EASTER 3B 2009
Acts 3:19 ( NRSV ) Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out,
1 John 3:5 ( NRSV ) 5You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Luke 24:46-47 ( NRSV ) and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
1 John 3:4 “… sin is lawlessness….. sin is the transgression of the law
This morning I thought I would talk about something that I have a lot of experience with.. and that is the concept of sin. Now with the flowers blooming and the oak trees vibrant green with new leaves and the hills green.. at least for a few weeks!... you would think I could talk about something more pleasant. But, as I looked and thought about the lessons, it seemed to me that for us to appreciate the good news of Easter we need to face the bad news of our condition. The wonder and the power and the joy of Easter is not just that we have been delivered from death, but also from that which leads to our death, and that is sin.
Listen to these verses from our lessons this morning.
Acts 3:19 ( NRSV ) Repent therefore, and turn to
God so that your sins may be wiped out,
1 John 3:5 ( NRSV ) You know that he was revealed
to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
Luke 24:46-47 ( NRSV ) and he said to them, “Thus
it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the
third day, and that repentance and
forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning
from Jerusalem.
1 John 3:4
“… sin is lawlessness….. sin is the transgression of the law
So lets start first with a definition of sin. In 1 John 3:4 we read in our translation that “sin is lawlessness.” In the KJV this verse is translated “sin is the transgression of the law.” The first example of acted out sin that we have in the Bible is, of course, the Adam and Eve story. In this story we see as good as we are going to get definition of sin.
Let me read it:
Genesis 3:1-7 ( NRSV ) 1Now the serpent was more crafty than
any other wild animal that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did
God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2The
woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the
garden; 3but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the
fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it,
or you shall die.’” 4But the serpent said to the woman, “You
will not die; 5for God knows that when you eat of it
your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God,£ knowing good and evil.” 6So
when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight
to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of
its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and
he ate. 7Then the eyes of both were opened, and
they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made
loincloths for themselves.
Here we see sin defined.. it is simply going against the will, or law of God.
James defines sin this way:
James 1:14-15 ( NRSV ) But one is tempted by one’s
own desire, being lured and enticed by it;
then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that
sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death.
Our prayer book, In the catechism in the back, has this definition of sin.. It is a very good one.
Sin is the seeking of our own will instead of the
will of God, thus distorting our relationship with God, with other people, and
with all creation.
So in the Adam and Eve story, we see them choosing their own will over against the will of God, and then we see the consequences, which begin with them hiding from God, and then God telling them how hard their lives will be from this point on.
Sin, then is first simply going against the will of God. And when this happens, life gets distorted, or our of joint. Our relationships, instead of being harmonious, become distorted, or out of harmony. A modern word that we might be familiar with is dysfunction. Our relationships become dysfunctional. And as this happens, we then see anger and lusting and fighting and killing and selfishness. Even in the best of our relationships, we still struggle with these attitudes to some degree.
Now in the Christian tradition, and I think, from just observing life, sin is like a disease that has infected the whole human race. You may have heard of the concept of original sin. This doctrine simplified means that every human being born into the world is tainted with sin. We humans, as a community, have been infected with sin. Whether we are born with it, or we catch it, we all have it. We can say that some get it worse than others, but there is not one of us that has not been infected with it. Jesus said that “Anyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.” Jn. 8:34
Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount teaches us that holy living is not just what we do, but also what we think. Our angry and lustful and selfish thoughts are not holy. Sin is deeper than merely abstaining from certain outward deeds.
Now lets return to the definition of sin as lawlessness, or the breaking of the law. Law by its nature has no mercy. If you break the law, and you are caught, you suffer the consequences, or penalty. Though we don’t stress this aspect of the nature of God much, since we stress the love of God in Jesus, it is important for us to understand that God is also just. Justice, like law, when it goes against us, is not forgiving. We all have thought to ourselves many times that something is not fair, or just for us. It is not fair that they have so much and we have so little. It is not fair that I have to work or do this while they don’t have to. But it does not take us much thought, living where we live and having what we have, to realize that it is not fair, or just that we have so much while others in the world have so little.
In short, both law and justice rise up to condemn us. The complex web of sin has infected us, and all our social systems in such a way that we cannot escape.
Our Eucharistic prayer says it this way “.. and, when we had fallen into sin and become subject to evil and death.”
It is with this awareness of our captivity to sin and death that we then can begin to appreciate the good news. In short, Jesus came to deliver us from sin and death. One of the key concepts in the gospel message is forgiveness. Jesus said that forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed to all the nations. John wrote that Jesus was revealed to take away sin. Peter preached that in Jesus our sins could be “wiped away.”
Central to our Christian worship is this saying: “This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many FOR THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS.”
Forgiveness of sins is central to the good news. But for us to appreciate, or embrace the gospel message we need to face our need for forgiveness. I don’t know how many times I have heard people, when talking about their relationship to God, as they face death, say that they have been a good person. And, by human standards, they might have been. But when we consider what is just and true and holy in God’s eyes, we realize that instead of justice we need mercy and forgiveness.
Our Lutheran friends talk about how one must preach the law before they preach grace. By this they mean that we need to understand our need for forgiveness or we will never bother to embrace Jesus and his love.
I realize that all of these words can seem to be somewhat abstract. However, I believe that all of us, if we pause and look inside for even a few moments, feel and understand this concept of sin, and our need for forgiveness. One way that I get in touch with my sin is to imagine that I am standing before God and all the hosts of heaven and a video of my life is being played out.. and in that video is not just what I did, but also what I thought! And I am standing before one who is perfectly holy and just, as well as all the host of heaven.. At that moment, I do not want justice.. I do not want my life to be judged by the law… What I desperately need and want is forgiveness and mercy. I am sorry for so much of what I have done and left undone. I want my sins to be covered, or wiped away. I sometimes think that hell begins with having to see our lives before God without forgiveness and mercy.
The good news, or gospel, is that there is forgiveness for sinners like me, and like you. Our role is simply to repent, or turn away from dependence upon ourselves and living our own way and turn to God and accept his love and mercy and forgiveness. I know again that we have heard all of this before, but all of us need to not just hear the gospel, but to embrace it and apply it to our own hearts and lives.
The Easter season is one of great joy, because we believe and proclaim that Christ is risen. And for us, the risen Christ has not only conquered death, but he has offered forgiveness and mercy to all of us. We don’t have to work for it, or earn it, we simply have to accept it.
May the Lord Jesus grant us all grace to repent of our sins and come to him, our Passover Lamb, that has taken away the sins of the world. Amen!