Now you, mortal, say to the house of Israel, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we waste away because of them; how then can we live?” Say to them, As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways; for why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:10-11)
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet”; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law (Romans 13:8-10).
If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Matthew 18:15-20).
Is Belief in Human Goodness Mere Self-Deception?
Psychological studies and clinical observations on self-esteem reveal a consistent human tendency: Even among the many who consider themselves not good enough, the vast majority consider themselves good people. Better than most, in fact, especially morally. Of course, not everyone can exceed the average, so almost half must be wrong.
Meanwhile, the news pummels us with reports of human evil. The rich use political muscle to get richer and not pass down the largesse. Political strongmen wage wars for the sake of their egos as much as anything else, and people sign on who want to take refuge under a winner’s wings. From the riff-raff, school shooters, sex traffickers, online hackers, and racial hate-baiters keep up their common terrorism. Among so many who consider themselves basically good, humanity’s inhumanity to humanity marches on.
Furthermore, it takes great spiritual, moral, and psychological maturity to search our hearts and find our complicity with the evils of the world in our attitudes, omissions, and commissions. It takes inner strength to revert focus from the evils of others to our own. Those with the maturity and strength to find their own crimes, misdemeanors, and character flaws seldom buy the consensus claim by each individual of being basically good.
Yet, it is my paradoxical conviction, supported, I believe, by God’s word in the lectionary readings for today, that in spite of all that empirically observable evil, the common assumption has merit. We are each basically good. Even the people who appall us are basically good. God created all of us in God’s image and said that we are good. Sin does not cancel that out.
Sin and Our Relationship With Our Goodness
Rather, sin misdirects our relationship with goodness. Sin, Satan, the Enemy of our beloved selves – all the same, I’ll stick with the word, “sin” as Paul does – works angles to skew our relationship with our own goodness. Sin uses good things to steer us away from the better. As Paul famously implied, sin especially loves to lead us astray with the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments? Really? Do not misunderstand. We need them for the good life. In their brief preface, God introduces them as guidelines to protect and enjoy the freedom God gave the Israelites in the Exodus. They serve the same purpose for us today whenever we accept freedom from the many forces that can enslave us. The “thou-shalt-nots” give us guardrails. Given our difficulties staying in our lanes, that is no small gift. Hence, the psalmist sings gratitude for God’s commandments.
But sin appeals for further self-preservation: Do not get your hopes up about positives, sin counsels. Double down on negative thou-shalt-nots to avoid harm. As for life’s rewards, take the safe route. Rely on your own savvy and hard work. Don’t bet the farm on free gifts from God. Obey the commandments enough to stay out of trouble, then do it your way. St. Peter cannot deny you entrance at the Pearly Gates if you arrive with clean hands. Square deal.
I believe such thinking underlies much self-justification by those who appall us and by ourselves. Such thinking underlies nominal faith that people claim but do not live. Sin exploits the negative form of the commandments: Thou-shalt-not. But we cannot love based on avoidance alone.
Thou Shalt Love
Sin implies that the commandments write the script for obedience to God. They do not. Thou-shalt-nots do not constitute a life. They merely set the stage. Love writes the script. Christ produces. The Holy Spirit directs. And it is all a massive gift.
Paul flips sin’s script: “The commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’” (Romans 13:9). Notice the shift from thou-shalt-not to thou-shalt, from negative to positive, from guardrails to open road. Focus on loving with all its perils and the commandments will fall in line.
But “thou-shalt-not” is so much easier to discern than “love.” We wear out “love” with overuse. “Make love, not war” and “I love pistachio ice cream” and countless other uses cheapen the word’s value. But often enough we use the word with a hint of its truth when we mean we are willing to give something of ourselves for whatever we say we love. In the case of God and neighbor, Christ bids us give all of ourselves.
