The Solution

Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week. Holy Week is a reminder, acknowledgement, and celebration of all that Jesus has done for us. 

Last week's sermon covered the problem of sin. This week's sermon covers the solution and how Jesus is the solution. 

Even though we are a culture that bases knowledge on science, we want to know what ancient wisdom has to say. But we cannot understand ancient truth in the same way we parse data. We have to take it on its own terms or we miss the point. 

Sin is more than our mistakes. Sin is a corrosive element in the world. Sin blocks us from the blessings and beauty of the world. Sin is like rust. It cannot be solved through rules or violence. It can only be solved through new life. Christ brought that new life. 

Christianity has various views on what the death of Jesus means. One view is that Jesus was the only perfect sacrifice and Jesus bore God's wrath for us. This is a very popular Protestant view today; but, it wasn't the view of early (biblical times) Christians. The primitive Church said Jesus overcame death and sin. 

The early Church (pre-Constantine) was persecuted and viewed worldly power and evil. Jesus overcame Satan through His death and resurrection. 

The next view was put forth by St. Anselm. The power of rulers came from God. Humans failed to live up to their purpose. We dishonor God this way. Jesus restored that honor. 

All these views are both right and wrong. It is a mystery. We cannot conceive of the whole of it. 

We need to go back to the beginning and revisit this issue. Culture in biblical times was relational and built on covenants. Marriage, friendship, business deals, and governance were all based on covenants. 

Covenants had three things in common:

1. They were binding. 

2. They depended on loyalty or faithfulness. 

3. Good relational partners were righteous. 

God's solution to sin is based on a covenant. In Abraham's initial covenant with God, God guaranteed both sides, all Abraham had to do was believe. The Law came later. It created culture and let them know what God was like. God's covenant in the Old Testament failed -- it was broken again and again. The sacrifices in the Old Testament were not about God's anger. They were also not the focus of worship. They were a way of restoring a broken relationship. 

Harkening back to Abraham, the broken covenant was a problem for God because God promised to see the covenant fulfilled. Enter Jesus Christ - a gift of God's righteousness to us. Jesus (i.e. God) healed the relationship we broke. Through Jesus God made certain the covenant succeeded, just as Abraham was promised. God fulfilled both sides of the covenant. 

Jesus is the righteousness of God AND our righteousness to God. God's love is not passive - its aggressive and demonstrative. It is so much bigger than the worries that consume us. It overcomes the corrosiveness of sin in the world. 

This brings us to the Orthodox view, Jesus came to heal the sickness of sin and bring us, healed and whole, to God.