"Tight lines" is a blessing fishermen offer each other, a wish for lines taut with the weight of good fish. May God grant that the lines written here be taut with His blessings.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 | |||
|
Hand in the Cookie Jar | |||
|
"Corporate sin" in a modern sense has been much in
the news the last couple years. The shenanigans of banks, investment
firms, etc., along with their highly paid and benefited, but sometimes
corrupt CEOs, have been held up for public scrutiny and condemnation.
It's perfectly clear that, like Achan in
Joshua 7, a number of people have committed acts of greed and theft
that have had grave consequences not just for their own companies but for
our whole nation, even for the world. Sub-prime lending practices were corporate sin not just in the sense that they were committed by corporations but because the consequence of the wrong-doing affected us all, corporately. In Joshua 7, Israel was unexpectedly, miserably defeated as they went out to war against the city of Ai, a small place which didn't even merit marshalling the complete army of Israel. Yet what should have been a more than sufficient force of two or three thousand Israelite soldiers was routed by the men of Ai. The defeat of Israel turned out to be God's judgment on the greed of a single man, Achan, and his family. Ignoring the herem ban on Jericho and its contents, he appriated a fancy garment and some gold and silver for himself. In the process all Israel was tainted by Achan's sin and found themselves abandoned by God when they attempted to conquer the next city. Despite our recent acquaintance with corporate sin on the large scale in the last couple years, Achan's tale is difficult for us. Why should everyone suffer for one man's malfeasance? Why does God hold the whole nation accountable until Achan is identified and his sin rooted out by the harsh punishment of stoning to death? We might understand it better if the self-enrichment and deception had been Joshua's or one of his lieutenants. We grasp the fact that people in power can cause widespread grief by their misdeeds. But Achan was a relative nobody, a foot soldier in the army. Why should his petty little crime be a national shame and defeat? Achan's story is a needed corrective to our own weak contemporary sense of sin and its seriousness. It highlights the corporate nature and effect not just of the sins of the great and powerful and not just of great and powerful sins. Achan teaches us that even the wrongs we think of as tiny and inconsequential are a contamination and infection that can damage others and wreak havoc in the communities in which we live and work. There is no such thing as a victimless crime or a private sin. The wrong things we do and the right things we fail to do are stones tossed into the social ponds of our lives and their effects ripple outward, even if, like Achan, we keep the sins themselves secret. As Lent begins, and we take seriously the call to amend our lives, lay aside sin and walk in new ways, perhaps Achan's sorry foolishness and disastrous end can help us take it all more seriously. We may desire to be free of greed or lust or lying or addiction or simply pride. Maybe that desire can be strengthened by honest reflection on how our sin affects a spouse or children or friends or co-workers. Maybe we will be more ready to let the grace of God in Christ stone to death the sin that is in us if we are more alert to the ways in which our sin brings defeat to others. May the Lord help us all early on to come to the point of painful honesty with ourselves, not waiting like Achan did until the fateful lot falls at our tent door. And in honest confession may we fine blessed and healing forgiveness. | |||
|
Profile |
I am the pastor of Valley Covenant Church in Eugene, Oregon. I love to flyfish and hike along the beautiful rivers in our area. I welcome your comments as I share sermon work in progress and occasional other thoughts.
Thank you for visiting this blog. I invite you also to visit my web page.
|
Blog Posts |
Archives |
|
|
SurgeMail - Blog Server Software |
Windows Mail Server Software |
UseNet News Server Software