The Sweet Smile Of Savonarola

Psalm 51:13-19

13Then I will teach your ways to sinners,

and they will return to you.

14Forgive me for shedding blood, O God who saves;

then I will joyfully sing of your forgiveness.

15Unseal my lips, O Lord,

that I may praise you.

16You would not be pleased with sacrifices,

or I would bring them.

If I brought you a burnt offering,

you would not accept it.

17The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit.

A broken and repentant heart, O God,

you will not despise.

18Look with favor on Zion and help her;

rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

19Then you will be pleased with worthy sacrifices

and with our whole burnt offerings;

and bulls will again be sacrificed on your altar.

About the time that Columbus was poking around the New World, a monk named Savonarola was leading a revival in Florence, Italy. Speaking courageously against the corruption and greed of the city’s ruling families and church officials as well, Savonarola gained popular support. The reforms he was pushing for actually happened for a while, but then his enemies rallied their forces and took power again.

Savonarola was excommunicated from the church and convicted of treason and heresy. In prison he was cruelly tortured. His left arm was dislocated and broken, but his jailers left his right arm uninjured, so he could write a confession, admitting that he was a fraud. Instead, he used his right arm to write a meditation on Psalm 51. It was a confession, but not the kind they wanted. He could confess his sins to God, but he kept reminding the leaders of society that they, like David of old, needed to confess their sins, too.

Witnesses say he slept soundly the night before his execution, with a sweet smile on his lips. No doubt he knew God had cleansed his heart. And appropriately, when a Florentine artist named Michelangelo created his famous painting of this reformer, he found its motto in Psalm 51:13: “Then I will teach your ways to sinners, and they will return to you.” That was the story of Savonarola’s life.

Lord, I confess to you, sadly, my sin;

All I am, I tell to you, All I have been;

Purge all my sin away, Wash clean my soul this day;

Lord, make me clean.

HORATIUS BONAR

Fascinating Fact

In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the murderous King Claudius wails:

What if this cursed hand

Were thicker than itself with brother’s blood,

Is there not rain enough in the sweet heavens

To wash it white as snow?

Notable Quotable

“God is looking for the heart that knows how little it deserves, how much it owes.”

DEREK KIDNER