I’m taking a different approach today – only today – to scripture and my sermon.
In the weekly Lectionary, we’re provided with a lot of scripture from which to choose. Usually, I choose one or two. Today, I’ve chosen a bunch. Because this week, this collection from scripture tells a story. A story of Sin, Repentance, and Redemption. I’m going to read the scripture and comment on it and, hopefully, make some sense that will be useful to us. And so, we begin with Jeremiah, chapter 4:
At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.
"For my people are foolish; they do not know me; they are stupid children; they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good." I looked on the earth, and it was complete chaos, and to the heavens, and they had no light.
Did you ever have one of those days? Here, in Jeremiah, scripture is referring to negative influences towards Jerusalem. Historically. But, if we lift this out of its historical context and apply it to ourselves today, we can envision all sorts of negative, hot winds toward us on every level. From people in power towards refugees and the poor. From groups of people working chaos towards those simply wanting to live their lives as who they are. Even from negative words and actions from one person to another. These thoughts, these actions are used to tear others down, to belittle, to take away their power. We do this ourselves to others, apparently to make trouble or irritate, or to teach a lesson. (As if we’re the local expert.)
For me, this often happens in cars (the most dangerous lesson). Someone might be following me closer than makes me feel comfortable and so I take my foot off the accelerator and drift, slowing the car down a lot. To irritate them. To teach them a lesson not to follow so closely. And in so doing, set up a potentially hazardous situation. Not that I’m teaching them anything. And I’m certainly not providing a good example of how to behave. So, I’m just irritating them more than my already slow driving is irritating them. Potentially to a point where they may try to pass me and put themselves and others in serious trouble. However, now that I preach not to do this type of thing, I work hard at not being a hypocrite, to do my best to think positively about the other driver, and work to avoid this kind of behavior. But old habits are hard to break. And I have to keep reminding myself that if I’m not lifting up humanity, I’m putting it down.
And from, Psalm 14:
God looks on humankind to see if there are any who are wise, who seek after God. They have all gone astray; they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one. Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon God?
We find ourselves in a world where world leaders are keeping the downtrodden down, making the hungry hungrier, stripping the naked of what little they have, removing the welcome mat from the stranger. We witness this around the world, and in this country. And to make it even worse, these so-called leaders claim to be taking these actions in the name of God: misquoting scripture to justify their actions, claiming sole ownership to the one, true God, using the name of Jesus to gain riches to support their unworthy cause. “They have all gone astray; they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one. Have they no knowledge, all the evildoers who eat up my people as they eat bread and do not call upon God?”
So, at this point you may be thinking, “is this entire sermon going to be a diatribe? A complete downer? Where’s the hope?” Oh, it’s coming. It begins with repentance. As we read in Psalm 51:
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. You desire truth in the inward being; therefore, teach me wisdom in my secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”
As a person who was raised Catholic, I’ve had to change some of my ideas about sin in order to conform to what I currently believe is written in scripture, particularly the Gospels. I believe sin is anything that interferes with the greater good: anything that doesn’t show us at our very best, our most faithful, our most loving, our most compassionate. For humanity and the world. From the most personal, to the widest-reaching. For me, that’s sin.
So, when I was 8 years old and had to confess my sins to the priest, I came up with “fought with my brothers and sisters,” “disobeyed my parents,” “talked back to my parents.” I’m pretty sure my parents suggested these particular sins. And I had to include the number of times I committed these sins since my last confession. I would come up with a number based on what one would expect a person my age to engage in these sins. So, I guess I could’ve added “lied to the priest about how often I sinned” to the mix. I didn’t. I was also told that if I didn’t go to confession or make a “good act of contrition” before I died, I would either go to Hell or spend a lot of time in Purgatory, where I would suffer for my sins until they were burnt away.
Yeah. I don’t think that’s the actual result of sin. I believe that we are all forgiven. I believe that God loves us, no matter what. I believe the consequence of sin can be a kind of Purgatory or Hell. I believe that the consequence of sinning – of not acting toward another in a loving way – is that we create our own Purgatory, or worse, Hell, here on this earthly plain. How? By not reflecting on our actions or our thoughts, by not asking for forgiveness, and then going, as Jesus said, and sinning no more.
This kind of self-awareness, this kind of self-examination that we must do in order to realize and repent for our sinning is not easy. Even for those of us who don’t want to be the leader of a major world power. Even if we’re just trying to get through our lives, we’re better off if we take responsibility for our actions, reflect on them, and ask forgiveness. Just as Paul says in his first letter to Timothy:
But before we hear from Paul, let’s rise as we are able and join in singing Amazing Grace, Hymn #547 in your black hymnal, verses 1,2,4.
And now, back to Paul and Timothy: I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
…for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, as an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life.
Yes. We become the living proof of the utmost patience of Jesus Christ. While he was walking this Earth with his disciples, Jesus had been nothing if not patient, especially with his disciples. There are stories upon stories where Jesus would finish a lesson and immediately afterward have to explain it again to his disciples. Those he had chosen. The ones he had set apart to spread his word through work and word.
And so, even though we are imperfect, we are chosen to be the living incarnations of the spirit of Jesus Christ in the world. We are chosen to lift up the downtrodden, welcome the stranger, feed the hungry, give to the poor: the poor in spirit, the financially poor, the emotionally poor. We are here to heal the world.
And so, this is why Jesus speaks out in Luke 15:
And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable:
"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.' Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
None of us are perfect. It’s just a fact. We’re human. Or, “sinners,” as the Pharisees refer to us. And so perfection isn’t expected. What Jesus hopes is that we realize that and that we see what actions we can take to, at least for the moment, provide hope to humanity. Spread love in a cold world. Be compassion. Elevate humanity. Counter hate with love. Balance acts of violence with acts of compassion, with love, with joy. Personify peace. Flip tables, when necessary. And follow up with love. Be a Christly manifestation.
Take a moment. Witness your thoughts that inspire violence, anger, apathy, and selfishness and change them to thoughts that inspire peace, love, joy, compassion. We have the power to do this. And for just a moment, and then another moment, and then a string of moments, be the living manifestation of Jesus Christ on this Earth. Amen.