that never gets mended.

Finally, there are the unseen results of our sins.  After David died, his son Solomon has his half brother Adonijah murdered for wanting to marry a girl they both liked. (Okay there was more to it than that.) 
There are some results of sin, that while we may not see them, are very, very real.  We have an entire generation of children growing up without fathers.  I applaud the women who are trying to provide, care and raise these kids.  But I have to ask, “Where are the men?” What kid of hurt will these kids have to endure knowing their fathers abandoned them.  These worthless men may never see the pain and struggle their sin caused, but they are to blame.  

If we mistreat or sin against our children, they may take that same sin and pain and inflict it on THEIR kids.
Thank the Lord that sin does not run rampant.  Thank the Lord that through the blood shed by Jesus we can find redemption.  But let us never take that grace for granted. As Romans 6 begins, “1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 3 Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him? 4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.”  

Let us never forget the serious and long reaching effect of sin.  And let us never forget the healing and restorative power of Jesus Christ.

A man and a woman were on a plane. The man lights up a cigar (this is back in the days when one could smoke on a plane) and the woman has a cat with her. Before the plane takes off, the woman asks the man to put out the cigar because the smoke is making her cough. He asks her to move the cat, since he's allergic to cats. They start yelling at each other, and finally the man reaches over, opens the emergency exit, and throws the cat out the door. The woman throws the cigar out the door.

The stewards and stewardesses manage to separate them and close the door, and the plane takes off without any more problems. Midway through the flight, one of the stewardesses looks out the window and is surprised to see the cat sitting on the wing!

And do you know what the cat has in its mouth? It's a brick!