New week and yet we press on with that notion of 'caster's out' from James Alison.
It is those who receive the cast-out one who are enabled to live without sin. Righteousness is defined in terms of Jesus, because he goes to the Father, therefore goodness is seen in terms of the loving obedience by which Jesus gave witness to his Father even to death: righteousness is the mutual self-giving of the Father and the Son which we call love, love lived out under the circumstances of victimage. Judgment is redefined in terms of Jesus because in what appeared to be the judgment and expulsion of Jesus, it really was the ruler -- which can equally well be Satan or the governing principle of the world, who was revealed for what he is, and thus judged.
Alison is not saying we can live without sin. That would be ridiculous. He is saying that there is a pattern - a way - a life action that is a part of the life in which the life of sin is pushed to the side for a life of openness to that which is thrown out. In other words, we begin this journey of following Jesus by taking our place alongside the people who the world and all of its many faces ignore or cast out or seek to destroy. That action is the shape of the love that will not let anyone go - not you - not me - not our enemies - not those considered the worst-of-the-worst. This is not a love we readily embrace. It is much easier and much more safe to embrace a limited love - which is not at all the love of God that we see in Jesus. Limited love is the love of the world. Most times, limited love leaves room for hate - destruction - war - brutality - and on and on. Thus, it is not love that is the image of God. It is love that is the image of the 'evil one' - self-indulgent love that fears giving of one's life for the welfare of another - because no one's life is worth my life. When we love like this Jesus we follow - we really make Satan show the colors of hatred right out in the open.
Connection: To live without sin - without that turned-in-on-self that Luther so often described - is to live all the more in that place. For once we place ourselves above the brokenness of our humanity, we place ourselves in that horrible position of blaming others for what is wrong with the world. It is a deadly game. And yet, when we allow ourselves to be with those folks that are often cast out of the circles of our lives, we begin to find new ways to be truly human - truly loving - truly open to the power of God's love that runs through us all.
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