Saying a Good Word For Sin

A conversation at a dinner party turned to the subject of religion when one of the couples mentioned something happening at their church. Another guest, surprised at the reference, said, “You don’t go to church do you? Do you believe in sin and all that?”

“Oh, no,” they said, “our church is not like that. We never talk about sin. We like to keep things positive.” A lot of people like to keep things positive, as do some churches these days, it would seem. In some circles sin might seem to be a bad word. I want to say a good word for sin—not for sinning, but how the word sin can be a good word for us to hang onto. It’s an old term, but like grandma’s old pocket-knife, it can still have its use.

It isn’t easy to talk about sin. Jesus knew it. The Gospel of Luke tells us that Jesus and his disciples are gathered in a Jerusalem coffee shop sipping their morning double latte Mocha Javas while Jesus leads a Bible study about sin. Overhead in the corner of the coffee shop is a large TV monitor. A reporter says that Roman troops have stormed the Temple and slaughtered a group of Galileans at worship. The Governor suspects Galilee is a breeding ground for terrorists and wants to send a strong message to Galilee: we tolerate no insurrection or rebellion. Jesus overhears the news on TV and says to his disciples, “Do you think that what happened to those poor Galileans was because they were worse sinners than anyone else?” People back then thought that when bad things happen to people it is because they sinned. Jesus rejects that notion of sin. Evil is a power and governors influenced by evil do terrible things. Jesus warns his followers: “Unless you repent, you will all perish just like they did.”

The next headline is already on the screen overhead and reads: "Siloam Tower Collapses Killing 18 Tourists." The reporter notes that the stone tower was built beside the Pool of Siloam, the only fresh water spring in Jerusalem, so it is not surprising that its foundations slipped. Jesus says to the disciples, “And do you think that those 18 were worse sinners than everyone else in Jerusalem?” Again, they might have thought yes, but Jesus dismisses it. Sin is not to be measured in a cup like flour, a little or a lot, I’ve an ounce and you’ve got 20. Sin is sin. Even a little is too much. Sin violates the great commandment, ‘Love God and your neighbor as yourself.’ Sin is anything that separates us from God, our neighbour, or self. Sin violates the great commandment is, ‘Love God and your neighbor as yourself. Jesus again warns his followers: “Unless you repent, you will all perish just like they did.”

I don’t think Jesus liked saying that. There are good reasons not to talk about sin. Who wants to be going around pointing out the flaws in others? I don’t know if you have ever had the experience of saying to a stranger who is smoking at a party, “Excuse me, please don’t smoke around me.” It will not be well received. No matter how good your motives, or how polite you are, people don’t like being told what not to do, and they can become very creative in their use of the English language. You can try explaining that second-hand smoke is dangerous, or you could describe what you saw in Reader’s Digest, the x-rays of a smoker’s lungs, all black and clouded, and you could act out what you imagine that patient’s cough must have sounded like. It is probably not going to make a difference. These are not particularly original thoughts. What smoker has not thought about quitting, tried, failed, and paid good taxes on each pack of cigarettes just to have a little pleasure in life. I’m with the smoker. If it was as simple as just repenting, well, the Seven Eleven would be out of business.

A woman in one of my early congregations simply did not like the idea of sin, “and I don’t like the prayer of confession in the worship service either,” she said. “I don’t feel I have sinned, I don’t have anything to confess.” I had taken in school a whole course on sin, so I thought I might explain that there are sins of commission, that we knowingly commit, and sins of omission, things we omit to do for others, but she did not seem impressed. There actually are some denominations that believe you can be sinless. At the U of T, a doctoral student recently explained his Wesleyan denomination. They believe that someone can actually achieve absence of all sin in this life, its called becoming holy or sanctification. All Christians should strive for it, but his Wesleyans believe it can be achieved. The only trouble, this student said laughing, is that if you claim to be sinless, you already aren’t, because you are proud.

Some people don’t like sin because it puts down others. Its as though calling some folks drug addicts is a good excuse to push them away so we don’t have to deal with their problem. Let’s take all uses of sin to put down other people and throw into the trash bin. Jesus did not use sin that way and we should not either.

