Psalm 30
"you healed me"
When I was younger, I used to think of sin as a crime. Sin was breaking the law, and God was the red lights flashing in my rearview mirror, the Cosmic Cop pulling me over to the side of the road. Sin was infraction. Rule-breaking.
But here in the fifth decade of my life, I now think of sin as sickness. God is not the police. God is not the judge, jury and executioner. And while I'm fully aware of the judicial imagery in the Bible and the creeds, and believe that framework is necessary for prophetic critique, this isn't the dominate theme in my walk with God. God isn't handing me speeding tickets. God is, rather, my healer, my doctor, my medicine, my relief.
The prophet Jeremiah cries out, "Is there a balm in Gilead?" In Jesus we find our answer.
Jesus says, "It is the sick that need a doctor, not the well." And much of his earthly ministry involved healing in multiple domains of a person's life. Sickness is one of many things used to describe sin.
Sin is also described as captivity and slavery, and Christ as the liberator.
Sin is also described as a burden and Christ offers us rest.
Sin is described as hunger and thirst, Jesus is the living water and provider of a feast.
Sin is being lost, and Christ the finder of the lost.
Sin is poverty, Christ is a great treasure
Sin is an adulterous affair, Jesus sanctifies and marries the church.
Sin is described as blindness and Christ the sight restorer
SIn is described as darkness and Christ the light of the world
There is also imagery of sin causing death, and Christ giving us life
Sin makes us orphans, but Christ makes it possible for us to be adopted into God'd family, complete with an inheritance.
I don't have any problem with my sins being described as crimes. As Luther said,
"So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, son of God, and where He is, there I shall be also!"
Sin as crime is no better or worse than any other of the analogies.
I get "my healer, my doctor, my medicine, my relief", and God is certainly all those things. But I do think He wants more for us. Healing, redemption, cure, wholeness, in many ways, is only the beginning. He wants us to be who we were created to be. The clue to that is here:
"I have given them the glory that you gave me..." We are made for glory.