Posts tagged ‘Atonement’
Sermon Extra – When Guilt Won’t Go Away
In my message this weekend, I talked about how Israel’s worship of the golden calf in Exodus 32 became a watershed and guilt-inducing moment for literally centuries in ancient Israel.
For instance, ancient Jews paid an annual half-shekel tax for the upkeep of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus references this tax when He instructs Peter: “Go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours” (Matthew 17:27). The coin Peter finds is equal to a shekel––enough to pay the tax for both Jesus and Peter.
But this tax was not merely about maintenance. It was also tied, in later Jewish interpretation, to malfeasance. A Jewish collection of sermons known as Midrash Tanchuma connects the half-shekel tax to Israel’s sin with the golden calf: “Because they had violated the Ten Commandments,” and specifically the First Commandment when they made the calf, “each one had to give ten gerah, which totals half a shekel” (Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 10:1). The tax became, in this tradition, a way of reckoning with guilt for a sin committed centuries earlier.
Another tradition, which I did not mention in my message, notes that on the Day of Atonement, the high priest of Israel, who usually sported a jewel-encrusted golden breastpiece, would enter the inner sanctum of the temple wearing simple white linen garment, according the instructions first given Moses in Leviticus 16:4. Later rabbinic interpretation explains why: “For what reason does the High Priest not enter the innermost sanctum, the Holy of Holies, with his golden garments to perform the service there on the Day of Atonement? It is because a prosecutor cannot become an advocate” (Babylonian Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 26a).
In other words, because gold had been used to forge Israel’s most infamous idol, the high priest could not wear gold while making atonement for Israel. The material associated with Israel’s accusation could not also be worn in Israel’s defense.
It is striking that both of these traditions arose long after the golden calf catastrophe. Guilt over this one sin lingered for a long time.
Have you ever struggled with guilt that just will not go away? Maybe it’s guilt over the cross word that became the beginning of the end of a relationship. Maybe it’s guilt over a failure as a parent. Maybe it’s guilt over an old decision you’re still terrified someone will discover.
When Moses first walks into the golden calf calamity, he says, “Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin” (Exodus 32:30). But Moses’ best efforts at atonement fail. In the end, “the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made” (Exodus 32:35).
Atonement for sinners by another sinner—even if that sinner is a man as great as Moses—never works.
This is why, at the heart of the Christian faith, there is an atonement made not by Moses on a mountain, but by Jesus on a cross. Not by a sinner doing his best, but by the sinless Son of God giving His life.
Only Jesus can make atonement for sinners. And because He has, the guilt you feel is not spiritually real. Your payments, rituals, self-punishment, and refusal to forgive yourself cannot do what Jesus has already done. He has forgiven you. And His grace is greater than your guilt.
You do not need to keep paying for what Christ has already covered.
ABC Extra – You’re Inadequate
This weekend in worship and ABC we talked about the stain of inadequacy. We’ve all grappled with inadequacy, of course. A project we’ve been working on isn’t up to snuff according to the boss. And we feel inadequate. The money we make isn’t enough to keep up with our next-door neighbors. And we feel inadequate.
I always enjoy watching the opening outtakes on the hit FOX TV show, “American Idol.” Some of the auditions are atrocious. What is really fascinating to me, however, is that some of these contestants, who couldn’t carry a tune if their lives depended on it, believe that they are truly good singers. When they find out that they are not, they are crushed. And they feel inadequate.
I suspect that Peter must have felt much like an “American Idol” contestant feels after Simon Cowell announces, “That was atrocious.” As Luke 5 opens, we find Peter, a professional fisherman, casting his nets into the Sea of Galilee. And Peter was no poor fisherman. To the contrary, he was one of the best. But even one of the best gets skunked from time to time. And this was the case with Peter. He had been fishing all night and had not caught a thing. But not to worry, for a carpenter from Nazareth named Jesus is on the case. “Put out into the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch,” Jesus says (verse 4). A carpenter giving advice to a seasoned fisherman on fishing? That’s rich. But Peter trusts and obeys the Lord. And the results are nothing short of miraculous: “When [Peter and his companions] had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break“ (verse 6). Apparently, this carpenter knows a thing or two about fishing. And all of a sudden, Peter is struck with an acute bout of inadequacy. He says to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man” (verse 8)! Jesus, in turn, responds to Peter’s declaration with a promise of hope in the midst of inadequacy: “Don’t be afraid” (verse 10).
Sadly, many people have twisted this precious promise of Jesus. In the sixteenth century, a young monk named Martin Luther twisted this promise by refusing to believe it. He refused to hearken unto God’s call to “be not afraid.” Instead, in his younger years, he saw God only as a cruel taskmaster who would surely damn all mankind for their inadequacies. Blessedly, he later came to understand the wonderful compassion of our God, expressed in Jesus Christ. In the twenty-first century, many people twist this promise by turning God into a wrathless deity who overlooks, rather than forgives, sins. The promise, “Do not be afraid,” is conceived as an admission that God does not really care about, much less gets angry over, sin. Indeed, a popular preacher recently toured the country with the message, “The gods aren’t angry.” His point was this: God is not angry with you or at your sin. But this is not true. God is angry. And He’s angry at your sin. As the apostle Paul writes, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men” (Romans 1:18). God has wrath at sin. Jesus says, “Do not fear,” not because God doesn’t get angry with sin and sinners, but because His wrath is taken by Jesus Christ in our place for our sins on the cross. It is by Jesus’ work on the cross that our sins are forgiven.
When Jesus tells Peter, “Do not be afraid,” it isn’t because Peter is really a good guy. No, Peter’s statement, “I am a sinful man,” is perfectly true. He is inadequate. But through Christ’s atoning work, Peter’s sin is taken away and he has nothing to fear. The answer to inadequacy is not to pretend you’re adequate. You’re not. The answer to inadequacy is to trust in Jesus because He is more than adequate. He is perfect. And His perfection covers all of our inadequate sins. Find your adequacy in Christ.
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