5th Sunday Lent C Forgiveness and sin
Mother Teresa said: “Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.”
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
One rainy afternoon a mother was driving along one of the main streets of town. Suddenly, her son spoke up from his relaxed position in the rear seat. “Mom, I’m thinking of something.” This announcement usually meant he had been pondering some fact for a while and was now ready to expound all that his seven-year-old mind had discovered. His mother was eager to hear. “What are you thinking?” she asked. “The rain is like sin and the windscreen wipers are like God, wiping our sins away.” “That’s really good, sweet heart, but do you notice how the rain keeps on coming? What does that tell you?” He didn’t hesitate one moment with his answer: “We keep on sinning, and God just keeps on forgiving us.” Yes dear brothers and sisters, isn’t it comforting to know that God does keep forgiving us? All we have to do is trust Jesus as our savior and He will keep washing our sins away.
What a contrast between the cruelty of the scribes and Pharisees and the compassion of Jesus in our Gospel. The scribes and Pharisees had no regard for the woman. They were only interested in using her to try to trap Jesus; she was a pawn in their game of chess. But Jesus is full of compassion. He restored the woman again. He restored her in two ways. He restored her spiritually by forgiving her, telling her he did not condemn her, while also insisting that she should not sin again, and he restored her to society by saving her life. No one knows what Jesus wrote on the ground but some people suspect Jesus wrote the sins of the scribes and Pharisees.
Notice Jesus' last words to the woman, "go away and don't sin any more." Although Jesus has forgiven her sin he expects her to live a life of grace and union with God from now on by not sinning any more. Jesus doesn't say that sin does not matter because sin does matter and damages our relationship with God. But Jesus does convict her, but did not condemn her — He convicts her of her sin 'Go, and from now on do not sin anymore."
He calls her action a "sin"—not a mistake, or a foible, or a weakness. He labels the deed a sin, and commands her not to do it again.
This leads to the obvious question: What exactly is the difference between "convicting" and "condemning"?
Simply put, to convict is to identify or expose a particular sin; to condemn is to say or imply that someone is damned. During his earthly life, Jesus very often did the first, but he never, ever did the second—as we see evidenced in this Gospel.
Biblically speaking, "to judge" means "to condemn." We Christians need to be clear about that. It has nothing to do with calling sin "sin"!
But think about it: getting convicted now is much better than being condemned on the Day of Judgment! Condemnation is final, because it always sends a person to hell. But every conviction can be easily overturned by an attitude of repentance and a good confession. This means that the experience of being convicted can actually lead us to heaven, if we convert our hearts after being convicted of the sin.
Jesus said to the woman not to sin again and since sin is so horrible and horrific we need to take steps to ensure that we do not sin again because otherwise we will gradually drift again into the same sin. The first step to take is deal with where all sin begins the mind.
Sin begins in the mind. We need to fill our minds with what is good instead of with rubbish. IN Mark 7: 20-23 we read “ From Within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly”.
Sin begins in the mind, from there it moves on to become an action, from there it moves on to become a lifestyle, and then it affects us in eternity. Remember the failure of King David in 2nd Samuel Chapter 11. Instead of going for war, he was walking on the roof and saw Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, taking bath and in his mind he committed sin before he actually committed adultery and then murder. Sin begins in the mind. We need to begin by feeding our minds with what is good instead of with what is rubbish. In our second reading today we see Paul filling himself only with Jesus and cutting out all rubbish from his life,
"I Consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For this sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…"( Phil.3:8-11)
Jesus does not condemn us when we sin but he asks us to turn away from sin and follow him again. Remember what he said to the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you but go and do not sin again." (John 8:11) Jesus does not condemn you but asks you not to sin again.
"The Son of Man has not come to call the virtuous but to call sinners to repentance." (Luke 19:10)
So have no fear in approaching Jesus to tell him your sins. He is a friend of sinners. He loves us so much.
