For those unfamiliar with the 10 Days of Awe, it is a time of introspection, reconciliation, and ultimately, returning to a God-centered life. Among the more prevalent themes during this time is the concept of sin. In my experience, many religious folks (not just ministers) have muddied the term sin so that it is used as a value judgment against the would-be sinner, and thus, used to shame a person who is generally trying to live his or her best life.
Certainly, we all have our weaknesses, but it is a long walk from having a weakness to being a no-good person. Thus, I have resisted this value-judgment overlay onto sin, which is an archery term that simply means, to miss the mark. To miss the mark implies that there is a definite goal or target to achieve, and that we somehow find ourselves turned off of the track that would lead us to this goal.
With this in mind, I then contemplated why it is that sin leads to death. Certainly, the authors of the sacred writings were aware of the etymology of the word, a word whose connotation had not as yet been clouded by 2,000 years of (Western) religious dogmas. And yet, even without this value-judgment overlay, the consensus seems to be that sin leads to death. Let us then explore why this might be the case.
There is a popular saying that tells us that insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Although we know this to be obviously true intellectually, we still occasionally find ourselves falling victim to this insanity when we engage in old bad habits (i.e. sin).
I recall the first time I visited Washington, DC with my parents back in the 1980s. The road layout in Washington is a basic grid pattern overlaid with diagonal streets that meet at traffic circles. As my father drove around sight-seeing, he kept getting lost (the expressed intent of this layout) because he kept making the wrong turn at the traffic circle intersections. Of course, one begins to notice that one is lost when one keeps passing the same landmarks over and over again. Eventually, he figured out which turn to take, and we got out of that frustrating loop.
Life, of course is like this for us. Every now and then, we find ourselves stuck in a spiritual rut, repeating the same lessons (and mistakes) over and over again. If we could just make the proper turn at the proper place, we'd be able to move on. Otherwise, we'll remain stuck indefinitely. Every day, and especially during the 10 Days of Awe, we are being called upon to pull out our life maps and to make the proper turn to life.
The scripture found in Ezekiel 33:7-11 packs so many subtleties into just a few verses, lessons which we often gloss over precisely because they are so densely packed. In general, we understand (of course) that this is a call to repentance, an exhortation to change for the better. Indeed, we see that giving of such warnings is a serious obligation for a spiritual Watchman. The Watchman is literally judged according to how faithful he is to keeping the people "in the Way." Conversely, we the people are judged by how closely we stay on that path. We don't merely have the obligation to know the Way, but we must live it.
Let us, then, consider a few important lessons packed into these few verses.
Among the first lessons we can grasp is the fact that God loves everyone, even the evil doers. Popularly embraced theology in society today suggests that God is like the assassin in the movie, "Kill Bill", ruthlessly hunting down and killing evil doers. Certainly, throughout the Bible, God positions Himself against the evil doers. But, to be against evil doers does not mean that God hates them; for as He tells Ezekiel,
I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.
This is a subtle but very important point to understand. For, often, when we talk of evil or evil doers (or sinners in general), implicit in our talking are numerous assumptions and value judgments. We tend to think of the sinner as someone who is morally bankrupt, totally malicious, intent on hurting others for selfish gain. This serves our egoic sense of self, because we often like to set ourselves higher than others in order to feel good about ourselves. Looking down on evil doers seems like a safe bet. But, by doing so, we are no better than the bigots of the world who look down upon poor people, people of color, people of another religion or country, etc. to make themselves feel good. If we need to be above someone else to feel good about ourselves, that in itself is a sin!
For all of our implicit (perhaps unconscious) judging, when we consider our own sin, we don't judge ourselves according to the same, harsh standard that we apply to others. In fact, we want others (and God) to "understand" and to "have mercy" and to "know our heart." We want this because we innately know that having sinned is merely missing the mark, and does not mean that one is morally bankrupt.
During our contemplations this week, we ought to ask ourselves the troubling questions:
- Do I frequently jump to the simplistic and harsh conclusion that my fellowman's sin is worse than mine? If so, why?
- What void am I seeking to fill in myself when I elevate myself over my fellowman?
Another lesson we can glean is one that is expressed elsewhere in the Bible, namely that sin leads to death. Perhaps you have wondered about this. As far back as the time of Adam and Eve, there has been a question about whether sin leads to death. Certainly, they did not immediately die, and in fact, most people who miss the mark do not immediately die, either. Is this a doctrine of fear designed to use the threat of death, hell, and damnation to keep people on the straight and narrow way?
If we consider the purpose of life in the context of our oft-used road metaphor, we are able to see that while getting lost in a new place is almost a given, remaining stuck is not a good thing. We came here (to earth) to learn spiritual lessons and to develop spiritual traits and gifts. We only have a limited amount of time to do this, and if we waste too much time unnecessarily stuck in a loop, we may not complete our lesson in this lifetime and will have to come back. The only way to come back is to die. So, if we keep missing the mark, if we don't make the proper turns to stick closely the Way, we get lost at a dead end.
The point of a life lesson is not to stay there, but to grasp the lesson, then pass on by. If we think to Jacob for a moment, he met God at Beth El, then he moved on. He met God again later at Penuel, etc. It was never the same place twice, but even in new places, he continued to meet God.
When we remove the moralistic overtones from sin, we see more clearly that our lives have a purpose, and that our purpose fits into God's greater purpose. It is not a necessarily a moral failing to become lost, but it is our responsibility to keep the path in sight, and to get back on it if we somehow find ourselves off track.
Perhaps the most humbling lesson we can take from this passage is that, no matter how highly we think of ourselves, we are all still works in progress. Repentance is called the process of turning for a reason. We came here with an agenda of items to rectify. Thus, there are deliberate actions that we must take, the first of which is to see and acknowledge that we need to turn in the first place!
In most cases, the sin we commit is not borne from an evil or malicious place, but is often the result of our unconscious engagement in bad thoughts or habits. Unfortunately, we are often totally unaware of these self-defeating habits, and thus unwittingly prolong the resulting consequences until we come into awareness of them.
However, regardless of the motivation or intent, the problems caused by sin are still very real, and they can still hurt. Thus, it is in our best interest to correct our sin by getting rid of bad habits, preferably replacing them with good ones. Like the lost driver, we keep repeating the same types of problems until we do as the Masons say, "take notice and govern ourselves accordingly."
At this auspicious time, let's pledge to take notice of our beingness and our behaviors, pledge to be honest with ourselves, pledge to become aware of the turn that we keep missing on this road of life, and pledge to be courageous enough to turn away from dead end of our mistakes and shortcomings, and turn to life everlasting.