The Subversion of Self

Texts:

Psalm 25:1-10

Daniel 9:1-14

1 John 1:3-10

Daniel's text for today chronicles the people's awareness of their sin and their failure to follow God's commands, whereas 1 John indicates that people who sin are not God's children.  Both of these seem to presume that we are able to will ourselves to be righteous, to will ourselves out of our propensity to curve in toward ourselves in the circle of sin, to simply "decide for God," or, worse yet, that our failure to be righteous is God's decision against us.

"Everyone who commits a sin is a child of the devil; for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.  Those who have been born of God do not sin, because God's seed abides in them; they cannot sin, because they have been born of God," (1 John 8-9).

Hmmm... is this the same Son of God that spent his time with prostitutes, tax collectors, lepers, the demon-possessed, the unclean, the women, the fishermen, the poor, the disenfranchised, the losers, loners, and freaks?  "The Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, 'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' Jesus answered, 'Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance,'" (Luke 5:30-32).  Jesus has come that he might become our entire righteousness.  Binding himself to us and to our sin, Jesus "was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil," to destroy the divisions we think we are able to create between righteous and unrighteous.

We have been called to repentance, called to the changing of our minds, and called to change the way we see the world.  Jesus spent time with the people who "knew" they were righteous, who "knew" they were doing the right thing, and with the people who were all too aware of their unrighteousness, their society quick to point it out should they ever forget.  Whereas we bind, Jesus sets free.  Whereas we judge, Jesus is merciful.  Whereas we hate, Jesus loves.  

"See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are."  The love, freely given, has named us children of God.  It comes as an undeserved gift, to the self-righteous and the shamed alike, reconciling both to God and God's work in the world.  "The Son of God was revealed for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil;" we should not presume his revelation so small an indication, so confining a freedom, so weak a love, that it would consent to allow human beings to be the purveyors of its reception.  Even as we continue drawing our lines in the sand, Jesus continues erasing them, expanding our hearts, expanding our imaginations, and expanding our notions of what it is to have a God continually creating, continually redeeming, and continually sustaining the earth.  It subverts our notions of self and renders us more beautiful, more deeply loved, and more fulfilled than what we dared to hope or imagine.