Wednesday in The Week of The 3rd Sunday of Easter (04/29/09)

Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.

--1 John 3:4-5

Lawlessness? Who wouldn't want a little of that? Think of it: no rights, wrongs, rules, regulations, or restrictions. Lawlessness would be perfect freedom, no?


Not according to God. The language is clear: sin is lawlessness. Before God, sin makes us, literally, outlaws. There's a price on our heads. But we don't like to look at it that way. We make rationalizations about sin -- such as "Well, we're all human; we can't expect be perfect or "Mr. or Ms. Goody-Two-Shoes" 100% of the time!"


The holiness of God bulldozes away such thinking. As hard as we try, we cannot "sugar-coat" sin.


Jesus Christ Himself did not skirt the issue, take the avoidance route, or make it something it wasn't. St. John declares that He was revealed to take sin away. This is the blessed irony: Christ Jesus had no sin, yet He came to take ours away. When we get the hang of this, it's just one joyful surprise after another!


PD