Tag Archives: sin

Advent 11: Sinners

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With that as the title, who is going to read this post?

I wouldn’t.

But I read in Luke 3 that “The people were waiting expectantly and were all wondering in their hearts if John might possibly be the Christ.”

And what came right before that? A whole long discussion of John telling people that they need to repent from their sins. And after this kind of criticism, this negative thinking, this critical behavior by John, how in the world could the people wonder if John is the one who is coming to save them?

How can preaching about sin be positive? When the change in behavior is positive. John says, if you have plenty, share it rather than hoarding it. If you have the right to gather taxes, don’t abuse the right. Don’t abuse the authority you have.

The message of repentance is always an about face. Stop doing what’s bad. Start doing what’s good.

Good news is worth expecting.

(From Luke 3:1-18)

shut up

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My parents never let us say “shut up.” At one point in our history, one of us three would say “shut up…your mouth” as a way to avoid the inevitable look of disapproval.

“Shut up” is pretty much what a crowd of people was saying to two men who couldn’t see.

The men were by a road. They were likely begging, asking the people walking by for money. This day, they heard a crowd coming. They asked what was happening. They found out that Jesus was at the head of the crowd.

The men called out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!”

For guys who are begging crying out would have been pretty common. This was pretty focused crying out however. It would have been passionate. It would have pierced through the conversations going on around Jesus.

He was, after all, the only hope they had.

And the people in the crowd surrounding Jesus told the men to shut up.

I don’t know why. It may have been because they (the crowd) were afraid this hollering would spoil the reputation of the town (the chamber of commerce theory). It may have been because they wanted to hear Jesus themselves (the selfish theory).

What I do know is that it still happens. Crowds of seemingly religious people, looking like they are following Jesus, are telling people who need his help to shut up.

“You wouldn’t fit in our church.” “That’s my seat.” “I need quiet and space to hear from Jesus and so we need to keep the (pick one) crying babies, wheezing old people, wheelchairs, organists, drummers, imperfect people, perfect people, left, right, those people quiet.”

In this case, the two men kept shouting. Jesus healed them. They joined the crowd. Following Jesus.

I’m glad.

And I’m convicted.

Serious business, relationship is.

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After laying out the process of caring for people who have not done what he says, Jesus gives the implication:

“Whatever you bind on earth is bound in heaven.”

There is a connection between here and there, between what we say and what God does. If we say, “you aren’t living right,” God says, “you aren’t living right.”

How can that be? Because when we get together, in twos and threes and more, and we ask God to guide us, he will. The judgment we arrive at, through reflection and conversation and examination, has to be viewed as coming from God.

I know. That’s a terrifying idea. Very many people have very many stories of misguided people doing dumb, bad, and horrific things in God’s name.

But, and I say this cautiously, what people have done wrong with what Jesus said doesn’t mean that He was wrong to say it. And what people have done wrong with what Jesus said doesn’t exempt us from obeying Him.

That’s why, when I look at someone’s behavior, thinking “that’s killing you,”  I feel sad. And when I say something, one on one, I am aware that I am involved in holy work, on God’s agenda. If I find myself too happy about the process, handling it too lightly, then I have to back off and examine why, exactly, I thought that God was prompting the conversation.

That’ s why, when I’m part of two or three talking with someone, I’m  incredible sensitive to any feeling of “ganging up” on someone. That’s why, when something has to move to the level of talking with a larger group about the ongoing defiance, I am achy and deliberate.

But that’s why, when I watch what happens when we don’t follow through, I weep at the waste.

inside and outside

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The reason that outside isn’t so bad is that inside isn’t so good.

When Jesus said that people who didn’t respond to three distinct, thoughtful, caring challenges to their behavior needed to leave the church, He was intending was that the threat of having to leave the warmth of community in the church would be a deterrent that would make people rethink having to leave it.

The fact that the punishment was to treat the sinner as a pagan or a tax collector merely illustrates what Jesus wanted from the church.

Jesus loved tax collectors. He sought them out. Matthew himself was a tax collector, or had been. Matthew may have smiled as he wrote these words, remembering the party that he threw for Jesus when he first starting following.

He had his friends over to meet Jesus. The Pharisees stood outside, questioning how Jesus could be spending time in such company. Jesus said that he had come for people who needed him.

So the tax collectors were the heroes, the ones who wanted to be with Jesus. And now, in Matthew 18, Jesus says that when people don’t repent, they are to be treated like tax collectors. But Jesus isn’t assuming that the church will be like the Pharisees, capable only (as least for Matthew) of scolding. Just the opposite.

The church is to be tax collectors transformed, pharisees reborn, prostitutes renewed. It is a collection of misfit toys so in love with God and each other that to have to go outside is punishment, even if there is love.

Jesus wasn’t setting up a system of shunning. There was not to be silence. There was respect and compassion and an openness for the one being walked to the door to return when repentant. Just the way Matthew had started.

telling it to the church

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If you get miffed at your church today, there is another one down the street you can visit tomorrow. You don’t even have to go down the street. You can turn to your computer and participate in a church online.

I am not against options. I have myself moved from one church to another more than once, though after careful reflection and prayer and just before problems erupted. I know enough about people, however, that this many choices makes “tell it to the church” a challenging command.

Jesus is talking about what to do when someone does what he (Jesus) said not to do  (Matthew 18:15-20). He says that after talking with the person individually and then with a couple other people, quietly, caringly, restoratively, if the person is, in fact, intentionally continuing their behavior, you are to tell it to the church.

Here’s the obedience challenge.

Did Jesus mean a small house church, where doing what he says means sitting on the deck with 20 people that you know well, that you have shared life with, that you have seen struggle, too? Did he mean a country church of 70, where everyone is related? Did he mean a group of 10,000 that gathers in 5 venues and 10 time slots every weekend? Did he mean a group of 100,000?

When Jesus said these words, there was no church, not the way we think of church, with buildings and structures. There were just the ones gathered around Jesus, the ones who had decided to follow him, to listen to what he said and do it the best they could. They didn’t have options, they couldn’t go down the street to another denomination because there was one Body.

Of course Jesus knew about all the variations that would follow. He gave the directions anyway. They must still apply.