Responding to Sin. 10th Ordinary B

http://usccb.org/bible/readings/061018.cfm
Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Lectionary: 89 Genesis 3:9-15, Mark 3:20-35

I hate to be wrong.

The only thing worse than being wrong, is someone else finding out before I do, so I don’t have time to come up with a good justification or excuse.

Seems like Adam was pretty much the same.

God asks a simple question

Where are you?

Adam seems to immediately realize he messed up. He jumps right into an explanation of what he did, and why he did it.

Sorta like when I would ask my kids “what are you doing?” “Nothing,” or “I didn’t do it,” or “I was just…” were instant clues that “something” was definitely up.

The next step, of course, is to find someone else to blame. Good thing God made Adam a helper to take the fall.

Eve’s no better. She plays dumb, and the victim, pointing the finger at the serpent. My daughter used to play dumb. Man, that was frustrating. Smart girl. Deserved an Oscar for playing dumb so convincingly.

We’re not really any better with someone else’s apparent mistakes, either.

Jesus was doing and saying some pretty outlandish things, and was drawing quite the crowd. Both his relatives and scribes from Jerusalem had plenty to say about his behavior, which they perceived as wacky at best, and more likely sinful to the point of blasphemy.

Jesus’s relatives are pretty kind, really.

Man… that Jesus… he used to be such a nice boy.

Totally off his rocker, now.

Sad.

We’d better lock him up.

For his own good, of course.

That, and they say crazy runs in families, and we need to look out for the family name.

Strangers, on the other hand, are quick to suggest Jesus is clearly under the influence of the prince of demons, and in league with the adversary.

Neither his relatives, nor the scribes, seemed to find it necessary to gather any facts, or even speak with Jesus. They just heard about his unusual behavior, and passed judgment.

In a way, it’s not that different from the garden. Either excuse Jesus by reason of insanity, or blame his bad behavior on someone else.

That’s about how it goes, isn’t it?

We look for excuses, or someone to blame, but we rarely jump at the chance take responsibility for our actions. And when it comes to others? We often fail to get the facts before passing judgment. We are are quick to give up hope, and we often assume the worst. We rarely reach out to help.

Our adversary loves that. He loves it when we excuse ourselves. He loves it when we blame someone else for our sin.

He loves it when we assume our neighbor is beyond hope, at best, or malicious and flat out evil at the worst.

He loves it because these responses all prevent us from seeking or encouraging others to seek that one little word Jesus lets slip in the gospel… forgiveness.

If we’re busy excusing ourselves or blaming someone else and our circumstances for our sin, we’re not likely to recognize our need for repentance.

If we’re busy passing judgment, and give up hope quickly, we’re not likely to reach out a helping hand to our neighbor.

There’s more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and returns to God, than over 99 others who don’t need repentance. Or, perhaps, don’t think they need repentance.

I’m no expert on the bad guys, but I’m pretty sure there are few things that give our adversary more glee than when we refuse to repent. What a win, robbing heaven of all that joy…

Again, I’m no expert on the bad guys, but I’m pretty sure there are few things that disappoint our adversary more than when we do repent, go to confession, do penance, and return to God.

Except, perhaps, when we also go forth to live up to the spiritual works of mercy by forgiving injuries, bearing wrongs patiently, counseling the doubtful, instructing the ignorant, and admonishing the sinner. And, of course, continuing to pray for the living and even the otherwise hopeless dead.

Living out those spiritual works of mercy is one way we demonstrate that we’re part of Jesus’s family. It’s a big part of how we do the will of God, which is to love God, and to love our neighbors. How we respond to sin and failure in our lives relates directly to our love of God. How we respond to sin and failure in those around us relates directly to our love of neighbor.

With the Lord there is mercy, and fullness of redemption.

Seek them.

Share them.

For our good, and the sake of adding to the joy in heaven.

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