SECOND SUNDAY OF EASTER
Year B April 11,
2021
Recently I
happened to flick TV stations to an episode of Modern Family. They were taking a vacation and all seemed
wonderful and peaceful in the beginning.
The siblings and parents were all getting along and being kind to each
other. Before very long they were
completely chaotic and tearing at each other.
The father of the family stopped the vehicle, got out and went and
swapped stories with other men holidaying and having the same problem. While he was out, something crazy happened
with the fighting siblings; they confessed to the mess in each of their lives
and an area where each had failed that they were hiding from the rest of the
family. In this act of confession, the
family came together in support of each other and peace came to the situation –
not peace like there was before, but a peace that was a lot deeper and more
honest.
In our
readings this week there are also some aspects of confession of sin for us to
reflect on. The first thing that we need
to be aware of is the great cover up.
Just like in my tv story, it is not natural to confess our sin, but it
is way more natural to cover up our sin.
I suspect that it is not terribly politically correct to insinuate that
anyone sins, and yet we most certainly all do.
1 John 1:8
tells us, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.” So, what is
this “SIN” and why are we so uncomfortable with admitting to it?
The Bible
actually tells us that all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God. Falling short of the glory
of God is a given. We are all fallen and
none of us is perfect. Failure is
something that all humanity share – Except Jesus.
Another
interesting quote about sin comes from Romans 14:12, “But whoever has
doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For
whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.”
Have you
ever had doubts? Well, doubt is evidence
that you are human. Doubt is natural and
a normal part of humanity, but it shows us that we are not perfect and doubt is
sin.
Sin, perhaps
is best understood by the archery example.
Apparently, when the Archer shoots at the target, the bullseye is the
mark that they aim for and anything outside of that bullseye is called
sin. Some might miss the mark just a bit
and others might miss it by a long way, but it is all called by the same term,
sin. It literally means, to miss the mark. In our Christian story, we all miss the mark
of God’s perfect glory… we all fall short… we all sin, as we miss the mark of
perfection. The first step for us to
take, if we are going to walk in the light is to agree with the word of God and
admit that we all sin.
In our
modern times I notice that we all want to down play this sin factor and say
that things that are sin, are actually not.
This is not helpful. In fact it
is a lie, it is in disagreement with God and it is SIN. What is more helpful is to take a very hard
line with sin, but a soft line with each other.
To do this we need to start with ourselves and admit to every lack of
faith… every sin, little or big it is all sin.
To walk in the light is to shine a spot light on these dark spots and
bring them into the light.
It is
important. Not so much because God
frowns on our sin. God is not surprised
or shocked or dismayed… he has seen it all, understands it all and is bigger
than all this and he has covered our sins with his love. But admitting our sin is important because otherwise,
we lie to God and wedge a barrier between us and God when we refuse to admit the
truth of our condition. Not only is our
confession important for this reason, but … and I believe God is super
concerned about this next point…. Our
walking in the dark, ie. Refusing to admit our sin, drives a huge wedge between
us and our community.
Much like
the tv story, we will always find that a group of people can get along ok
together while they are all pretending to be perfect and trying to be
good. Psychologist, M Scott Peck called
this kind of group, Pseudo Community. In
his book, The Different Drum”, he explains that people try to cover up who they
really are, but eventually they vent about their differences and enter the next
stage of community – Chaos! Chaos is not
nice, and we see it a lot in groups.
According to M. Scott Peck, the next stage of community is emptiness and
then after that, if they haven’t given up, they may come to true community. Surely there has to be a better way to be
community. We remember all that Jesus
exhorted us to be in relationship, telling us that they’ll know we are
Christians by our love. Love is the
answer… but God’s true love, flowing from the honesty of our condition.
It is
obvious that Jesus has given us directions for how to enter into eternal life
by admitting our failure and accepting his sacrifice, but how amazing is it
that our God is not just concerned about us getting into Heaven one day, but
concerned about our relationships and the way that we get along, right here and
now? This call to admit our sins, should
be the first step in us being able to be in a right relationship, not just with
God, but with each other.
