In the Merit of Teshuva

In the Merit of Teshuva:

Rashi states that Hashem told Moshe: “Go forth and say to them (the children of Yisroel) harsh words (divrei kivushim): ‘For your sake Hashem speaks with me.’”

The Chasam Sofer zy”a asks why these are called “divrei kivushim”, when they seem to be an incredible statement that Hashem speaks to Moshe in the merit of the people of Klal Yisroel. He answers that telling the nation how lofty they are was considered “harsh” because it was a means of showing them how terrible the sin of the eigal was. Hashem was saying that by seeing how the teshuva for this aveirah allowed them to reach the awesome level of providing Moshe with the zechus of speaking to Hashem, they could discern how bad the aveirah was.