How much does Jesus love us? This much [stretching out arms], he stretched out his arms on the cross and died for us. Let us never be afraid to turn to Jesus for mercy after sinning, he is always waiting to forgive us and restore us again.
Imagine when you die and Jesus comes to meet you and shows you a video of your entire life. On the video you see all the good things you did. But there are also a number of blanks on the tape. You ask why there are such blanks on the tape of your life. Jesus tells you these were the times when you sinned and asked for God's mercy. When God forgives he completely blanks out our sins and does not remember.
The nature of sin is always self-defeating and binding. When we think we are actually doing for ourselves, we are actually defeating our self. We grow when we selflessly do things for others. This is the foundation of Christian life. God created us to know God to Love God and to Serve God. But when we sin we are against our true nature. When you buy any electronic items, you get a manual with it. When we follow the manual and use according to it, the manufacturer guarantees us that it will have long life but if you do it by yourself not following the manual it may have life but it will go dead meantime. Follow the manuals of God and we will live long.
Genesis 4: 7 SAYS “If you do what is right, you will be accepted. But if you do not do what is right, sin is couching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it”.
As Jesus showed the mercy to the sinful woman we need to show the three-tiered mercy: to God, to neighbor, to self. Forgive God. It's important. Forgive your neighbor. It's the law. Forgive yourself. It's Christ-like.
Forgive God, to begin with. Surely, you have something against God — life being what it is.
Sometimes we do not forgive, but carries a grudge, resentment, a justified umbrage for what someone has done to us: Boss, inferior, or equal.
And you, my brothers and sisters, have you forgiven yourself? Here it starts; here it ends, for forgiveness is meaningless when it does not start at home, in your own heart.
Forgive what you have done, or should have done, or could have done and did not. Hatred is the acid that corrodes its container.
I ask you to consider again the power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession, to remove rubbish and garbage and junk from our lives. It is not the priest that you meet in Confession, it is Jesus you meet, and it is he who heals you during the sacrament. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." He can walk back in time to when we got that rubbish and he can remove it and repair us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
One rainy afternoon a mother was driving along one of the main streets of town. Suddenly, her son spoke up from his relaxed position in the rear seat. “Mom, I’m thinking of something.” This announcement usually meant he had been pondering some fact for a while and was now ready to expound all that his seven-year-old mind had discovered. His mother was eager to hear. “What are you thinking?” she asked. “The rain is like sin and the windscreen wipers are like God, wiping our sins away.” “That’s really good, sweet heart, but do you notice how the rain keeps on coming? What does that tell you?” He didn’t hesitate one moment with his answer: “We keep on sinning, and God just keeps on forgiving us.” Yes dear brothers and sisters, isn’t it comforting to know that God does keep forgiving us? All we have to do is trust Jesus as our savior and He will keep washing our sins away.
What a contrast between the cruelty of the scribes and Pharisees and the compassion of Jesus in our Gospel. The scribes and Pharisees had no regard for the woman. They were only interested in using her to try to trap Jesus; she was a pawn in their game of chess. But Jesus is full of compassion. He restored the woman again. He restored her in two ways. He restored her spiritually by forgiving her, telling her he did not condemn her, while also insisting that she should not sin again, and he restored her to society by saving her life. No one knows what Jesus wrote on the ground but some people suspect Jesus wrote the sins of the scribes and Pharisees.
Notice Jesus' last words to the woman, "go away and don't sin any more." Although Jesus has forgiven her sin he expects her to live a life of grace and union with God from now on by not sinning any more. Jesus doesn't say that sin does not matter because sin does matter and damages our relationship with God. But Jesus does convict her, but did not condemn her — He convicts her of her sin 'Go, and from now on do not sin anymore."
He calls her action a "sin"—not a mistake, or a foible, or a weakness. He labels the deed a sin, and commands her not to do it again.
This leads to the obvious question: What exactly is the difference between "convicting" and "condemning"?
Simply put, to convict is to identify or expose a particular sin; to condemn is to say or imply that someone is damned. During his earthly life, Jesus very often did the first, but he never, ever did the second—as we see evidenced in this Gospel.
