The Bad News That Makes the Good News Good

Three historical markers stand within a few steps of each other on a trail in North Arlington. One remembers a peacemaker who freed captives and brought them home. One remembers a raid that attacked a village. One remembers a treaty that opened a people's land to be taken. A mercy, a killing, and a displacement, all on the same small patch of ground. That is where this sermon begins.It turns out Paul stands his people on honest ground too. Romans 5 does not arrive until he has spent chapters proving that no one is righteous, not one. He tells the worst of the story first. And only then comes the line that changes everything: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.This is not a sermon about cleaning up your past in order to be loved. It is the announcement that the love came first, and that is the only thing that ever makes honesty survivable. We can tell the whole truth about ourselves, and about our history, because we are not justified by the story being clean. We ar...