First Reading: Gen 3:9-15
Second Reading: 2 Cor 4:13--5:1
After long festive season
and solemnities we are back to liturgical ordinary time Sundays. This Sunday
the readings pull us to focus on the reality of sin. When we speak of sin we
have to begin from where it originated; Adam and Eve. Today’s first reading is
about God’s interaction with our first parents after their fall. God calls
Adam, “Where are you?” Adam replies that He is hiding himself from God as He is
naked. He doesn’t want God as well as his wife to see him naked. But before
that fall he was very comfortable to be naked in front of God and with his
wife. This is the revelation that being naked is not the reason for his hiding,
rather the disorientation that has happened with the fall (Sin). Sin is nothing
but a rejection of good and viewing good as something bad. The eating of
forbidden fruit has caused Adam and Eve to view their body which is good as
something to be ashamed of. Satan deceived the first parents by presenting the
forbidden fruit as something good and to be eaten necessarily. He presented the
evil as good consequently, making them to view all other goods as evil and
distance themselves from all the creatures. Had they refrained from accepting
that one evil fruit, they would not have faced hostility from all the
creatures. Letting of one evil has led them to great turmoil in life. This is
the nature of our life. And Satan knowing this well, tries to make us fall.
It is to be noted that God
never moves away from sinful man. He comes in search of him. It is the sinner
who hides himself from God. This is the effect of sin. A man who was once comfortable
to be naked in front of God, after sinning assumes that his nakedness would
offend God and elicit His wrath. Why does he think so? Because he wants to hide
the sin. But God is omniscient – all knowing – so how could it possible for a
man to hide his sin? Yes, it is not possible. Therefore man tries to do what is
possible in his capacity to be unseen by God. In his material nature he
believes that distancing himself from God bodily, could mitigate God’s wrath. Why
do most people do not come to church or encounter God in the Blessed Sacrament?
Because they feel comfortable when they are not in the presence of God. Yes,
they FEEL. Although God knows everything about oneself, the FEELING that one
gets from being away from God’s sight comforts the one to some extent.
In the Gospel also we see
scribes crediting the good works of Jesus to evil spirits. As children of Adam,
they view good works of Jesus as something evil. Their sight to the reality is
different because of their sinful nature. Just as Adam hid himself from God,
these Jewish leaders hide their sinful life under their religious title and
cloak. They too FEEL comfortable in religious cloak, despite sinning. Because
their religious cloak and title gets reputation for them from people. The
Catholic Church is very clear that the religious attire is only for ritual
functioning and giving a witness to the world. It is in no way connected to auto
purification of oneself or surety to heaven. On the one hand, ordinary faithful
hide themselves from God by being away from God’s presence and sacraments. On
the other hand, religious people hide themselves from God under their religious
attire, titles and portfolios. We never disclose the dark side of our life to
anyone unless we know that the person with whom we are sharing is confident or
s/he is also in the same boat. The maturity of 21st century consists
in hiding one’s dark side of life until someone discovers it. If someone discovers
one’s negative side of life, it is the fashion in today’s world either s/he
admits it with aggression or gets into seclusion. It is like either you feel
proud about your sin or keep yourself away from the rest.
The Christian approach to
sin and dark side of one’s life is completely opposite to this. A sinful
Christian admits his/her sin with humility. The Christian who hears or comes to
know about the sin of the other treats that person with love, forgiveness,
mercy and compassion. A Christian discloses his/her sin with humility and
regret as well as looks at the confessed sinner not as a sinner (naked) but just
as how one looked at him/her before the confession. In the letter of James we
read, “Confess your sins to each other” (Jas 5:16). Do we dare to do this now?
The crux of today’s reading is that whatever be our sin, one should not run
away from God. It is in coming back to God that we get restored, just as the
prodigal son got restored once he came back to his father’s house. Adam hid
himself. As his children we also get into the habit of hiding, but let that not
happen anymore. Come and be in His
presence. It is only He who can hide your nakedness. As His disciples let
us also not make others naked through our gossip rather clothe the other with
our forgiveness and love. Do not remain with the comfort of FEELING, rather get
healed to remain fulfilled. Remaining in sin only leads us to consider good as
evil. Rather, getting cleansed of sin restores our sight to view the reality in
its proper sense.
Do not hide,
you are always naked in front of God.
Do not
pretend, you are not the only sinner.
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