Religion in Daily Life By the Rev. Edward Chinn, D.Min.

Rector, All Saints’ Church

(215) 637-5225

Sunday, 9 March 2003

http://www.allsaintstorresdale.org

God and human beings differ on recording sins. Conscientious human beings keep a record of sins in the interest of self-improvement. In the Episcopal Ash Wednesday Litany of Penitence, pastor and people says together, “We have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone” (Prayer Book page 267).

When Jesus of Nazareth talked about sin, he viewed it as a failure to be all that we can be and a failure in the personal relationships of life. In several parables, Jesus pictured sin as the failure to respond to human need (Matthew 25:31-46; Luke 10:25-37). Again, Jesus pictured sin as a failure in pity. Jesus drew word-pictures of an unforgiving servant who had himself been forgiven; of an elder brother who has no pity for his prodigal brother; of a rich man who failed to respond to the beggar sitting at his gate. In its widest sense, Jesus saw sin as the failure to love. His imperative was this: “You must be compassionate, just as your [Heavenly] Father is compassionate” (Luke 6:36, LB). The Lenten season calls on us to keep a record of sins in the interest of improving ourselves as we think about our sins of commission and omission.

On the other hand, the Heavenly Father does not keep a record of wrongs in the interest of his friendship with all his children. One of the lessons for Ash Wednesday says this clearly: “God was in Christ making all human beings his friends” (2 Corinthians 5:19, TEV). Look at the very next words Paul wrote: “God did not keep an account of their sins.”

How could we think that God keeps an account of the sins of human beings? Jesus’ friend John defined the essence of God in this way: “God is love” (1 John 4:16, TEV). If God’s nature is love, then he certainly will live up to Paul’s description of love. In his famous chapter about love, Paul wrote: “Love does not keep a record of wrongs” (1 Corinthians 13:5).

These first followers of Jesus are reflecting their Jewish heritage. The Psalmist said, “If you kept a record of our sins, who could escape being condemned? But you forgive us” (Psalm 130:3-4). The Jewish prophet Jeremiah looked forward to a new covenant and heard God saying, “I will forgive their sins and I will no longer remember their wrongs” (Jeremiah 31:34). A fellow-prophet, Micah, said of God: “You will trample our sins underfoot and send them to the bottom of the sea” (Micah 7:19). The Father depends on the power of his friendship (grace) to change us for the better.

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