Fourth Sunday of Lent
from John 15 and Ephesians 5
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(Recall three weeks ago, idea for sermon series as pictures came into mind
illustrating various stages of relationship, including sin, confession,
forgiveness, repentance, absolution.)
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First picture, two folks walking. In this picture possibly equals. Maybe
married couple, maybe friends, maybe pastor and member. two beings in
relationship with each other, walking together in harmony. In unity. Same path.
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God’s desire and design: your life to be in step with God and full and very
good. Allow your life to be full and very good by seeking to be in step with
God. Remember your purpose and seek to order your life.
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Then we looked at the people stopped. The "righteous" one has stayed
on the path, and has the opportunity to offer forgiveness, regardless of
"sinner's" state. In this picture, the sinner has left the path but
has also stopped, in a moment of confession. Both are actions at the beginning
of the road to recovery of community.
•
Last week was the sinner literally turning around, repenting, choosing a new
direction. A two part action (before and after) of ceasing that which causes
sorrow, and choosing a new direction.
Jesus
is like a magnet, pointing in the right direction. You can take a nail and put
it next to a magnet and all its parts’ll point in the same direction – they’ll
turn and orient themselves according to the magnet.
•
now oriented right, our new picture can be walking together again, walking
intended path again. Sinner has received forgiveness
For
a moment imagine parent and two children. One child pinches the other.
What
does the parent say? (YOU TELL HIM YOU’RE SORRY!) (SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT)
Two
things wrong there: the apology is not motivated by sorrow, and it’s teaching
the child to lie.
When
my daughter sins against me (deviates from path) and says “sorry”, whether she is
sincere or not, I accept apology, I forgive, and I am likely to say something
like “I’ll know you’re truly sorry by how you act in the future... let your actions demonstrate that you’re
sorry.
Today’s
topic is penance... and though it
sounds similar to repentance (which comes from the Latin word for sorrow) it
actually shares a Latin root with penalty and penitentiary
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Penance is the name of the Catholic sacrament of confession. In its origin it
has to do with punishment for sin, but another meaning, also original, has
taken center stage, and as I’ve been skirting around, has to do with action
motivated by sorrow for sin.
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You can think of sin and forgiveness and penance in financial terms.
Sin:
debt is owed. (repentance: I feel bad that
debt is owed)
Forgiveness:
debt is paid, debt is forgiven.
Penance:
the now-cleared debtor offers token of sorrow. Token does not pay debt, does
not pay for sin, but is instead motivated by it.
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A friend of mine once sorrowfully confessed to me that he'd drunk-dialed a girl
the night before & he felt terrible about it. I suggested a few actions he
might take to convey his sorrow and his true heart (i.e. picking up bottles in
a parking lot, working in a soup kitchen with the young lady, etc)
Zaccheus
(Luke 19) confessed and offered (as penance) 4x restitution plus half of
possessions to poor (charity).
These
are movements that go from disconnection to connection, that demonstrate sorrow
and quality of being children of light instead of darkness.
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Many years ago some people had wandered away from God and they wondered what
they could do to express their sorrow. (a thousand burnt offerings? Do
justice... Micah 6:1-8)
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When you sin, stop. Confess. Turn around. Offer meaningful sign of sorrow.
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Praise Song “You Are God”
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