Can Sin Be in the Presence of God?
Sermon Text || Year C: Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
Will you go to heaven when you die? Some might say yes, some might say no, but this no answer may not mean that you’re going to the other place. It could mean, according to prevalent theories, that you’re going to a waiting place until Jesus comes back. This place is called paradise or Abraham’s bosom or the good part of Hades.
I was raised with a different view myself. I thought Jesus emptied out Hades during the resurrection. If you want to read my current theories on Hades (I don’t actually know how all that works), then you can read them here:
But there’s a major assumption here as to why an afterlife holding tank would even need to exist anyway, and it comes down to one statement: sin can’t be in the presence of God.
Well, thank’s to Peter’s big mouth, we have the privilege to challenge that assumption in the sermon today.
Can Sin Be in the Presence of God?
Jesus is a Good Fishing Buddy
In Luke 4, Jesus was rejected by his hometown, so in Luke 5, Jesus calls together a new family.
Towards the end of chapter 4, Jesus left the crowds and went to a deserted place. After they found him, he told them he needed to preach in other cities as well, so he went off to preach in various synagogues in Judea. One day, he was standing by a lake when the crowds began pressing in on him again, so he got into Simon’s boat and asked if he could push off shore a ways so he could teach.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to burst. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. Luke 5:4–7
Side note: this happens after the resurrection in John’s gospel account. Did Jesus do this twice, or is John moving things around to make a point like he does with the cleansing of the temple?
Why did Simon let down the nets again? According to the text, he had already been cleaning them after a long day of fruitless labor. I think Simon picked up on what a lot of other people did: Jesus isn’t like any other teacher; he speaks with authority (Matthew 7:28-29).
So Simon let down his nets, and he caught more fish than he could handle.
I think this can function as sort of a parable: before Christ, we work and labor for nothing, but when we meet Jesus, everything has new meaning. We see in new ways. We experience life differently. We go home with our nets more full than we can imagine.
So Jesus teaches “good news.” He gives Simon the catch of is life.
By the way, which Simon is this?
Don’t worry; Luke is about to tell us.
But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’s knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Luke 5:8
Ahh, Simon Peter. You know, had Luke just reported what he said, we probably could have guessed it was him.
But I’m so happy he said this because he is standing in our place and saying what any of us might have said had we not known Jesus as we do now. In fact, some of us may still think this way about Jesus.
So let’s talk about it.
Can Jesus Fish With Sinful Men?
Before we talk about Peter, we need to read a different story, one that Luke could potentially be drawing from here.
I need you to read this whole thing if you don’t mind:
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple. Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. And one called to another and said,
“Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”The pivots on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. And I said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!”
Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. The seraph touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” Isaiah 6:1–8
Let’s walk back through this. Isaiah finds himself in the most holy place before the temple of God. The angelic beings make it plain to Isaiah that this is not an angel; this is the I AM of the burning bush, God himself.
So of course, if you were reading carefully, you will have noticed that God demanded that a hot coal be put to Isaiah’s lips because sin cannot be in God’s presence.
Or wait…
Was it God who made that demand or was it Isaiah?
And where was the sacrifice? If the blood of bulls and goats is required to take away sins, how could Isaiah get away with a live coal being placed to his lips? And even if that coal came from a sacrificial offering, I thought those sorts of sacrifices couldn’t actually forgive sins anyway, so how is he getting away with that?
And… here’s the big one…
If Isaiah requested that, not God, does that mean the hot coal was more for Isaiah’s sake than God’s? Did God even need the hot coal on the mouth thing?
That is, was the hot coal to appease Isaiah or God?
Or to take this question and exchange a few words:
Did Jesus die to change God’s mind about us or our mind about God?
Now, back to Peter on the boat.
He knows that he, like Isaiah, is in the presence of a really good teacher, a prophet, a miracle worker, or maybe even more, but we know that Jesus is God in the flesh, so it may be anachronistic, but we can make the assumption that this retroactive knowledge Luke knows we have plays a part in the story.
So Peter is standing on a boat with the Creator, and he says, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”
But Jesus doesn’t go away. Instead, he says, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people” (Luke 5:10). Then they left everything and followed him.
So, can sin be in the presence of God? Can God be in the presence of sin? Can sin overthrow our relationship with God?
We can certainly walk away from God, can’t we? We can end up in the far country. We can live as enemies of God. We can fight against the love of God.
So the Bible speaks of us being reconciled to God, not the other way around.
Jesus became close friends with Peter and the apostles. He spent over three years with them, and guess what. They sinned. They made mistakes. They fought about who was greatest. Jesus called Peter satan. Peter denied Jesus three times. All the disciples forsook him and fled, and, yet, here is Jesus: “Do not be afraid.”
If Jesus came to show us who God is, then this is who God is.
This doesn’t mean everything is always perfect. It doesn’t mean our sins have no consequences. And it doesn't mean reconciliation isn’t needed. Just look around and you’ll see how necessary the ministry of reconciliation is.
BUT
BUTTTTTT
Here is God. Standing on a boat. Surrounding by so many fish that the boat is starting to sink. And what is he saying, “Be not afraid.” He’s saying, “I knew you were a sinner before I stepped onto this boat. In fact, that’s why I’m here.”
Lectionary Reading: February 2, 2024 - Fourth Sunday After Epiphany
Old Testament: Isaiah 6:1-8
Psalm: Psalm 138
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Gospel: Luke 5:1-11