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I have to speak
in shorthand to cover this wide and exhaustive subject. I want to begin
with a particular view of sin which may not have occurred to you but which I
believe is at the heart of all sin and especially associated with the 7
deadly sins. Each one of which deserves a series of sermons not just a
passing glance in a sermon.
The notion of sin I
want to put before you is that all sin has at its root the notion of
betrayal. Betrayal of others, betrayal of self, betrayal of our values.
Right at the heart of the story of Jesus is the motive of betrayal. Is it
there by chance? No it is the description of the human condition. It takes
us straight back to the garden of Eden and the betrayal of trust by Adam “do
not eat of the fruit of the tree of life.”
In the story of Jesus,
betrayal comes in threes. Judas, the sleeping disciples, Peter. Peter
denies 3 times. Betrayal is at the climax of the Jesus story. The sorrow
at the supper , the agony in the garden, and the cry on the cross seem
repetitious of the same pattern, are restatements of the same theme, each on
a higher key, that a destiny is being realised, that a transformation is
being brought home to Jesus. In each of these betrayals he is forced to the
terrible awareness of having been let down , failed, and left alone.
Stripped naked on the cross, His love has been refused, his message
mistaken, his call unattended, and his fate announced. Hence the cry from
the Cross that even God has betrayed him My God why have you forsaken me?
Deadly sin is like the moon in an eclipse which blocks out the sun so sin
separates us from our true selves from each other and from God. Sin
distorts truth, distorts life and distorts the world.
The number 7 is
important, there are 7 gifts of the spirit, 7 penitential psalms, 7 virtues
and 7 sorrows of the Virgin Mary. The word deadly has several uses.
Something can be deadly boring, or death imparting like in deadly
nightshade. Sins which are the reverse of life enhancing are literally
deadly. There is no doubt about the presence of sin and evil in the world.
We only have to consider the press stories of the past week, or the dramas
on our TV screens or road rage, or crimes against women and children, the
increase in domestic violence, gun crime, malnutrition, violence against
animals and the environment, the role models in our society. Individualism
has replaced community. There are many petty crimes against employers,
little lies told, falsehoods held onto, wrong-doings hidden away, skeletons
in cupboards, shame and regret at past and even present behaviour. Think
about it. It is corrosive. It is corruptive. It is betrayal in its many
forms.
Pride
The tap root of many
sins. Pride was at the heart of Hitler and Nazi Germany and at the root of
racial tensions. There is a true pride in achievements and a false pride.
We know that tap roots are very difficult to remove. The Bible puts pride
at the centre. In the garden of Eden there is the Tree of Knowledge of good
and evil. Of all the abundance of fruit and food that is provided this is
the one tree whose fruit is forbidden. God knows that if the first man eats
from it he will be like a God, knowing good and evil. The temptation is to
his status, that is to his pride. Adam succumbs to the temptation.
It has been written "
There is a mortar which binds sins together and makes them immovable; there
is a vital nerve which actuates the whole system of sin; a last stronghold,
the keep of the fortress which man holds against God; it is pride! " These
words come from a book about Judas Iscariot. Egotism is the modern word for
pride. People in your face, peoples egos who get in the way, we ask that
most profoundly un Christian question - Who do you think you are?
Translated as why do you feel you have personal significance over me? Pride
locks ourselves in, like Judas was locked in against the entreaties of Jesus
at the last supper. In a week which has seen that reflective service at St.
Paul’s, it is pride which has often been at the root of nationalism also the
root of wars. The inability to say sorry, to say I was wrong, to say please
forgive me and then to go on and actually forgive and forgive without then
remembering the hurt. Pride a deadly sin.
Covetousness
22 million people in
the USA have signed a petition not to receive junk mail. It could put 20000
people out of work. All preying on the covetousness of others. I went
into W.H. Smith and there was a big display ‘50% off’ things I had no
intention of buying before I went into the shop. Actually things I didn’t
need - yet a bargain; good value for money, putting one over someone else.
Covetousness - one of the 10 Commandments. There was a recent story of the
Head teacher who stole from her school. The drive to acquire is a strong
one. Children show it from a young age often aided and abetted by parents.
What we acquire gives us status, feeds our pride. Jesus told the parable of
the rich fool. We brought nothing into this world can carry nothing out!
More covetousness around the death of a relative than we like to
acknowledge. It feeds crime and addictions of all kinds. It is close to
lust. “Be good to yourself” says the Advert. The advertising for the
fashion & beauty industries, DIY, motor industry is often directed to our
covetousness. It is deadly.
Lust
This is defined as a
‘Strong desire for sexual satisfaction’ it gives rise to gang rapes,
pornography of all kinds. It is also a means of gratification because we
cannot live with the longing, lust for power, strong drive or desire.
Church has not always been celebratory about God’s gift of our sexuality but
has recovered a sense of the beauty of sexuality rightly expressed in
committed relationships. Otherwise it is a betrayal of the human
condition. However Dorothy Sayers wrote a book called ‘The Other 6 Deadly
Sins’ to make the point that sexual sins are (unless they include issues of
power and corruption) synonymous with sin itself. Here I am trying to make
a similar point, that others of the 7 are even more deadly and often
provide the source for sexual sins. Lust arises because it is impossible
for me to live without a sense of my own value. Such a sense of my own self
is living….The attempt to snatch value for myself from somebody else is the
essence of lust, and is the cause of this enterprise that physical appetites
are conscripted. I have to move on.
Envy
The most corrosive of
all. Those of us who have been on the receiving end of others envy know the
power of this sin. In the trial of Jesus it was out of envy that the chief
priests had delivered him up. In Shakespeare’s Othello, Iago explains why
he destroyed his General “he has a daily beauty in his life that makes me
ugly” ‘Hello’ magazine, gossip columns, lives of the stars Again envy
like lust is founded on my conviction that I lack something that the other
person possesses… what makes me bitter is that the other person is more
abundantly alive than I am. A betrayal of my true self.
Gluttony
Blair tells flabby
Britain to get fit – "The Observer" headline 12th
October
French chefs have
petitioned the Pope to remove this deadly sin in case it affects their
profession. 15% children are obese. Italian programme of summer camps to
change children’s way of life to reduce weight. . Look around so many
overweight people literally a deadly sin. In psychological terms we have an
emptiness we are trying to fill with drinking or drugs. Or we have a sense
of low self esteem so we starve ourselves giving rise to eating disorders,
the diet industry. We know about gluttony and gastronomic holidays where
eating dominates our desires. It is a betrayal of our true nature to not be
obsessed with self.
Anger
No time to develop the
difference between destructive anger that can literally be deadly and
righteous anger – God’s Wrath – and the constructive use of anger. This,
I’m afraid, is another Sermon.
Sloth
Probably today most
likely in the statement I am bored – it is boring. We become distracted by
distractions. Plain laziness – “he was born he had a long rest and he
died”. It is a betrayal of our true worth and creativity. It has to be put
alongside the furious activity and lack of stillness in the modern world.
Revd. Tom Leary
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