What Does the Lord Require?

I don’t usually spend much time thinking about sin but this week I have been thinking about it. As in, what is it? And why is it?

In the Wednesday morning conversation, we heard theologian Marcus Borg talk about salvation. He said that the idea that Jesus saved us by dying for our sins is only one perspective, and that he sees salvation as being about transformation in the here and now, not about where we go after we die.

Which led us into an interesting conversation about sin.

There are many things that we may have been taught about sin. Some people say sin is an archery term which means missing the mark. Some people say it is part of our essential nature which shows that we are not divine. Some people say it becomes an essential part of each of us at conception. Some people say it is basically an issue of morality, and living a good life is all that is necessary. Other people think that we can only approach God by admitting that we are miserable sinners. The first letter to John says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.    1 John 1:8,9”

Much of the teaching in the Old Testament points to the sin of human society. We are caught up in a sinful system – I call it the sin matrix – which has very little to do with my action but everything to do with our action. It seems as though pretty much everything we do as humans however well-intentioned has a dark side. For example, I drive an electric car in order to reduce my negative impact on the environment. But the motor probably uses rare earths and recycling the battery when it reaches the end of its life will take energy, both of which have significant negative impacts. And the clothes I wear were probably made by people in other countries earning hardly enough to live on… and then there’s the coffee I drink, and so on…  We are so bound up with one another that those of us in the rich countries can hardly get out of bed without causing oppression somewhere else. So sin is not just a personal individual thing, it’s also social.

So now it’s your turn. How do you understand sin? What have you been taught?
I encourage you to find someone else, even if it means getting up and moving around, to share your ideas with.
…
One of the questions I’ve been asking myself is where is personal sin in my life?

And what is the difference between sin and cultural expectation? That’s been a big question for me as a gay woman – is living and loving as a gay person a sin? It has been seen that way for hundreds of years but is that God’s opinion or just a human cultural understanding? Since I am standing here this morning wearing a backwards collar you will know that I have become convinced, together with The Episcopal Church, that God does not see LGBTQ people as sinners any more or less than straight people are sinners.

I think my besetting sins are irritability and procrastination. But how do I define those as sins? They are not in the Ten Commandments and Jesus never talked about them. I think of them as sins because they are not Christ-like. As far as we know, Jesus did not procrastinate and was not irritable on a daily basis.

But there are many other things I feel guilty about. Are they sins?

My front yard is a good example. It is a mess. And every day I feel bad about it and I think, “I’ll get to this tomorrow when I have time.” And I don’t. But is it sinful to have a front yard full of weeds or just an eyesore?
 
Today we have two readings which do not define sin but rather tell us how we should live in Christ, and I think focusing on how we should live is better than worrying about how we shouldn’t. Because God’s deep and abiding love for us is much, much greater than our limitations and failings. And keeping our eye on the goal is more helpful than getting stuck in the weeds.

In Matthew’s gospel there are five blocks of teaching. Scholars think that maybe he arranged things like that as an homage to the five books of the Torah. If that is so, maybe he thought of the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, as a corollary to the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments mainly describe behavior. In contrast the Beatitudes talk about attitude. They describe how our inner lives would be if they mirrored Christ.

We would be humble, meek, not afraid of grief, longing for righteousness – both personal and societal, we would be merciful and compassionate; our hearts would be pure – filled with the Spirit of God; we would be peacemakers, working for peace and justice and reconciliation; and yet we would be courageous in the face of persecution and violence.

That’s a lot isn’t it? If that’s the goal, I know I miss the mark quite often.

This is not just about being a good person. This is not just about being a solid citizen. This is something quite different. This is about being Christ-like. None of us are naturally like that. It requires a process of transformation.

Perhaps this is what Marcus Borg meant when he talked about salvation as transformation. God offers us the possibility of becoming like Godself. And Jesus is our model. It’s more than being kind, it’s more than being loving, it is a complete change. A different way of  being human.

Paul puts it like this in his letter to the Philippians:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death--
        even death on a cross!   (Phil 2:3-8)

That is the goal, my friends. To have the same mindset as Christ Jesus. That’s going to take a lot of transformation, but it is the possibility, the hope, that we have as followers of Jesus – to become like him.

God does not require that we make sacrifices for sin or abase ourselves in order to gain his love. God’s all-encompassing love is totally available to us in every moment. In humility we confess our personal sins and our participation in the sin-matrix, but we don’t need to grovel.

I love the last few verses of our first reading from Micah.

“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
And then there’s a silent NO.
No. He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
 
It makes it seem so simple doesn’t it: What does the Lord require of us but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God?

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall