Only One Sin

I just read a good article by a pastor who refused a request to quote a Bible verse to support his belief that being gay is not a sin. He refused because he said that no matter how many verses he quoted, opponents of his views would find twice as many verses to support the opposing belief.

It reminded me of the story in the synoptic Gospels about Jesus being tempted in the desert by the Adversary. The Devil quotes Scripture at Jesus, and Jesus quotes it right back at him.

I’ve been thinking about these Gospel stories in the context of the homosexuality debate for a very long time now… but just this morning it occurred to me that it’s quite possible that the implications of these stories of the conversation between Jesus and Satan go much deeper than I ever expected.

I think that Jesus, in the same way that he always does, is making a demonstration— a real, concrete, practical demonstration— of why it is useless and faintly ridiculous to try and use Scripture as a justification for any opinion; any decision; or really, any action of any kind!

Let me unpack it a little bit: Satan already has a reputation as a grifter; someone who uses words as a trap to lead us into self-deception, self-importance, and self-righteousness. The Adversary is a master at using our very best instincts, and our most cherished beliefs, to con us into ignoring God in favor of our own agendas. Satan twists things; takes them out of context; misrepresents the plain sense of something; puts the cart before the horse — all for the purpose of distracting us from what is really important. There’s never been a truer statement than “the Devil’s in the details.” So, it’s no surprise that the Devil can subvert even Holy Scripture, and use it as a hook in a con game.

Back to the story— Jesus goes out into the desert for 40 days, and the Devil follows him out there and starts working the con. The devil tries several different tricks:

First, “Make these stones into bread.” What’s the temptation here? I think it’s a variation on ‘blood from a turnip,’ which is a phrase that’s used to show that where potential doesn’t exist, none can be realized. So, when Jesus says, “Man does not live by bread alone,” he’s subverting the dominant paradigm. He’s pointing out the essential silliness of equating stones with bread, and he’s also saying that even if he actually changed a rock into a bagel, it wouldn’t prove a thing. All it would do is confuse the issue.

Next, the Accuser ‘takes’ Jesus to a perch at the very top of the Temple and says, “Jump! God will catch you.” This is where he quotes Scripture, playing on Jesus’ reverence for the Tanakh. But Jesus keeps right on changing the terms in exactly the same way as before. He just ignores the lever that the old Liar is trying to use; that of paying more attention to the quality of our own faith than we pay to the Real Object of our faith. Jesus basically says to the Enemy, “Stop trying to distract me; can’t you see it isn’t working?” He points straight at the Lie. In this interchange, Jesus demonstrates with pitiless clarity just exactly what the Devil is up to. In essence, Jesus says, “It’s not about me, Stupid! It’s about God.”

Last, the Devil tries to bribe Jesus, and this is when Jesus finally gets annoyed, and says, “It’s not about you either, get it? So skedaddle! I only care about God!”

I keep on feeling that the message here is so simple that it’s nearly impossible to understand, but here goes:  whenever we are in doubt; whenever we start to think that we are in charge; whenever we think that we know better than someone else; whenever we feel defensive; whenever we think that we are justified, or righteous, or superior in any way, that’s the moment when it’s essential for us to start paying attention to God instead of ourselves.

That brings me around to the Gospel from today’s Lectionary:

John 5:19-29 Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

¹⁹ Therefore, Yeshua said this to them: “Yes, indeed! I tell you that the Son cannot do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; whatever the Father does, the Son does too.

“Cannot”! The dominant paradigm just totally implodes at this point.

I hear Jesus saying that it is impossible for him (and therefore us) to do anything at all purely on our own. We are connected to each other, and to God, in such a way that every single thing we do affects God, as well as affecting every other human being on the planet.

We literally can only do what God does!  We can pretend; we can ignore; we can rationalize, but the fact remains— in God we live and move and have our being, and that is just how it is.

The trouble arises when we fool ourselves into believing that we can act all on our own; when we plop down on the floor and scream, “I wanna do it by myself!”

It’s when we think it’s all about us— that’s when things go wrong; it’s when we put our fingers in our ears and chant, “La-la-la” to keep from having to see reality— that’s when misery moves in and starts keeping house!

That ‘paradigm’ leads us straight into sin; and there is really only one sin— that of paying attention to ourselves instead of God.  

Sin happens when we ignore God because we are distracted by our own self-involvement— and no, it does not follow that we should mortify, debase, or punish ourselves! If we did that, it would be just another kind of self-involvement!

So, just as there is only one sin, there is only one cure— Love. Not “love” as expressed by a sentimental, contrived sort of ‘feeling’; but as an ordinary, everyday, sturdy commitment to living out our faith in compassion, kindness, respect, and friendship toward all beings.