More from "the Joy of Being Wrong" and a look at sin and resurrection.
Alison continues to look at the mechanism of exclusion.
We have here, then, a further subversion from within. Just as Jesus subverts the notion of judgment from within, so also the notion of sin is subverted from within. Jesus doesn't abolish the concept of sin or simply define it much more strongly than before. The notion of sin is subverted from within, in the light of the resurrection of the crucified one, in such a way that what sin is is shown to be much more drastic than previous interpretations, but from quite a different direction. Sin is not what excludes in the person of the excluded one, but the dynamic act of excluding in the persons of the excluders.
It sounds to me like that description of those who point and blame others for all that is wrong with life and the world - one finger points out and the others point back at the one pointing. Not unlike other times, there is plenty of folks pointing fingers and making sure someone out there is condemned for what they have done or what they have not done. Usually the ones who try to exclude people from ranks of the 'good' or the 'right' or the 'holy' have many good reasons for excluding - the best of reasons. The language of exclusion can sound harsh and brutal and it can also sound 'pastoral' - as though we are doing this for your own good. And yet, both 'manners' of exclusion exclude the other. It is unfortunate that fear and anxiety and even the 'pursuit of happiness' can turn us into real working cogs in that mechanism of exclusion. As that happens, we fall into that domain of self-righteousness that is far from the domain of grace we all tend to lift up as our home. So, one of my questions today is how we stay vigilant against our need to cut some folks out or at least make it look like they don't belong. We all do it - but we all do it with our own patterns that are often not seen by us.
Connection: What can we do when the demon of demonization is winning over our lives. I know that all I need is an introductory comment by another person and I can jump in there and exclude with the best of them. Once again, we are invited to prayerfully consider the wideness of God's gracious Reign and keep looking in the mirror to see if we are seeing such grace in our own lives.
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