Wednesday of the Twenty-eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Lectionary: 469

You, O man, are without excuse, every one of you who passes judgment. For by the standard by which you judge another you condemn yourself,

How do you convince good people to accept salvation by the forgiveness of their sins? Neither Jesus nor Saint Paul found any difficulty in welcoming sinners into the fold. Jesus was known (and despised) for associating with tax collectors and sinners. Saint Paul enjoyed great success in his Corinthian church, comprised of travelling salesmen, lonely sailors and young women far from home.

But the good people who maintain reputations for public service, responsible care of their families, and reliable participation in church functions? What do you say to them?

They are the ones who -- perhaps unintentionally -- tilt commercial playing fields to their advantage, and invest in legitimate "sin stock industries." If their consciences are vaguely soiled by these enterprises they can always fund a church and receive the gushing gratitude of the elders.

I heard a cheery saying once, "Every day in every way, I am getting better and better!" It may be a useful cliche for sad sacks who feel defeated before they get up in the morning; but Christians use such banalities to frustrate the Word of God. Perhaps we should try on. like a penitential hair shirt, "Every day in every way I offend the Lord."

In today's first reading from his Letter to the Romans, Saint Paul tries to remind his readers of God's judgement and the impending wrath. No one should hear this reading and assume it's meant for someone else. Saint Paul identifies our continual judgments, assessments, evaluations, and ratings of others as sinful. Which of us does not judge the neighbor? 

He is building up to his general condemnation of everyone:

For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. Romans 3: 22-26:

If, with our cheery little bromide about getting better and better, we avoid his pronouncement we also sidestep the justification freely given by grace. As the Apostle immediately says,

They [the condemned] are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood...

Jesus comes at us like an unexpected and undeserved crisis. He demands an immediate response and we habitually, impulsively avoid responding. Encased within our comfortably familiar self-assessments, and denying the catastrophe that stares us in the face, we miss the moment and the opportunity. "I'm good!" we say, like an exhausted swimmer who prefers drowning to dishonor.

Saint Paul continues in chapter 3:

…Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God—to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

The Lord can neither prove his righteousness nor justify the sinner so long as we insist upon our own righteousness. Our justification comes through faith, not by the good works for which we're praised.

The great twentieth century Catholic Theologian, Hans Urs Von Balthazar -- who was often cited by Pope Saint John Paul II -- in his book, Mysterium Paschale, writes:

"God cannot love moral evil, he can only hate it. Of its very nature, it stands in complete opposition to God’s essence. It is the counter-image of his holy love. There is no right love without wrath, for wrath is the reverse side of love. God could not truly love the good unless he hated evil and shunned it . . . Therefore God does not forgive unexpiated sin. A mere amnesty is an ignoring of evil, which takes sin lightly or even recognizes in it an existence as of right."

Paul also cites God's "forbearance." The Bible and our history give us innumerable stories of God's patience when the penalty for our sins did not fall upon us. For how many centuries did the Lord bear with injustice in Jerusalem before the armies of Assyria and Babylonia fell upon the city?

The consequences of sin may continue for generations; as, for instance, America's slavery with its continuing stories of segregation, racism, and violence. Or the persistent hardship of alcoholism on one's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. God's "forbearance" may seem like God's indifference, absence, or even endorsement of our peculiar institutions -- until catastrophe falls like the Wrath of God upon the entire nation.

How do you convince good people to accept forgiveness for their sins and the salvation God would give to prove his righteousness? Noah's flood didn't do it. Neither has any war since the dawn of human history. Would the killing of God on a cross, and his resurrection from the dead finally breakthrough to us?

Then Abraham said, ‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’