I’ve had enough of death lately — I think we’ve ALL had enough. Over a 120,00 Americans have died from the coronavirus – over 450,000 worldwide. People are dying in American streets. My dear aunt died a couple weeks ago and this past week our good friend and neighbor died. You have your own personal experiences of death and dying. It can be a lot. And yet, I’m going to ask you to embrace death. Your own death. I’m going to ask you to consider yourselves dead to sin and the guilt and shame that is holding you back from living.
That’s what our Reading today is asking. In our reading today from Romans there is a lot of death and dying. The word death or dying or dead is mentioned 13 times. And that number goes up if you include these related words also mentioned in this short reading: crucified, destroyed, buried and enslaved.
Paul’s letter to the Romans, from which this reading was taken, was intended to be an introduction to Christianity for people Paul had not met yet and who were just learning about Jesus. And you really can’t understand Jesus unless you know about his death. Because his death is our death and his life is our life!
When Paul speaks about death in this section of the letter we heard today, he’s not speaking about physical death – the kind caused by injury, disease or age. He’s talking about an end to the reign of sin and brokenness in our lives. The death he talks about is the death of the old destructive forces – both within us and outside of us — that keep us from being alive and free. This is what Jesus’ death on the cross does for us! It crucifies and buries things in us that don’t belong there! Things that harm us and threaten our life and spirit. And what Jesus’ resurrection does for us is to create a new person who lives and breathes the life and Spirit of Christ.
In the first verse of this reading, Paul bemoans the fact that even though Jesus died and lives, we continue to “live in sin!” Why would we continue “living in sin?” he wonders. Now that phrase has been misinterpreted and misused to suggest that SOME of us, sinners who are defined as persistent, stubborn and unrepentant, like to keep doing bad things even though we know better. We use “living in sin” to refer to some immoral vice that we enjoy too much to let go.
But when Paul talks about “living in sin” he isn’t talking about some forbidden pre-marital housing arrangement. He’s talking about it as a pre-existing and chronic condition that ALL people share that prevents us from truly living. “Living in sin” – continuing in sin — is something we ALL do in spite of what Jesus has done for us. We do it when we allow our reluctance to accept the life and freedom Jesus gives to get in the way of living fully in Christ.
Living in sin means living with an overinflated view of ourselves that comes from self-centered pride and a blindness to our own needs, our very real vulnerabilities and our interdependency on others. It can also mean living with a grossly deflated view of ourselves driven by insecurity, past and present wounds or hurtful words. And a blindness to the inherent goodness and beauty of being who we are. Living either way prevents us from perceiving ourselves and the world the way Jesus does or hearing the cries of suffering around us or doing anything about the problems of our world. It keeps us from being who we are and is an obstacle to being of any good or use to those we love. Living with fears and baggage keeps us from loving our neighbor and even SEEING our neighbor.
Living in sin means living with burdens that have been lifted from our shoulders and insecurities that no longer need to frighten us. It means living with guilt and shame that’s been removed from us. Living in sin means living with consequences of a condition that has been replaced with a new permanent and lasting relationship with God and each other. There is so much at stake! Our life and freedom, the health of our world and the welfare of our neighbor all hang in the balance! How can we go on living like this? Paul asks a very good question.
So what Paul suggests – what he PROCLAIMS to us – is that all of that brokenness gets buried and crucified and DIES with Jesus. Imagine putting all that baggage, all those inaccurately inflated and deflated views of yourself all those fears and regrets and put them in a wheelbarrow or – if necessary — into the trailer of a semi-truck and unload them all and shove them all into that tomb where Jesus lay buried for you. And roll the stone back in place and just leave them there.
Because a new person walked out of that tomb. It’s a forgiven person. It’s a restored person. It’s a whole person – a free person. A person who sees in themself what God created – someone who is loved and accepted. That new person is you and me.
This is what baptism is all about. It is a gift that buries and resurrects. And joins us to Christ. When we are joined to him, we walk in newness of life. Not on worn out paths of things we tried and done before – but newness. New thoughts, new mindsets, new priorities. That new person is aware of their valuable place in the world and is open to possibilities. That new person is ready to adapt to the needs around them and approach the world as its servant and caretaker. That new person answers the call and is even ready to empty themselves and give themselves away! That new person is supported by promises like the one Jesus made to his followers in our Gospel for today: “those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”
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