In the next few days I will copy what James Alison writes about 'the subversion from within of the understanding of sin that is operated by Jesus' death and resurrection' - he does two things and today is the second.
The second thing John is doing in his subversion of sin is linking directly the subversion of the understanding of sin with the subversion of the understanding of the Father. This is what is meant by the Holy Spirit convicting the world with regard to the understanding of righteousness (John 16: 8-11). The new understanding of righteousness was made available by the resurrection opening up the free flow of love between Father and Son. For John, as can be seen from these passages, the change in the perception of God that is brought about by the resurrection is also, simultaneously, a change in the perception of sin.
It is so important to remember that the resurrection does change all things - all things. The love of God will subvert any other notion about God. This could be very discouraging to folks who want God to be as we would be - the one who points a finger and wags it and then will destroy the 'other'. And yet, our God - the God of the resurrection - embraces and liberates and raises from the dead one who is condemned and judged as worthy of expulsion. Crucify him. THAT is God. Why waste our lives trusting in a God who condemns and demands moral purity when our God is one who loves - without limit - without condition - without evidence of good behavior? It is finally God who is righteous and God is righteous because God will be God - not our notion of God. Therefore, the victim - the condemned - become the beloved. God will not be other than the one who loves - right through death and abandonment. In the midst of this kind of love for those who are despised, sin becomes more and more actions of those who must condemn in order to have control over what is right and good. But having control over that which is right and good is to claim to be God - that is the depth of sin. That is the breaking of the first commandment (no other gods) because we attempt to take on the place of God by our judgments to push other out - exclude. In our attempts to be a 'righteous' people we so often become a part of the depth of human brokenness - sin.
Connection: Only God is God. That is the power of the resurrection and it is the end of sin. Only this love - this unbounded love - this love beyond all the death that can be manufactured is God. But now, how does that kind of love - that can raise up the ones who have been push down and thrown out - become visible and available among us?
O God of life, you pull us through death each day and you raise us up to new life. Ignite that life within us so that within the ordinary time around us your love will be visible in each and every act of your beloved people. Amen.
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