Lent
April 15, 2019
Scripture Reading: Acts 10:34-43
Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. You know the message he sent to the people of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.’
Sin: missing the mark; hence: (a) guilt, sin, (b) a fault, failure (in an ethical sense), sinful deed*. Also Hebrew to go astray
How many of us were raised to think that the definition of sin is breaking God’s laws? Perhaps breaking God’s laws could be a part of missing the mark, but that definition certainly has a broader meaning. Laws of any kind are basically shortcuts to order. Traffic laws are designed to help transportation move smoothly and limit accidents. God’s laws, too, are shortcuts to the order of our behavior. Shortcuts once know and understood allow us to function without having to take the time to figure out the best way to deal with a given situation. Thou shall not lie has saved a lot of children from a lot of trouble. Ditto for adults and the law to not commit adultery. Break them and we face the consequences of our actions. Indeed, breaking a law may be manifested in sinning but the breaking of a law is not included in the definition of sin.
The definitions of sin quoted above is based in activities of living going astray, missing the mark, failing to be ethical in all we do, a sinful deed implies doing something that hurts another or others. The problem with sin is that it interferes with our fulfilling our call to be the image of God to one another, loving one another. Living our lives in sin can impede the lives of others. The more we get caught in the web of sin the more it steals our gifts from being used to fulfill our calling.
God created restorative justice. God’s forgiveness of our sins frees us to continue our tasks toward creating a world ruled by love. It is certainly important that we learn from the times we have missed the mark or gone astray but being weighted down by guilt and shame limits our ability to make a positive contribution to God’s vision of God’s Kingdom. Through forgiveness God removes that weight for the betterment of all.
Prayer: Thank you, Lord, for forgiving our sins and restoring our role in building a loving world. Amen.
*https://biblehub.com/greek/266.htm