SIN, REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS

REFLECTION FOR 24TH SUNDAY OF ORDINARY TIME- YEAR C

THEME: SIN, REPENTANCE AND FORGIVENESS

R1: Ex 32 : 2-11.13-14, 

R2: 1 Tim 1:12-17, 

Gospel: Lk 15:1-32

Our daily lives as Christians is confronted with, sin and temptation. We struggle daily to overcome sin and temptations. The surprising thing is that most times the more one is close to God the more temptation such person faces. To overcome daily temptations one needs a special grace from God. The question remains, what brings sin, what leads to it? How do we reconcile with God when we have sinned? The readings of today explain a few things about  sin, what makes up repentance and forgiveness. 

Sin:

The readings of today trace the origin of sin to the choice one makes. When one’s choice is a movement away from God’s presence and will, it becomes sin. In the first reading of today, just few weeks of being liberated from the land Egypt (land of slavery), and on the way to the promise land, the Israelites who were excited of their miraculous liberation turned away from God by CHOOSING to make the golden calf and worshiping as if it was the God who liberated them. This is also similar to the action of the prodigal son of the gospel (Lk 15) who met his father to give him a share of his own possession. When this possession was given to him, he also made a CHOICE; movement away from his father to a far distant country where he squandered this property in a life of waste. 

The action of the Israelites and the prodigal son is not far from our action. When we receive the sacrament of baptism, first communion and confirmation, we are always very excited. Do our happiness and our excitement last before we start seeing the Church and her activities as boring? Do we not like the prodigal son and the Israelites make a CHOICE of enjoying some free time outside God’s presence by becoming unfaithful to our baptismal promises and God and living anyhow? Sometimes do we not consider the laws of God and the Church as outdated and then choose our own laws? That is sin.

Sin is wickedness to God’s kindness. This wicked choice of ours angers God gravely, just as in the case of the Israelites. Not minding that God gets angry when we sin, He looks forwards towards our return always. God searches for us through the preaching in the Church, our good conscience, good advice of good friends and family members, as the shepherd searches for his lost sheep and the old woman searches for her coin, waiting for us to make ourselves available so that He will find us while searching for us. Without making oneself available, it will be difficult to find us. We make ourselves available by listening to the inner voice of the good conscience and making a movement back to him. That is repentance.

Repentance:

This process starts immediately we realise our unfaithfulness to God. It starts with self-consciousness. When the self is being reawakened by the reality of one’s state of sin and guilt, repentance starts. It is a MOVEMENT, and this movement towards God. The prodigal son, being awakened by the sense of guilt made this movement. So also, it is the time we decide to go back to the Church after many days, weeks or years of our absence. This self-consciousness is what pushes us to confession. When the prodigal son repented, he went back to his father and upon seeing his father, he confessed. In the same way, repentance is incomplete without confession. Even though God comes to embrace and welcome us back like the father of the prodigal son, He expects us to confess our sins.  This leads to forgiveness. 

Forgiveness:

Forgiveness comes through the appeal for mercy. In the case of the Israelites, Moses appealed to God on their behalf. The action of Moses stresses the importance of asking for God’s grace on those who go astray instead of living a life of exclusion like the brother of the prodigal son who stayed back when he heard of his brother’s return. Like St Paul said in the second reading, we are all sinners, we may only be slightly different from others because grace has found us (1 Tim1: 15-16).

The appeal to God for mercy is what the Lord Jesus has left for us through the ministry of the Church; the sacrament of reconciliation (confession) through which we pour out our minds to God, telling him how sinful we have been and how sorry we are. This aspect of voicing out is very essential in bringing about total healing. The prodigal son understood the importance of this and was why, not minding that his father saw him from afar and rushed to embrace him, he did not keep calm but spoke up, telling his how sorry he was. Sometimes, do we not shut up, presuming God has forgiven us and that confession is not important?

 It was after the prodigal son’s confession that his father asked that his cloth be changed, a ring put on his finger, sandals put on his feet, a calf killed for him and celebration held on his behalf. Confession also grants us total forgiveness, when are acquitted and set free, decorated with new life to live as sons and daughters.  Total forgiveness and re-admittance into God’s family accompany our confession. Hence, without voicing out and saying our sorry we are, the process of our forgiveness may not be complete. 

Rev. Fr. Chukwuemeka VINCENT Livinus, SMMM.