Julian’s Analogy: Love as Essence, Sin as Accident
Yes, all of ourselves. God is love, and God made us in God’s image. When we love as Christ loves us, our basic goodness shines through. Granted, people who love make mistakes, rather notoriously so. With that in mind, Julian of Norwich offered a helpful analogy: A servant so desires to please his master, that he runs hard – too hard – down a path to pick the master’s favorite vegetable for him. The servant outruns himself, stumbles, and falls. He lies injured, unable to get up, see the master, or even complete his mission. All because he loves his master with so much zeal that he cannot keep his balance.
On our own, the passion of our love overwhelms us, and we fall off course. We find ourselves in sin, falling short of our goal and out of touch with God. Ironically, it all starts with our goodness, our essential love.
If you’re thinking that the zealous servant needed guardrails – by analogy, the Ten Commandments – then you are right. But how does Julian depict the servant’s master? Infinitely gracious. The master understands that the servant’s deepest motive is love. So the master forgives the servant for failing. The master sees the servant’s basic goodness.
Repentance and Forgiveness
Ezekiel gives us a more intimidating image of the master, God, as he warns about bad times to come for those who displease God. But look more closely: The thing that ultimately displeases God is not the sinning but the failure to repent. For this God – yes, even this Old Testament rendition – is love and wants nothing more than loving communion with us. Sin separates us from God, but it cannot lock the door between us. Only we can lock the door by our stubborn refusal to come clean. Such stubborn pride confounds any relationship, whether with God or fellow humans.
So when Jesus in our gospel lesson spells out step-by-step procedures for reconciling with a fellow disciple who wronged us, he does not mean put the person through the torture of repeated exposure. He means give the person chance after chance to respond out of the basic goodness essential to their nature. If the person stubbornly refuses down to the end, he counseled, “Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and tax collector” (Mt 18:17b). This from a Messiah who forgives sinners and tax collectors. This from a rabbi who counsels Peter in the verses immediately following today’s reading that the limit to forgiving is seventy times seven, meaning more than you can keep count. Such forgiveness is loving others as God loves us.
“Where Two or Three Are Gathered in My Name…..”
In affirming our authority to forgive, Jesus concludes with a verse that I consider one of the most important in scripture: “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (v. 20). For me, the individual, that has profound practical implications: I come here to worship because you are here, and I really love you. Before that, I come here because Wanda is here, and I REALLY love her. But even before her, I come here because Christ is here, and I really, REALLY love Christ, the love of whom permeates all loves. As long as we welcome one another warts and all and forgive when we hurt or disappoint each other, I know that he is here.
To close, let me share with you another place I go to meet Christ. As a therapist, I have had the privilege of serving as a secular confessor for thousands of people. Why, you might ask, would anybody do that their entire working life? Because whether my clients realize it or not, we gather there in Christ’s name because Christ called me there. I’m on the lookout for Christ, the one who promised to meet me wherever I care for fellow sinners who are hungry, thirsty, alien, ashamed, and imprisoned (Mt 25:31-40), literally or metaphorically. When trust builds, defenses go down, and humility rises from the person’s sacred heart, Christ comes clear. Then our basic goodness comes most clear to me.
The Case from Experience
In other words, I am wrapping up a biblical case for believing in our basic goodness in spite of our sins. But if you are not convinced by the argument, I am with you. It does not convince me fully either. Rather, I believe in the goodness of people from direct experience of Christ in them.
You do not have to do work like mine for that experience, although I know some of you do and likely know what I’m talking about. Whatever your work and family context, whoever you befriend or encounter in your everyday life, remember you are a sinner among sinners. Remember God’s mercy for you and for the other, however lovely or unlovely. Whether you give a smile or lunch together or advocate politically for their needs, Christ is there among you. In an unlikely place, perhaps with an unlikely person, on a weekday, you find yourself in church. Love and praise him. Christ shares his all with you, you know. And however sin may grip you even moments before, he wants communion with you. Take, eat, this is his body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of him.
Related Posts
Julian’s Joyful Insight Into Sin (During Bad Times Like Ours)
Crisis Telephone Contemplation
Because He Meets Us in Trials (poem)
Hold Your Head Up and Practice Confession
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God (Matthew 5:7-8).
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez 🇨🇦 on Unsplash. Public Domain.
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