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Would that more Christian activists—even behind closed doors—framed their public denunciations by admitting their own political shortcomings first.

A Christian account of the world, though, goes even deeper. For the politician, immorality is "redeemed" by public condemnation and by distancing oneself from the immoral. The disciple of Jesus, however, embraces the immoral and opens the door of redemption by that very embrace.

As I tried awkwardly, with one hand, to sweep up the bits of sheetrock strewn on the floor, I felt a hand on my arm. I turned around, and it was Barb. She said something apologetic. I said something apologetic. And then she embraced me for a long time.

She had every right to pronounce a grand moral imperative, condemn my behavior, and distance herself from me. That surely would have taught me a lesson. Instead, she embraced the angry sinner, and rather than teaching me a lesson, she helped heal me.

This Friday we Christians celebrate a similar event, albeit one of cosmic proportions. In his life, Jesus so identified with the immoral, spent so much time with them, that the good people of his day mistook him for a sinner. On Good Friday, Jesus continued the story. He did not distance himself from sin as much as embrace it in himself. And by this embrace, he made redemption possible.

How Christian activists combine public moral pronouncements with personal humility—well, that's something with which they are called to wrestle. To be sure, some historical moments demand the moral imperative. Martin Luther King Jr. used it magnificently in the civil rights movement. But for him, it wasn't so much a political tactic as it was the plain truth. Our problem today is that we pull out the moral imperative card so often, we risk taking the Lord's name in vain.

More to the point for the rest of us: I sometimes wonder if we are starting to let our Republic's moral political discourse shape our private discourse. We see so much moral posturing in the news, we're tempted to address disputes in the family, in the neighborhood, and in the church in the same way. You should hear the moral imperatives I pronounce in my mind when I'm angry at another!

But there is another imperative, that transcends morality and has little to do with obeying commands. It is that publican impulse to confess one's own sin first and the Jesusy desire to embrace the immoral one, even the one who has done us wrong. It is called the Good Friday life.

Mark Galli is managing editor of Christianity Today. To comment on this column, go to www.markgalli.com/galliblog.

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Al Gore testified before congress about global warming.

Obama and Clinton clarified their beliefs about homosexuality in response to pressure.

General Pace now says he regrets his remarks about gays, but has not retracted them.

Other Christianity Today's articles on Holy Week include "Resurrected Life" and "Images of Calvary," as well as CT Classics "You Can't Keep a Justified Man Down" and "The Jesus We Never Got."

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April (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51