Biblically speaking, "to judge" means "to condemn." We Christians need to be clear about that. It has nothing to do with calling sin "sin"!
But think about it: getting convicted now is much better than being condemned on the Day of Judgment! Condemnation is final, because it always sends a person to hell. But every conviction can be easily overturned by an attitude of repentance and a good confession. This means that the experience of being convicted can actually lead us to heaven, if we convert our hearts after being convicted of the sin.
Jesus said to the woman not to sin again and since sin is so horrible and horrific we need to take steps to ensure that we do not sin again because otherwise we will gradually drift again into the same sin. The first step to take is deal with where all sin begins the mind.
Sin begins in the mind. We need to fill our minds with what is good instead of with rubbish. IN Mark 7: 20-23 we read “ From Within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly”.
Sin begins in the mind, from there it moves on to become an action, from there it moves on to become a lifestyle, and then it affects us in eternity. Remember the failure of King David in 2nd Samuel Chapter 11. Instead of going for war, he was walking on the roof and saw Bathsheba, wife of Uriah, taking bath and in his mind he committed sin before he actually committed adultery and then murder. Sin begins in the mind. We need to begin by feeding our minds with what is good instead of with what is rubbish. In our second reading today we see Paul filling himself only with Jesus and cutting out all rubbish from his life,
"I Consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For this sake I have accepted the loss of all things and I consider them so much rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him…"( Phil.3:8-11)
Jesus does not condemn us when we sin but he asks us to turn away from sin and follow him again. Remember what he said to the woman caught in adultery, "Neither do I condemn you but go and do not sin again." (John 8:11) Jesus does not condemn you but asks you not to sin again.
"The Son of Man has not come to call the virtuous but to call sinners to repentance." (Luke 19:10)
So have no fear in approaching Jesus to tell him your sins. He is a friend of sinners. He loves us so much.
How much does Jesus love us? This much [stretching out arms], he stretched out his arms on the cross and died for us. Let us never be afraid to turn to Jesus for mercy after sinning, he is always waiting to forgive us and restore us again.
Imagine when you die and Jesus comes to meet you and shows you a video of your entire life. On the video you see all the good things you did. But there are also a number of blanks on the tape. You ask why there are such blanks on the tape of your life. Jesus tells you these were the times when you sinned and asked for God's mercy. When God forgives he completely blanks out our sins and does not remember.
The nature of sin is always self-defeating and binding. When we think we are actually doing for ourselves, we are actually defeating our self. We grow when we selflessly do things for others. This is the foundation of Christian life. God created us to know God to Love God and to Serve God. But when we sin we are against our true nature. When you buy any electronic items, you get a manual with it. When we follow the manual and use according to it, the manufacturer guarantees us that it will have long life but if you do it by yourself not following the manual it may have life but it will go dead meantime. Follow the manuals of God and we will live long.
Genesis 4: 7 SAYS “If you do what is right, you will be accepted. But if you do not do what is right, sin is couching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it”.
As Jesus showed the mercy to the sinful woman we need to show the three-tiered mercy: to God, to neighbor, to self. Forgive God. It's important. Forgive your neighbor. It's the law. Forgive yourself. It's Christ-like.
Forgive God, to begin with. Surely, you have something against God — life being what it is.
Sometimes we do not forgive, but carries a grudge, resentment, a justified umbrage for what someone has done to us: Boss, inferior, or equal.
And you, my brothers and sisters, have you forgiven yourself? Here it starts; here it ends, for forgiveness is meaningless when it does not start at home, in your own heart.
Forgive what you have done, or should have done, or could have done and did not. Hatred is the acid that corrodes its container.
I ask you to consider again the power of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confession, to remove rubbish and garbage and junk from our lives. It is not the priest that you meet in Confession, it is Jesus you meet, and it is he who heals you during the sacrament. "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." He can walk back in time to when we got that rubbish and he can remove it and repair us.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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