It is Possible to be a Christian, Christ’s Victory Over Sin is Yours too
Ben Sirach 27:4-7; 1 Corinthians 15:54-58; Luke 6:39-42
The many adjectives (blind, good, superior, rotten and evil) of today can serve as distractions and sources of confusion, when we do not ask the simple question: what is an adjective? Behind and before any adjective is a noun or substantive which the adjective describes. We waste our time, should we pay attention to the adjectives rather than what they qualify – a Christian. Who is a Christian and what are the expectations of God vis-à-vis a Christian? is the focus of today.
The reasons for focusing on a Christian today are myriads. It suffices to look at the so-called Christian countries and Christian individuals and ask: what is Christian about them (Christians)? When we open the Christian Bible and compare the commandments of God with the morality of today, then the readings of today will begin to make better sense. There are too many hypocrites masquerading as Christians: legalization of sodomy and abortion, the bastardization of Christian marriage, racism of all kinds, legalization of prostitution, economic exploitation of the poor, willful orchestration of wars, intentional subversion of justice to the poor and vulnerable, constitutional robbery and mismanagement, etc. The parables of today expose all these ills and categorize them as destitution of Christianity and its moral values.
Looking at the parables of today’s gospel, among the Jews, to be blind is already a curse and sign of imperfection. Two blind persons together, one leading the other, only worsens the tragedy of imperfection. The two blind persons of our parable soak themselves in a game of deception by refusing to acknowledge their blindness and its source – the splinter and the wooden beam that cause their blindness. Interestingly, it is possible to end one’s blindness by tackling the source of the blindness – the removal of the obstacle that leads to blindness! In order to prove to us that it is not a question of physical blindness, a stark oxymoron or paradox is presented as a parable: “A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit”. No where in the world does a rotten tree exist without it being a wood, not to talk of it bearing fruit! To be a tree, it has to be alive; when dead, it becomes a wood. But our parable talks of “a rotten tree bearing good fruits”!
The blindness and the rottenness of our parable are comparable to what happens to a Christian, whose life is not directed by God. When the example of Jesus’ life doesn’t influence, motivate and guide our lives as Christians, we stop being Christians and become hypocrites, at best or worst rotten. Today’s gospel makes two steps important in the life of a Christian: the knowledge of the source of one’s blindness and the removal and replacement of that source with Christ. Accordingly, the simplest solution to blindness is to imitate one’s teacher instead of the overthrow of one’s teacher. Foremost, it is important to know one’s teacher and attempt to be like one’s teacher. For Christians, there is only one teacher – Jesus Christ. The substitution of Christ with other guides and the refusal to imitate him are the causes of “blindness” and “hypocrisy,” especially when it pertains to being a Christian.
One’s teacher is determined by the fruit one produces: rotten fruits from rotten trees; the specie of the tree determines the kind of fruit it produces: the heart is connected to the mouth, that is why it determines what the mouth speaks. This proves that Christian morality and Christianity are all about what we do, and much less what we say. An example of the rottenness of Christianity is the invention of the 11th commandment – thou shall not be caught! A Christian is denatured and rotten inside, when her/his moral life is bankrupt, whether she/he is caught or not. When priests, bishops and cardinals are caught as pedophiles and swindlers they reveal a long string of life of rottenness that didn’t happen only when they are caught. When gays and lesbians come out of the closet, it displays the alienness of Christianity and the hypocrisy of the so-called Christian cultures of today.
Indeed, our first reading provides us with the parameters for measuring who a Christian is and the high moral ground and standard reserved for him or her. These statements, from our first reading, corroborate our position: “When a sieve is shaken, the husks appear; so do one’s faults when one speaks. As the test of what the potter molds is in the furnace, so in tribulation is the test of the just. The fruit of a tree shows the care it has had”. “Temptations” do have their places in human life, like examinations which test our knowledge. Thanks to temptations, our true identity is revealed.
Unlike the “sieve” of our first reading and the splinter of our gospel reading which tested the quality of people in the past, today, temptations reveal a Christian, especial when weighed against the instruments of constitutional and liberal democracies. The contemporary moral tempest, through the judicial process, exposes the decay in the clergies of all the Christian churches of the world, and the political leadership of our time. One is left to wonder if there are still Christians walking on our streets today! The political, religious and civil leaderships of today crumble beneath economic and moral scrutinies! Child pornography and prostitution, flimsy divorces and addictions of all forms paraded on social media make virginity and fidelity appear to be virtues of the past! Where are the Christians of the 21st century!h
Before we are mistaken for singing the dirges of good people and Christianity, which is not the focus of today’s readings. Paul, in our second reading, invites us to look at the strength that comes from the victory of Christ over sin; the victory that is also ours! “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ”. Our second reading makes us understand that should we focus our energies on the imitation of Christ, when temptations come, we will remain standing, for the tough gets going when the going gets tough.
As far as Paul is concerned, and from the emphasis of our gospel on the importance of imitating Christ by removing the splinters and logs that blind us, human frailty is consequent upon the abandonment of Christian moral principles. For example, our society refuses to admit the sense and reality of sin. We forget that before crimes are committed, sin precedes them. Isolated sins are what we have codified as crimes. Should we focus on God’s commandments and sin, then we will restore the glory of Christianity and provide our generation with the impetus to talk about and ply the higher moral ground of Christianity. We encourage and promote sinfulness by legalizing whatever is sinful. We are equally guilty of sin, when we keep quiet and refuse to fight against sinful laws. Make no mistake about it, it is possible to be a Christian today because Christ’s victory over sin is yours and mine to imitate!
Assignment for the Week:
Could you reinforce the moral strength you see in yourself and others this week by encouragements in words and gestures (positive reinforcement). You can download a Christian moral application that you could consult or read the Ten Commandments this week.