WB Milkshake Blues
Depending on your Christian tradition, you either hear about sin too much or not enough. Today’s preacher has the huge task of addressing sin in a way that leads the guilty to repentance without trapping the despairing in shame. Guilt is not a bad emotion, as recognizing that we are culpable allows the opportunity to seek forgiveness and make things right Addressing sin is important because we cause more problems when we sweep it under a rug and pretend like everything is okay.
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For John Wesley, talking about sin is essentially practical: it is a conversation designed to move the sinner to repentance. Wesley did not trouble himself too much with the philosophies behind the origin of sin if it did not lead to practical results. While Wesley did write much about sin, and his own theories on the origins of sin may have changed over his lifetime. As Randy Maddox writes, “The purpose of Wesley’s reflections on fallen humanity was not to provide a justification for sin, but to demonstrate the necessity and scope of salvation from sin” (Responsible Grace, 83).
Perhaps you’ve heard of the theory of original sin, a doctrine espousing that all humanity inherits the guilt of Adam and Eve’s sin. Theologians throughout the centuries have come up with some pretty interesting ideas around how this works (the weirdest is that all humanity was seminally existing in Adam’s loins, and therefore we all participated with him in his sin). These theories often assume the sin is passed on through the physical body, making the body inherently lesser than the soul. Eastern Christianity has largely avoided the idea of original sin and instead as Maddox says, “simply stressed that the cause of mortality is our separation from God’s empowering Presence, and that the path to overcoming its effects begins with our renewed participation in God” (RG, 78). Wesley leaned towards this understanding, and shied away from theories about the logistics of how original sin passes from one person to the next. For Wesley, what matters is our responsibility for our sin, our actual guilt for missing the mark of God’s image. In other words, I’m not guilty because of something Adam did. I’m guilty because of something I did. Or didn’t do (can’t leave out the sins of omission!).
Adam and Eve’s sin removed them from the garden and fundamentally severed their connection to God. We are born into the world separated from God from the very beginning, a state that leads to the debilitation of our faculties for good. Removed from the Infinite, Limitless God, we are inherently finite and limited, and just as our bodies corrupt and fail over time, so are we corrupt and failing in our tempers, our words, and our actions. Wesley was drawn to the language of sin as a sort of disease that infiltrates every part of our lives such that we are totally incapable of saving ourselves apart from God’s healing intervention as the Great Physician. In this sense, Wesley viewed humanity as totally depraved. This does not mean that each person is as evil as possible, but rather it indicates our complete helplessness to correctly bear the image of God.
For the comic, I used the metaphor of a damaged and leaking milkshake because I thought it was funny, but the metaphor misses the mark (both the greek and hebrew phrases translated as sin mean “to miss the goal”). God doesn’t magically give you a perfect new milkshake when you repent and believe. It marks the start of a healing process that can take a lifetime. As we practice the presence of God, as we constantly seek to have the mind of Christ in us, we undo the corruption of our tempers, words, and actions and march ever onward toward the goal of perfect love for God and neighbor. I’ll leave you with a better metaphor to chew on. This week, reflect on this scripture and wonder at God’s incredible plan to save you from the grip of sin and death and bring lifelong healing.
For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.