The Greatest Sin

Reading Amount:

John 18:1-19:42

Central Verse:

Jesus answered him, "You would have no power over me unless it had been given you from above; therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin." John 19:11 NRSV

Central Truth:

There is a sin that is worst than all others according to the Gospel of John. It is the rejection of God in the form of Jesus, you can be redeemed from this sin but it is the primary issue in the way of salvation for John.

Food for Thought: (Questions about the text)

There is always a question of who was responsible for the death of Jesus, it is important theologically and historically. Who do you think is responsible?

Connections: (Time with our Society)

In many of our churches there is an almost constant emphasis on sin. This also happens in how our churches interact with society there is a huge emphasis on what people do and the sin that people engage in. In the Gospel of John the greatest sin is to not acknowledge who Jesus is. Pilate is afraid in the theme verse and in an odd way Jesus comforts him at first to show that at that moment he is not the one to blame. It is those who don't acknowledge who he is. The sad part is towards the end of the reading Pilate joins the "Jews" as one of the unbelievers who encounters Jesus but doesn't acknowledge who he is.

We have to ask ourselves how things would be different if we emphasized knowing Jesus as opposed to what people are doing wrong. This is a call for us to err on the side of grace as opposed to judgment. To look at others and see the potential for faith not the primacy of sins. This is a difficult task for us to engage in. Some will see us weak for not calling people out on their sins. Others will see us as asking to much, to believe that Jesus was and is God. Yet this is our task if we are going to share the Gospel with everyone and have the maximum amount of opportunities.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ortega: "Man Has No Nature"

"Man has to be himself in spite of unfavorable circumstances; that means he has to make his own existence at every single moment. He is given the abstract possiblity of existing, but not the reality." Today unfortunatly I got very little opportunity to read but when I did I was able to read and excerpt from Ortega (of course dealing with existentialism). Ortega has a very nice writing style that is very understandable but also thought provoking. This quote I have above is the first two sentences of the selection. What struck me about these sentences is the reality of it. Man is the one that chooses his reality. That is he chooses who or what he is to be. Man is under the influence of countless things in his life, religion, politics, friends, and family, not to mention history in general but it is his/her choices that influences his/her reality. I am not saying that man creates his /her reality apart or separate from physical scientific reality. What I am saying is th
Read more

Theology vs. Scripture

I've been doing some thinking. I've been apart of and have been watching the discussion taking place on Locust and Honey on the General conference. I did post some statements but recently a relatively short discussion on homosexuality has surfaced. Now this is a hot button issue for pretty much everyone but there were a few issues I had with the various points that were given, as well as some thoughts on what is happening in the church right now around this issue. First off, I was struck by the insistence that the church needs to be open and affirming. I am not making any claims on whether this is right or wrong but the church has never in its history been an "open and affirming" organization. This is just a statement of fact, and I find it quite interesting that most people claim that the Methodist church needs to be open and affirming when I believe that John Wesley would not have been. Lest we forget John was known for kicking people out of his societies if
Read more

Stewardship Prayer

Scripture: 1 Kings 19:1-13 Central Verse: “…but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.” 1 Kings 19:14b-13 Central Truth: This is the second lesson in our stewardship series and it focuses on Prayer. This may seem like an odd verse to focus on prayer within our membership vows but we must take the time to begin to understand in the most basic elements what prayer is. Prayer is communication with God. With communication there are two important attributes to the conversation. The first is listening and the second is speaking. Most people would put speaking as the primary for conversation but it is just the opposite which is listening. When we speak about prayer in its most basic components we are talking about conversation. Most of the time it feels like we do all the talking. We fill up the silence of our lives with it. This relegates the ro
Read more