Rarely does a person begin with crime in mind. It usually starts with a subtle shift. A suggestion is made, a step off the path is taken. The slope down appears minor, even if covered with loose gravel. After a short time, he is slipping farther and faster, no longer in control of his world, unable to get out. He's trapped in a hell of his own devising. It has gotten too big to manage. It now manages him.
I think sin is always this way: cumulative, self-inflicted, destructive and enslaving. One sin always seems to lead to another, more extreme sin. Deceit demands greater deceit. Addiction requires more drug to appease. Unforgiveness eats our hearts to hollowness. Concern for one wrinkle grows into costly surgery. Sin always asks for more, then demands more, and then takes more.
But there is no excuse for it. Every instance of sin is chosen. It's an act of will. Madoff chose to do this thing. He bought in to the lie. (Every sin begins with a lie, usually along these lines: 'this sin will bring satisfaction or fulfillment'. I can't think of an instance where this is not the case.) He deserves what he is getting, maybe worse.
Here's a crazy thing, though. I think that if Jesus met Bernie Madoff, he would ask him to be a disciple. I know, outrageous. But let me tell you about another man.
His name is Levi and he lived in the land of Judah during Roman occupation. Levi decides to be a tax collector for the Romans, a move that automatically makes him a traitor to his own, beleaguered people. Why does he do it? Perhaps it's the lure of financial security.
At first, he just does his job collecting tax, but then it's so easy to take just a little more. His conscience bothers him, but he explains it away. Such a small amount, really nothing to be upset about. Yet with every tax, he demands a little more.
And every time something in him says it's not right, but the thrill of the take, the lure of extra cash keeps him coming back to it again. By the time Jesus comes around, Levi is a full-fledged tax-collector, very wealthy, very trapped, and hated by his countrymen. He is a thief. A traitorous crook. Everyone knows and despises him.
And then he has this encounter with Jesus:
After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, "Follow me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." Luke 5:27-32
I think Levi was desperate to get out of his self-created hell. When Jesus comes to him, Levi walks off the job, 'leaving everything.' He throws Jesus a huge party and invites the other desperate ones so that they too can experience freedom from their wretchedness. I think the sweetest part of this story is that Jesus approaches Levi while he is in the act of swindling. Jesus comes right up to the tax booth.
Of course the key to Levi's freedom is in the last word of the verses. Repentance is at the root of becoming a follower of Jesus. It's a new path which involves restitution, sacrifice and amends. But it's also a path of forgiveness and freedom. And I think that Jesus would ask the same thing of Bernie Madoff, offer the same forgiveness and freedom.
We know Levi by another name: Matthew, the author of the first gospel in the New Testament. He really did leave everything and follow Jesus. It is said that he died, possibly a martyr, in Ethiopia, as a very different, beloved church father.
It's that crazy thing called GRACE at work again.
