SEPARATED BY SIN

SEPARATED BY SIN

Set in Africa, the film Blood Diamond tells the story of Solomon, a fisherman by trade, whose family is kidnapped. While his son Dia is drafted into a notorious rebel group and brainwashed into becoming a ruthless killer, Solomon’s wife and daughter end up in a refugee camp. Solomon teams up with Danny Archer (played by Leo DiCaprio), leveraging the promise of a priceless pink diamond to win Danny’s help in reuniting Solomon with his family. 

About halfway through the film, Solomon, Danny and an accompanying reporter arrive at an enormous refugee camp housing hundreds of thousands. They are sternly denied access into the camp at the gate. Peering through the tall steel-mesh fence, Solomon spots his wife and daughter. It’s a touching moment when their eyes meet and this father is reunited with his family against all odds. But it’s only a partial reunion — the fence separates them. The three poke their fingers through the gaps in the crisscrossed steel wires, yearning to exchange affection through human touch. They press their heads onto the fence in a desperate bid to feel closeness with each other. Though the tragic reality is, though physically near, that impenetrable fence kept them just as separated from each other as the day they were kidnapped.

We once experienced a similar kind of separation. Like that fence, sin erected an uncrossable barrier between us and God. Isaiah 59:2 says, “It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, He has turned away and will not listen anymore.” Sin can be broken down to mean ‘missing the mark’, or falling short of God’s standards. This inability to ‘measure up’ put us at odds with our Creator and prevented us from approaching His presence. A perfect God cannot coexist with anything less than perfection. In our case, mankind was terminally afflicted with the sin disease and we were incapable of curing ourselves. As a result, all of mankind was separated from God. And that pain of separation is truly profound.

Lepers knew the pain of separation well. In biblical times, leprosy was a highly contagious skin disease that caused oozing eruptions and deformities to form all over your body. Even worse than the physical trauma, the contagiousness of leprosy meant all lepers were declared unclean and ostracised from society. A father who contracted the disease could no longer hug his wife or children. A young person was abruptly removed from their social life. It wasn’t uncommon for lepers to live in colonies isolated from civilisation. When a leper approached a person, they were commended by law to exclaim “Unclean! Unclean!” Hence, the ten lepers in Luke 17:11 cry out to Jesus for mercy while standing afar off — daring not to overstep the boundary imposed on them by their disease. 

Sin did the same to us — it kept us afar off, distant, blocked from the presence of God. We were powerless to bridge the gap because sin came from within us. Seeking internal strength to overcome its power always proved futile. We needed a Saviour. 

 Seek the Lord while He may be found, 
Call upon Him while He is near. 

Let the wicked forsake his way, 
And the unrighteous man his thoughts; 
Let him return to the Lord,
 And He will have mercy on him; 
And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. 

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, 
Nor are your ways My ways," says the Lord. 
Isaiah 55:6-8 

  The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:

"Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; 

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.
Jeremiah 31:3