Meditating on Proper 15: Sacrifice and the Godly Life

Proper 15    

The Sunday closest to August 17

Almighty God, you have given your only Son to be for us a
sacrifice for sin, and also an example of godly life: Give us
grace to receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work,
and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns
with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Preface of the Lord's Day

One of the strangest beliefs we have as a religion is this idea that someone had to die for our sins. A normal human being wasn’t enough, for we are all sinners and God, as one theory goes, requires a sacrifice without blemish. Not to be flippant or sacrilegious, but why didn’t (or doesn’t) God just re-write the rules and eliminate the death penalty? God changes their mind all the time in the Hebrew scriptures, so who says God couldn’t have a change of heart here, too?

I struggle with the idea that someone “had” to die to win God’s approval or open a way to eternal life. As heresies go, I confess I am a Pelagian. I don’t believe God requires us to do more than our best and accepts us just as we are. I will add the caveat that God loves us too much to leave us as God finds us. But I agree with Pelagius that the Augustinian idea of original sin is a load of hogwash. Augustine was quite the libertine, womanizer, and sensualist before coming ‘round and finding the more excellent way of his Christian mother (who never stopped praying for him).

Augustine, like many of us, assumed that everyone else must think and feel like he did during his hedonistic days, so why not lay the blame upon the first couple in Eden and assume that sin got passed along like brown eyes, black hair, or the lustful heart.

Reading the news and having made some seventy-five trips around the sun, I am tempted to see things the way Augustine saw them. But if I shift my focus from sin and that which is evil, I find a lot of good can be seen as well. I see parents doing their best to give their kids the love and nurture they need. Not every parent, of course, but by far the majority of them. I see politicians working to do the best they can for their constituents. Not every politician, of course, but by far the majority of them. 

Why didn’t Augustine talk about original holiness more than original sin? Who knows? He was highly educated and far more thoroughly steeped in holy scriptures than most of us (including yours, truly), but he could have also suffered from a form of spiritual astigmatism that affected his spiritual vision – as do we all! 

So, my own form(s) of spiritual astigmatism, presbyopia, macular degeneration, or glaucoma could well be affecting my own view of things, but if I am going to err, I would rather err on the side of Pelagius than Augustine. I believe God created a good heaven and a good earth, and while things have seemingly gone downhill since our eviction from Eden, we have not been entirely bankrupt of spirit or holiness.

So getting back to our prayer, what are we saying here? What do we mean when we refer to Jesus as a “sacrifice for sin” and “an example of godly life”?

It is important not to get hung up on the semantics of that word “sacrifice.” It literally means “to make holy.” It doesn’t necessarily mean to die or be killed. It means to give something of value for the sake of another, so the first thing to do is recognize that we are acknowledging what God has done. God has made us holy through the work of God’s son, Jesus. That doesn’t mean God required Jesus’ death; it means that God took his death and resurrection and made of them whatever it was God needed to restore all of humanity to our place within the Divine. 

We are called to walk with Jesus in his life. What does that mean? Feeding the hungry. Helping folks to see the kingdom of God all around them and us. Visiting the sick. Bringing healing to those who are lonely, sick, or lost. It’s having mercy on those who have only known abuse. It’s being patient with those who continue to push our buttons or tap-dance around on our very last nerve. That’s some of what it means to “receive thankfully the fruits of his redeeming work, and to follow daily in the blessed steps of his most holy life …”  

It’s easy to talk about faith and love and all that stuff, but when we pray, we’re asking God to convert the “stuff” from mere cliches and pleasantries and creating in their stead actions that make a difference. And that starts with changing our very own hearts. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice; today we are his boots on the ground, getting the job done bit by bit, until God brings us home with a “Well done, good and faithful servants.”

So let’s be thankful and walk in his steps! Amen.

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