We do not atone for our sins

By John Pearring

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/062720.cfm
Lamentations 2:2, 10-14, 18-19
Matthew 8:5-17

You gotta give me some leeway on this reflection. I'll be talking about racism from the angle of guilt. The shame side of guilt, that is. I imagine I’m not alone in the dilemma I’ll be discussing. I may be leaving out lots of important elements on this subject. That's likely, since this is only three pages long.  You may decide to find my position unhelpful, and then not give me any leeway. Totally up to you.

First, imagine this scene in scripture taking place today, for all the world to see:

When it was evening, they brought him many
who were possessed by demons,
and he drove out the spirits by a word and cured all the sick,
to fulfill what had been said by Isaiah the prophet:
"He took away our infirmities and bore our diseases."
(Matthew 8:16-17)

The Isaiah reference was supplied by Matthew. It only appears in the NT here. I submit, with a ton of commentary support, that Jesus "bearing" our diseases refers to prove out a major element of the divine sacrifice, the ultimate atonement for our sins. The reparations part. The consequence of mercy and forgiveness. All will be repaired by God. We might think, "This too will pass." In truth, our misery, brokeneness, and causation of sin will more than pass. It will be fully repaired by God. There may be scars, as in Jesus' scars after appearing to the disciples. The restoration of all life, and sin's burdens, though, has already been atoned for and will take place in reality for all of creation. 

Atonement, already done, means the shame of sin is lifted by Jesus Christ. We are not to cower for what God has already forgiven. We may have some penalty here, assigned from an earthen sovereign power. Certainly. But continued, irredeemable shame? No.

An amazing confusion, couched in this very shame, has taken place with fervor across the globe. Completely sane people are breaking down over the prospect that they are contributors to the sinful oppression called racism. In a rare form of delirium — not from a concussion or a mental issue with dementia — folks are taking upon themselves the real and the imaginary sins of the world. In a public display of Christological sympathy, vast groups of white people are flagellating themselves.

I call this a confusion for a reason.

Confusion means, basically, disorientation. To be oriented means to grasp a true location of ourselves, knowing that what we think is true. Being able to stand upon a thought as right and correct. Disorientation takes place when what we think is true has been crushed. Anxiety happens almost immediately when we realize we’re confused. If we are told with distinct clarity, falsely, and with ardent evidence, suspect, that something we thought was true is no longer true, we react similarly to a rat trapped in a corner. We fight or we flee, or we lay down and succumb. 

The global effect? Our heartstrings have been pulled, and the color of our skin defines our sin.

Our entire being wrestles to find equilibrium if we’re cornered. We go through the Job experience. Our friends and family chatter away at us, using both shame and emotion to convince us of our guilt. When the convincing is full court, we are faced with striking back or exiting those relationships. If we are overwhelmed, we can become quickly disoriented. 

The worst part of disorientation is the inability to focus and to make decisions. Truth matters. A broken framework for decision-making is not just unsettling. We are thrown into the beginning stages of panic. Do I know anything to be true if this one important thing is not true? Do I really hate and systematically oppress people of a different color than myself?

More likely, we have a bias based upon our skin color. All people of different colores experience this similar bias. Is it racism?

Can other people read my mind? Do they know what I might have been thinking but don’t remember thinking that? If you find yourself in this condition, you are probably a victim of racism, not an actual racist.

Yet ours were the sufferings he was bearing, 
ours the sorrows he was carrying, 
while we thought of him as someone being punished 
and struck with affliction by God;
whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, 
crushed because of our guilt; 
the punishment reconciling us fell on him, 
and we have been healed by his bruises.
The New Jerusalem Bible. (1990). (Is 53:4–5)

White people are being classified as racists, regardless of the white person’s insistence of not being racist. Black people are also being classified as racists because, look, they are striking back at white people. We are only a few weeks away from duplicitous racist rants flung at Asians, Latinos, Eskimos, Indians, and Aborigines. Maybe that’s already happened! Of course, it has. The stereotype of hate by identity, claiming an entire group of people of one color or the other isn’t simply a recognition of biases towared people that look like us. The stereotype of hate concludes one race really hates everyone else. That's racism. You gotta watch out for the very white, the very black, the very Asian, etc. 

