In areligious context,sin is the act of transgression againstdivine law.
But this is not the only sin upon us. We have committed a greatercrime, and for this crime there is noname. Whatpunishment awaits us if it be discovered we know not, for no such crime has come in thememory of men and there are no laws to provide for it.
On the one hand, there is the type of sinner whom, in present-day language, we would call ‘oppressor.’ Their basic sin consists in oppressing, placing intolerable burdens on others, acting unjustly and so on. On the other hand, there are those who sin ‘from weakness’ or those ‘legally considered sinners’ according to the dominant religious view.
Jesus takes a very different approach to each group. He offers salvation to all, and makes demands of all, but in a very different way. He directly demands a radical conversion of the first group, an active cessation from oppressing. For these, the coming of the Kingdom is above all a radical need to stop being oppressors.
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