Sermons

This morning we consider yet another group to whom Paul addresses his letter to the Roman churches. You will recall in past weeks we took note of Paul's words for different "types" in the pews of his day.

First, the "religious traditionalists" raised tradition to set themselves apart from the Gentiles and preserve their status in the new churches as the "real" Christians. These men said that Gentiles could only be Christians if they observe the Jewish traditions including circumcision. But Paul tells them that their traditions mean nothing without faith or, as I said, faithfulness and he uses the example of the patriarch of the Jewish people, Abram, to argue his point that faith precedes the tradition.

Paul follows this assault on the "real" Christians with a challenge to another group among them - the "religious historians." He tells them that they don't know their god as well as they know the stories of their people's past or they would understand Jesus' role to provide humans a way back into Eden or as Jesus calls it, the Kingdom of God.

In chapter six, Paul has words for another "type;" he straightens out the "sinners" in the crowd. This would seem to be everyone, right? But there were those in Rome, as in other towns, who misunderstand rather badly the idea of God's grace. They not only sin but take great pride in doing so. They are mixed up enough to believe that the greater the sin, the greater the grace.

This "type" seems not to remember that blessings fall on those who keep the commandments not take pride in ignoring them. It may seem hard to believe but there are people in the ancient churches all over who believe (conveniently or not) that God is made more manifest in sinners than the devout. Jewish history makes this awfully clear this is not the case; Deuteronomy is full of promises of blessing for keeping the commandments and warnings for breaking them.

How could these people get so confused we may ask? Perhaps by hearing stories like our Gospel reading. It is a compelling argument if you are inclined to do things that you ought not to do or not do things that you ought to do, as defined by those commandments the Jewish family is told to keep.

In Luke's story, a by all accounts "sinful" woman - one with "many sins" - comes to the house of a Pharisee who is entertaining Jesus as a guest. She puts her hands on Jesus, as the host stands by mouth agape not knowing whether to be more offended that this is happening in his house or simply at all. In either case, he is partly disillusioned, partly angry, but wholly appalled. How can Jesus, this holy man, allow this "unclean" woman to approach him much less touch him?

But then it really gets strange. After the woman shows Jesus customary hospitality, which not incidentally the host fails to do, Jesus tells her that her sins are forgiven and to go do something better with her life. As Luke puts it, "Therefore I tell you, "her sins, which were many have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."

The point for me seems clear that the reason "little is forgiven" is because there is little forgiveness sought. The Pharisee is clueless about what is important. He is thinking about the prestige in all of this, the presence of a well-known person in his house and the troubling presence and acts of this "sinful" woman. He misses entirely his obligation to show guest hospitality, something that all but the clueless would recognize.

This may seem clear to us but stories like this may have fueled all sorts of misguided notions. Remember Luke's story is after Paul's letter but probably from a time before Paul been one of those stories told around the towns. To what extent the story no longer bears on what really happened or not doesn't matter, it carries a message to the susceptible something like this. Grace is God's response to those who seek forgiveness for their sins or not keeping the commandments. As the story tells, the greater sinner receives the greater grace - greater the sin, greater the grace God brings. Twisted, you bet, but if in a certain frame of mind, it also makes sense.

With this kind of thinking making the rounds no wonder the traditionalists are demanding circumcision. It proves their point; new ideas are corrupting the tradition. Sinning into the Kingdom - really?!

Paul agrees with them this time - not all new ideas are good ideas. Sinning into the Kingdom, for Paul, is a clear perversion of the purpose of grace and "misses the mark" of God's intent widely. Paul makes his position very clear: "Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?"

The part that the proud sinners miss, says Paul, is that by following Jesus' teachings they have vicariously died to sin or put another way have committed to keeping God's commandments not breaking them. It is by dying to sin or following God's commandments that they are blessed to become fit for the Kingdom of God that Jesus promises is on the way and will soon arrive. It is their participation in Jesus' resurrection, an opportunity to walk in the "newness of life" in the new Kingdom.

I doubt there are many contemporary believers that believe they can sin their way into whatever heaven they envision. So is there anything in Paul's words for us in these times?

I believe so. Our problem is less that we want to sin our way into the kingdom than some among us believe that they have no or little sin to get in the way. Now in a sense, I agree with them. There is nothing that we can do or not do for which some outside agent will punish us eternally or otherwise. To put it in terms of those in the church that disagree with me, there is nothing "out there" to cast anyone into hell.

We can do that quite capably to ourselves. Yes, that's right, I believe that we are sinners, that is people who live quite separate much of the time from awareness of our true nature and the blessings that could be ours. 

The habits we form and live into make a difference. We know this more than intuitively; we know it practically in an everyday way. We are not blind to the addictions that our habits form. It is true not all of us are under the spell of alcohol or drugs but for more of us how about sugar or the extra cup of coffee? Worse, and more like the Pharisee, some people are addicted to damaging ways internally more than to things outside them. Those, for example, who lie to others and themselves so freely and often that they lose sight of what is true as their perception replaces what really happens. Then we wonder why we have frequent bouts of physical and mental aches, e.g., sadness, aimlessness, exhaustion, headaches, backaches. Habits have consequences. We create our on hell.

The worst sin of all though, again as with the Pharisee, is to sin with such abandon that we are clueless that we are sinners. We don't realize that the emptiness or sadness or malaise that we feel is self-inflicted by destructive habits of our thoughts and ways. We don't recognize that what is unsettling to us is a hole in our hearts, a hunger or want in us for something we won't let in. We project or blame our personal spiritual lack on something lacking from outside of ourselves.

But the truth is closer than that. If we want to know what is ailing us physically or mentally, it serves us to start with a self-evaluation of our spiritual state beginning with the knowledge that we are sinners. Not so we can feel badly about ourselves, but so we can elevate our awareness to recapture the joy and other fruit of the Spirit of our true nature.

As Paul concludes, God's people are made for something different than that for which they settle. We cannot get to where we want to go by sinning. It makes no sense; turn it around and start following the teachings that will get you somewhere. These teachings are a grace that will bless our lives by leading us to understand the true nature of who we are and what hope this brings.

Some habits lead us to addictions that overlay the surface of our lives and are readily noticeable. It is hard to miss when we have to drink it, put it somehow into our bodies or lives. We can all see these evidences of sin as well as we see the ways of the "sinful" woman and name them for what they are. Whether we commit to changing them or not, we know these sins label us a "sinner."

Other sins are less evident but more deadly. They cause us to lose sight, as the Pharisee, that when we live long and deeply into prejudice, self-importance, and self-serving ways there is danger that we may not even understand that we are sinners at all, which cuts us off from what God can bring to and through us.

The more we sin, the less we know it. In Rome, it was those who believed quite wrongly that their greater sin produces a greater grace from God. For our times, it may be for those whose sins are so great that they believe quite wrongly that they have no or little sin for which grace is necessary. 

This is how I see it, a sinner and blessed to know it.              Amen.