Week Three, Day Three: Becoming Guilty

18 Come now, let us argue it out,

says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,

they shall be like snow;

though they are red like crimson,

they shall become like wool.   

Isaiah 1:18

The Bonhoeffer reading for today comes from a sermon delivered to a German-speaking congregation in London during the brief period in which Bonhoeffer lived there. This sermon is one of only a handful that survive from that part of his ministry. The entire sermon focuses on the Magnificat, the hymn of Mary that we read last week. While rereading the sermon, on particular passage stuck out with reference to our theme today:

"When we reach a point in our lives at which we are not only ashamed of ourselves, but believe God is ashamed of us too, when we feel so far from God, more than we have ever felt in our lives, than and precisely then, God is nearer to us than he has ever been. It is then that he breaks into our lives. It is then that he lets us know that feeling of despair is taken away from us, so that we may grasp the wonder of his love, his nearness to us, and his grace." Sermon on the Magnificat

It is clear to me that Bonhoeffer is talking about guilt here, specifically the acceptance that we are all guilty of something. That low point can be a very lonely place, where we feel incredibly far away from everything. What is comforting, though is the reminders we have been getting all along: the places we don't expect to encounter God, the places that feel most far away or dark or dirty or unhappy are the very places that we do encounter God. God is the God of the oppressed and the downtrodden, but also the God of the guilty:

"Christ the son of a poor working man’s wife in the East End of London! Christ in the manger . . . God is not ashamed to be with those of humble state. He goes into the midst of it all, chooses one person to be his instrument, and does his miracle there, where one least expects it. He loves the lost, the forgotten, the insignificant, the outcasts, the weak, and the broken. Where men say, 'lost,' he says 'found;' where men say 'no,' he says 'yes.' Where men look with indifference or superiority, he looks with burning love, such as nowhere else is to be found. Where men say, 'contemptible!,' God cries, 'blessed.'"