This racist shame interprets everything to its purpose. Those who flee from racist claims hide in small towns. They are cowards. Those who cower in shame are deserving of their renunciation. Mostly, though, in the clamor of hate, those who strike back at racial epithets are definite racists.

Has our past immaturity, peer group pressure, cultural patterns, etc. condemned us? Can we trust our healthy, moral upbringing as a perfect grasp of truth? These are terrible questions to elicit shame. Our past shouldn't condemn us. Our upbringing was never perfect.

For those of us who have stolen something and got caught as a child and never stolen anything again, Do we consider ourselves as a thief forever. Is the same, then, true for a racist thought? Is there no redemption? Should we be eternally ashamed? Are the mass, moblike violent riots reasonable condemnation for entire societies?

Having to reimagine ourselves as racists, when we never imagined such a thing, requires that we rewrite our moral history. Yes, we must conclude, we have oppressed people based upon their color. That brings us devilishly close to disorientation. If unchecked, abandoning an upbringing that most likely taught us right and wrong, especially in racial matters, such a disorientation leads to delirium. 

What is probably just a natural bias of seeing the world as a measure against how you look and act is likely being interpreted as racism. Whether you are black or white or any other shade the trials of an historically oppressed group of people considers that the world should be ashamed. It’s unavoidable. Our world is sinful. We cannot, however, accept irredeemable shame. We're not wired that way. We're wired for needed atonement. We want to castigate any evil propagated or even just allowed.

There is a divine nature that we call upon when faced with shame. It’s atonement. Because we are made in the likeness of God, we see the need for atonement. If we don’t know God, we imagine we need to be God. We seek judgment. We, the great we, want atonement. Since we reject racism, it must be someone else who is doing it now!

If we do not place all of our weaknesses at the confessional and repent, or repent in our constant prayers to God, we will forget that the fatal penalty of sin has been conquered. Forgiveness by God’s mercy heals us. We are not to judge others, especially for something so immaterial as the color of their skin, or their height, or even their range of loveliness.

If we put ourselves into the place of God, by not trusting him to heal us, since we don't know God has done that, then we step in as pretend Christs. Why? We need Christ. If we don’t know him we step in. We take the sin of the world upon our shoulders, supplanting the pains already picked up by Jesus. We set out to obliterate the power of sin with our sincerity. First shame, then sincere recompense, and then blame.

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (1 Pe 2:24). 

I do not mean to deny racism. No sin, though, has been eradicated. The litany of sin — abortion, human trafficking, child pornography, cheating laborers, elder abuse, and yes, racism — are pandemics that feast upon us worse than any virus. Bias isn't even a sin. It's an ignorance, easily addressed. Selfishness, and pride are certainly sinful. These can lead to racism, or abortion, or pornography. Great single minded effort goes into the heinous viral sins.

Rather than debate statistics, argue political ideologies, and shovel more tinder upon the fires of hate, I implore us to turn back to the mercy and grace of God. 

A new discovery by some, surprising that any real racists exist in great numbers, may have been fixed by this protesting. I believe a reawakening by others, and disgust by the vast majority of folks has taken place. Is it the riot that aided in discovery, reawakenting, or disgust, or was it the act of a black murder? What about the white murders? The brown murders? I believe it is the shame that cannot find an adequate atonement. Do we rise to riot about the other global sins? Or, do we simply cower in shame, and yell in blame at them too? 

Will any reaction heal our sinful natures? This is the confusion that disorients us. We cannot fix that. Even our most stringent laws have not eradicated sin.

Only the grace of God and the gift of faith will turn our hearts to God. We won't do it otherwise. Once God's grace and gift of faith has filled us, what then should we do to counteract this shame?

We can fight, but standing as a witness will allow Jesus to reach into the hearts we pray to know him. That is more courageous and more effective.

We can flee, but heeding the Spirit who lives in us will give us the words to soothe a fearful world. That involves us in ministry.

We can succumb, but submitting to the Father as our ultimate authority testifies farther and deeper into our place in human history. That provides our families and friends the conviction they desire to see.

We are not confused. We stand as witnesses. We heed the Spirit. We submit to the Father. We are oriented to the truth.