Sin and the tragedy we all have lived.

I was doing a little e-research today because I am thinking about sin. I found that the concept as written in the Gospel of John is rooted in the Greek 'hamartia'. The translation is 'missing the mark', as in missing the target entirely in archery, and is an Aristotelian term that describes the type of life course of the tragic heroes of Greek plays.

I know very little about the Greek language, but thanks to my father, I was subjected to a solid dose of Greek tragedy fairly early in life. I had studied the Cliff Notes and sat through Medea, Oedipus Rex, Antigone (am I forgetting any?) by the time I had finished going through puberty. You will notice that I say that I 'sat through them', rather than using enlightened descriptions of participatory theatrical attendance. This is because they are Greek tragedies. They are intended to display suffering and character 'hamartia' to the extent that viewers experience the catharsis of emotional collapse. Viewership is more about an exercise in survival and mourning than it is any kind of delightful theatrical play-going (I am sure there will be some dissent among my more learned readership - so feel free to discuss). I, however, distinctly remember walking out with gut pains from the sickening demise these characters suffered, and I remember lying down in the backseat the whole way home feeling bad. And such is the root of our Lord's concept of sin.

I am also personally an expert on 'missing the mark' in life. Not to the extent of being buried alive with my children, or killing my mother and marrying my father, but to a far lesser degree I am well acquainted with 'hamartia'. (You may pause for a moment and read the title of this blog.) I have to say that 'hamartia' is a brilliant illustration of the experience of sin. In my life, I have been faced by divergent paths and have usually chosen the one that might have been more attractive or even less difficult and have found myself farther away from the life I have known in my gut I should to be living.

In my church we discuss sin very rarely - and when we do it is in abstract terms like 'separation from God.' (Which gives my Dad fits because how can one separate oneself from God?)

These descriptions are not adequate. I work with high schoolers and talking about 'separation from God' to a group intrinsically already separated from most things godly is not illustrative. But 'hamartia' gives another way around this conversation - quite literally. To be missing the point is a concept that anyone can directly relate to. So often we choose and go awry...and for some it does take the course of tragedy. However, in my experience, God moves the target back into our path and gives us another go...and another....and another.

The benefit to not missing the mark is that we get to live the life God created us to live. What a wonderful thing! And the benefit to getting or staying personally connected to God is that even when we do miss (and I believe we all have and will again), we get another go. 'Hamartia' can be a gracious description. I feel it is necessary to reconcile a concept often used to inspire fear, legalism, and retribution with a Savior who modelled and taught grace.

When I think of the Samaritan woman at the well, to whom Jesus witnessed, or the adulteress brought to Jesus for stoning and literally pardoned while her accusers were shamed, I see a Christ committed to refilling the sheath of arrows and encouraging the archers - us - to 'take a better shot'.

I believe that part of our reunion with God will be to see our lives - our missed potentialities -and that will be a truly mournful and cathartic moment for us. But I have lived a life of renewing hope, grace bestowing beauty through pain, and the outpouring of blessings over proud transgression after transgression. And once again now I am reminded and I believe that God is sovereign. God sees and knows us in full. We do not see ourselves in any more than this moment and the moments that we have already come past. Perhaps what looks to us in our limited vision like an unclean miss, is just God routing us towards God through whatever obstacles are coming, in a dance so beautiful and complex that we will weep with joy at the beauty of it all as we reunite with God in the great ever after.

If the woman had not been brought for justice after committing adultery, if she had not so missed the mark, she would never have met God, looked God in the eye, and heard the words spoken from God's own lips, 'Then I will not judge you, either.'

They shamed her
trapped alone,
condemned
surrounded by a crowd of hatred
to die at their hands.

With a simple question
he demanded
shamed them in kind
requiring each to judge themselves
worthy of the same death
they had so willingly charged to her.

One by one they left
alone in their recognition.

And again she found herself
alone
but this time God was standing near.

Is there no one left to condemn you, God asked?
No one sir, she said.
Then I do not condemn you, said the Lord

... and God set her free.