Some friends were skiing in the Rockies, barreling down evergreen slopes on powder snow and they saw a cut in the trees and took it. They almost missed a sign on what they thought was a path, "Danger: Do Not Enter." They stopped, just feet away from a sheer cliff, to both their horror and relief. The word sin, used properly, is a way to fence off dangerous territory. Some social sins need outright condemnation, like racism and oppression, violence and greed, or two weeks ago, the deliberate bombing of hospitals and schools in Syria. Right and wrong are easy, we don’t struggle with those. But evil by its nature is deceptive. It often looks good, and that is the way with many sins. They need "Do Not Enter" signs. Beyond here dragons live. Beyond here you will hurt yourself. Or, beyond here you will hurt your neighbours. Or beyond here you will hurt your relationship with God or damage God’s Creation. Now that is a good understanding of sin. Just add the letter ‘g’ to the word ‘sin’ and you have the word ‘sign.’ Sin is a danger sign intended to guide and protect us.

Tell the addict to repent, and you may be right, a change is needed, but it is not much help. Most of us can’t do what is needed to repent on our own. Help is needed. In the coffee shop in Jerusalem, Jesus tells his disciples to repent and then relates this parable: A man orders his gardener to cut down a fig tree that produced no fruit. The gardener intervenes, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.” Jesus is the gardener who intervenes, who still loves the tree, even if it has not yet born fruit. He knows that with the right kind of care, the fruit will come. And the gardener probably would keep on saying, “Let it alone for one more year…,” year after year, never giving up until the fruit eventually comes. It may be no accident that when Mary Magdalene encounters the risen Christ on Easter morning outside of the empty tomb, she thinks he is the gardener. And that gardener still tends to us through the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, offering forgiveness, mercy and strength, strength and sustenance, whatever is needed for our turning away from sin.

Kate Bowler is 34 year old Professor at Duke University, a Mennonite from Manitoba, who has recently been diagnosed with stage four cancer: it has spread through her body. She also recently published a book criticizing the prosperity gospel: if you are a good person you will prosper and if you are sinful person you will suffer. She went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Benny Hinn, she went to Joel Osteen’s megachurch. She admires the courage and hope of many people she met. When her doctor phoned her with the terrible news, she knew that some people would say her cancer was a punishment the sin of writing her book and criticizing those churches. She has a better explanation: she has cancer because the human body is delicate and things go wrong. Rather than choose a prosperity gospel, she believes that we should have faith and surrender all to God, and that is what she has beautifully done with her life.  Surrender all to God. That is a great definition of repent.

The season of Lent is a good time to surrender all to God. Someone here may need to surrender their past, someone else may surrender their present and someone else their future. Even St. Paul spoke about being tormented by sin, what he referred to as a “thorn in the flesh” (2 Cor 12:7), whatever that was. He turned it over to God in prayer and it and while the thorn was not entirely removed, the answer God gave him was this, “My grace is sufficient unto you.” Whatever you struggle with, Jesus’ words to repent are not just a command they are an invitation, give it up, let it go, surrender it over to God. And they are a promise that the Spirit will sustain you.

On Valentine’s Day, 2011, Michael Fishbach was boating on Mexico’s Sea of Cortez where he studies of whales. His crew spotted a large, young humpbacked whale. It was not moving. Just a small portion of its back was showing above the surface of the water. They came alongside it for several minutes, but it did not move. They concluded it was dead. Then it exhaled and still did not move. Michael cautiously entered the water with his diving mask, knowing that though the whale was near death, it could still kill him with one flick of its tale. He discovered the whale was entangled in a nylon gill net of the sort used by local fisherman, the destructive kind of net that captures everything, not just the type of fish the fishermen want. The net pinned the whale’s pectoral fins to its side and covered its dorsal fin. The massive net was so heavy that the whale’s tail was fifteen feet below the surface. They radioed for help but none was available. The whale would drown. Though they had only had a six inch knife, leaning over from the side of their boat they began cutting. It took 30 minutes of hard work to free just one pectoral fin. The whale, mistakenly sensing freedom, took off and they had to hold on to the net, otherwise the whale would die. The whale towed their boat about a kilometer and then it stopped, exhausted. They labored for another hour, cutting and pulling, cutting and pulling, and finally freed the tail. The joy of these five people was one thing, their high-five, shouts and laughter. For the next hour the whale leapt out of the water high in the air, about forty times, they were not sure if it was in joy or thanksgiving.

That event can be a modern parable about sin for our times. Some might say it is about sinful fishing practices using gill nets. Some might say it is about the power of sin to ensnare and weigh us down. Others might say it is about human responsibility to help others caught in nets. Whatever meaning it may have, I hope it is also for you about Christ cutting us loose to the joy of freedom. And that is the best word we can say about sin.