It isn’t
that we go about in the community confessing our sins out loud, but that we
need to have an attitude of honesty with God and ourselves, and humility with
each other.
Many years
ago, an international Bible speaker confessed to us that he had a problem
loving people. The most amazing thing
happens when we are aware of our weakness and readily share them with God,
asking for his help. Would you believe,
the main thing I remember about that bible speaker was that he was a strikingly
loving man. He seemed to be loved by
many and he had a way of speaking the truth in love that I had never seen
before. What was the key to him being so
loving? If it wasn’t something that he
found a natural and easy thing to do, the only logical explanation is that GOD
did something. Through the confession of
his weakness and in asking God for his help, a miraculous change occurred.
Often times,
we in the church are labelled by outsiders as hypocrites. In Shakespearean times an actor was referred
to as a hypocrite. It simply means
someone who pretends to be someone else – an actor. If we act as though we are people who don’t
sin we only deceive ourselves. Not that our
sin is anything so drastic…. I’m sure…. But remember that sin is absolutely
anything that falls short of perfection.
Remember anything that is not of faith is sin… so lack of faith and even
doubt is sin.
And now we
come to Thomas. Poor Thomas. He is known as doubting Thomas, but let’s
explore his story because there is a great truth and some incredible Good News
to grasp.
In John
11:16 we read this about Thomas; “Then Thomas called Didymus said to his
fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.””
This is a
statement made by Thomas, who understood that if Jesus travelled to see Mary
and Martha, there was a possibility and even a probability that the Jews who
were trying to kill Jesus, would do so.
Thomas was so dedicated to our Lord that he was prepared to go with him
into danger and death. Thomas was a loyal
friend.
Thomas did
not witness Jesus’ first appearance to the disciples and confesses his
disbelief in the resurrection. His
doubting can well be seen as a sin. If
the others had not seen Jesus, I’m pretty sure that they’d have been guilty of
that sin also. Thomas could easily have
gone along with the crowd, given in to peer pressure and cried “He is risen
indeed, alleluia”, while harbouring his doubt deep in his heart and keeping it
to himself. – but that would have made him a hypocrite as
well as a doubter.
In
confessing our sins and admitting to the reality of our condition in perfect honesty,
we give Jesus the opportunity to act.
Jesus did not leave Thomas to continue in his doubt for too long, but instead,
understanding Thomas’s weakness, Jesus does something amazing. He not only shows himself to Thomas, but
allows Thomas to touch him.
Our message
from Easter shows us that Jesus makes the way for us to be in uninterrupted relationship
with God. HE atones for our sin – He makes
our paths straight – not us… our job is only to be honest and receive the
gift. Jesus creates a way of new life
for us and this new life is not only eternal, but abundant and full, and begins
here and now.
We can call
sin, sin, and not be offended because it is something common to us all. What’s more, sin no longer has the same sting
because Jesus has taken that sting and defeated death. In our relationships, we have a great equalizer….
We are all sinners and we have all been treated with the immense love and
kindness of God by having Jesus redeem us.
All we need to do to enter this relationship and all the gifts that God
has for us, is to believe….. To believe God’s word about our fallen condition, and
to accept the gift of Jesus.
Modern
society is struggling. There are so many
factions, and so many at odds with family, friends and colleagues. We, the church, are called to be the salt of
the earth… to bring good to the earth by showing a better way. Jesus breathed on those early followers and
declared, “peace be with you”. Is there
peace in our own communities, and are we an example of God’s design for
relationships?
The answer
is not to pretend we all get along. The
answer is to be honest- firstly and
foremostly with God who can miraculously turn our lives and witness around. When
we can admit to God and ourselves that we need God’s help and that we are not
perfect, we will have more compassion for others who are also imperfect. We find true community by accepting that we
are all very different… all fallen and all so very loved by God. Each of us is
so loved that Jesus died to redeem us.
The very Good
News is that we are free from the power of sin. Just as Thomas honestly confessed his
doubting, Jesus can turn our weakness around.
He does not treat us as we might think we deserve. Our weakness is no surprise to him and he has
already dealt with it, but the power of our story is in allowing Jesus to act
on our weakness and turn our lives around.
Will we let him?
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