As I experience life and look at the life of Jesus, I have wondered what it actually means that Jesus is sinless. Is this an objective statement? Would any person from any cultue, past or present, consider Jesus sinless? I wonder about what the pharisees thought when Jesus called them whitewashed tombs. I wonder what the merchants in the temple thought when Jesus turned over their tables. In a culture that wants to say there is no absolute truth, what would they think of Jesus saying he is the truth? Would he be considered deluded or just plain deceptive, therefore bad?

      These question made me ponder, what does the writer of the letter to the Hebrews mean by saying that Jesus is without sin? If we truly look at Jesus with our human eyes, we can make a case that he has offended people and therefore have sinned. Of course we can make a case that offending others does not  constitute sin. In that case, Jesus' sinlessness could not have been a judgment from a human point of view. Which leads me to conclude that he is sinless in God's sight. God is the one who declared Jesus to be sinless. How could that be?

    Despite the things King David did, God declared him to be a man after his own heart. However, David did admit to sinning. If what is important to God is the heart, then we can begin by saying that Jesus' heart was pure in God's sight. His heart was always focused on the father's mission, to reconcile the world to himself. Jesus' sinlessness then comes from his heart being one with the father.

    Can humans attain that sinslessness? Can human beings be completely focused on God's agenda, upholding God's values, having the same heart as God? Apparently Jesus did. However, he was able to live a sinless life because of his oneness with God's heart (it was his joy to see God's plan come to fruition) and his complete dependence on the Spirit. Therefore, it seems that the key to sinlessness is oneness with God. Can humans attain this in their lifetife? Is the revelation of the sons of God going to happen before Christ comes? It seems that biblical teaching is that people continue to sin and to claim otherwise is to deceive the self.

    What is the point of this reflection? Instead of focusing on doing right things like a perfectionist, we need to focus on sharing the heart of God. We need to strive for the humility of Jesus who gave himself for the ultimate good of others, the grace of the father who gives good things to both good and bad, and the devotion of the Spirit who constantly brings us more and more into obedience and worship of God. The goal of our souls is to share in the life of God. The gift of oneness with God is a gift of grace, not something conjured up through our niceness or sincerity.