If there is one reoccurring theme on this sporadic blog, it is that nothing I say should be confused with scholarship.
Why Jesus doesn't throw rocks is a phrase I've been working at for a while. In the gospel of John, Jesus is attempting to save a woman from being stoned. He writes something in the sand and says, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." The men drop their rocks and walk away. I've been struggling with this text for quite a while- and here is why.
The Simpsons
Almost everything in life goes back to a Simpsons quote for me. The one I am thinking about involves Homer stealing Flanders' air-conditioner. When Flanders confronts him, Homer quotes the, "let he without sin" line. He is interrupted by a bludgeoning rock that hits him in the face. "Got 'em Dad" says Todd Flanders.
The idea that Flanders' kids are without sin is comical. Flanders would have sinless kids. And he would throw a rock. Jesus chooses not to throw the rock. Why wouldn't he? That got me thinking... is Jesus sinless?
Someone reading this is more well read than me may be able to shed more light on this. But this Simpsons' gag had led me to believe that Jesus was not putting himself in the sinless category. Jesus didn't throw a rock. Now that seems contrary to the line he gave before it, since it seems like "let he without sin" would be Jesus referring to himself in the 3rd person, rather a trade-mark of JC. But he doesn't throw rocks. Jesus never doles out the punishment that he reserves for the sinless.
Now the first time I came to this conclusion I was distraught, for obvious reasons. No I don't think the text is perfect, nor do I believe that Jesus is accurately portrayed in the gospels- especially John.
A few weeks ago I heard a sermon by a person who is more learned than I, and he talked about the nature of Sin as something corporate. No, I'm not talking about some stupid band. Corporate sin is bigger than the individual. In our day and age where corporations are caught up in greed so profoundly, this concept is easier to accept.
This sermon addressed the issue that we ask for forgiveness often for small sinful offenses, and we ignore some of the more dangerous ones. We do not often sit down and ask for forgiveness for things like war, pollution, oppression, consumption of natural resources, and hatred of foreign people. We get preoccupied with sins associated to money, sex, greed, jealousy and things that exist in our own minds, often only acted out by us.
In confirmation class I once asked if I'd be a sinner if I slept all day and didn't have a bad thought or harm anyone. I didn't get an answer that satisfied me. Now I realize sin as corporate. See being human is living in sin. It's part of our nature and our nurture. We live in a sinful society and that's never going to change. Being in sin is like being in skin.
I think you can see where I'm going with this. I believe that Jesus was fully human- sin and all. Otherwise, would he really be human? If Jesus never had to deal with temptation, with addiction, with selfishness, and with pride, then he sure as hell wasn't fully human! And if that is hard for you to swallow, it would be hard for you to assume that Jesus didn't eat food that came from slaves, or live in a country that supported war, or break the Jewish laws.The guy was a guy in a society- as part of a society. Does Jesus make the society perfect or does the society make Jesus imperfect?
Thus, his sin is inevitable. He is not the one without sin to throw rocks.
But the beauty of Jesus Christ is that he didn't want to throw rocks. He could have. The other guys were doin' it. Here Jesus can serve as fully human and fully divine. He does the right thing knowing it won't be popular. Jesus rarely let himself have fun. He knew a thing or two about delayed gratification and the piety to say all the right things.
Jesus can still be the best at avoiding sin in the history of the world, and not be perfect. That's all I'm saying.
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4 comments:
Daniel I thought about responding in all Luther quotes but I won't. Instead I will just say how I read the title in relation to the story without going where you go down the Arian highway.
When Jesus tells the crowd, 'let the one without sin cast the first stone.' and no one responds, Jesus has put everyone is a stance of honest assessment of their lives. They see themselves before the Law as judged. That Jesus too does not throw a stone, is not a likewise confession of his own guilt before the law, but the proclamation of the gospel. "Where are your condemners?....neither do I condemn you." You said, 'The beauty of Jesus Christ is that he didn't throw rocks' and I agree, because it is the beauty of the gospel.
One more thing, though leaving the text is less fun. Classical theology recognizes that sin is not constitutive of being human, it is the privation or absence of us being fully human - an image of God. Temptation is a very human thing, but we know Jesus was tempted. Nonetheless, if we see sin rather as a state of being and faith as its opposite, then the question is less the sinlessness of Christ, but his faith-full-ness. For Jesus Christ to be fully God and Human is then to say he was fully human and lived a life that was consistently characterized by faith (as a way of being) and not sin. Then to say this faith-filled life, after the resurrection, was seen to be the simultaneously the event in which the world's sin (state of being) was revealed and judged before the law (on the cross), yet this word of death was not the last word, because God - like Jesus - does not throw stones (God rolls them away!), but gives again the gospel proclamation, "neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more (or go and live in faith).
That is my best attempt to rehabilitate your Lutheranism.
Thanks for your insights, Tripp. A funny note, I like how you want to "rehabilitate my Lutheranism" by "responding in all Luther quotes."
I still like the idea that for Jesus to be fully human he should know sin, and my Lutheranism doesn't really play a part in that. I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind down the road.
Jesus is the only one who knows sin fully, precisely by it not being constitutive of his humanity yet embracing it on his life and on the cross.
Just how a sinful Jesus saves sinners would be the next question to ask yourself.
Very good point. I have no answer for that.
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