Thursday in Epiphany 1: Where does sin come from?

Opening Sentence

Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. Isaiah 60:3

Commemoration: Aelred

Pour into our hearts, O God, the Holy Spirit's gift of love, that we, clasping each the other's hand, may share the joy of friendship, human and divine, and with your servant Aelred draw many to your community of love; through Jesus Christ the Righteous, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Psalter: Psalm 18:1-20

Lessons: Genesis 4:17-26, Hebrews 3:1-11, John 1:43-51

And you come here and ask me where sin comes from! You see now, don't you? It comes from out of the pit of hell where it was hatched among the angels that were flung out of heaven because they disobeyed God. It comes from that land where the name of God is hated. It was brought by that old serpent, the father of lies, and he brought it that he might fool the woman, and in that way set up on the earth the works of the devil. Sin is the black child of the pit, it is. It comes from the old serpent at first, but it's here now, right in poor Jasper's heart and in your heart; wherever there is a man or a woman in this dark world in tears there is sin -- sin that insults God, tears down His law, and brings woes to everybody.

And you, stung by the serpent, with God's wrath on you and your feet in the path of death, asking where sin comes from? You better fly from the wrath of the judgment day.

But this is enough. I just took time to tell where sin comes from. But my tongue can't refuse to stop to tell you that the blood of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world is greater than sin and mightier than hell. It can wash away our sins, make us whiter than the driven snow, dress us in redemption robes, bring us with shouts and hallelujahs back to that fellowship with our Father, that can never be broken long as eternity rolls!

John Jasper

The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power