Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them in reply, “What are you thinking in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’?
The secular city insists that sin cannot be associated with the innumerable bad things that happen in human life. Earthquakes and tornadoes are not God's precise means of punishing sinners. Sickness just happens to good and bad alike; there's no rhyme or reason to it. And besides, God shouldn't punish wicked behavior; he shouldn't be bothered with such things.
Meanwhile, an enormous industry touts healthy habits of eating and exercise to make life more comfortable. It's just better to be free of pain and able to do what you want to do for as long as you can. The question of why you should live, the secular city does not address. That's a problem for your own private consideration; but if you do find an answer, please don't make yourself obnoxious about it.
The secular city resolves the question of God quite simply: If there is a God, he should reward us for doing good but he shouldn't punish us for doing evil. He cannot use economic cycles, the weather, or epidemics to reward or punish human behavior. None of that is acceptable.
However, the Scriptures Old and New understand suffering as punishment for sin; it is the opposite of the pleasant and purposeful life God intended for us from the beginning. Suffering is that settling into the dirt from which we came. If we live and flourish it is to fulfill the promise he made to our ancestors, as Zechariah sang in Luke 1:
...even as he promised through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old:
salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
to show mercy to our fathers
and to be mindful of his holy covenant
and of the oath he swore to Abraham our father...
The secular city's reluctance to hear this message begins with its extreme individualism and atomization of society. It may honor the painful consequences of crime -- especially the crimes of the poor -- with severe punishment. (The wealthy are exempt.) But it cannot abide the notion that sin is largely a collective decision, and is committed by many as they conform to the arbitrary standards of their culture. A murderer may be guilty and face the ultimate punishment, but one who participates in a lynching -- because it's a cultural expression -- is less culpable and may escape punishment. If people despise his racism and shame him and his family, they do so without the support of the secular city.
The secular city encourages freedom with few consequences. If one buys and owns an AR-15 rifle, which is designed to maim and kill many persons in a matter of seconds; and celebrates his purchase with gun shows and accessories, he is nonetheless not held responsible for the terror his weapon spawns. Secularism knows only the individual, the Leibnizean monad which has neither relationship nor connection to any other monad individual. All are unique and isolated from one another.
The Bible does not know that bizarre philosophy. From Genesis to Revelation, the Word of God recognizes the human individual as connected to others. It is not good for man to be alone; he is incomplete without her. If his pulmonary, cardiological, and digestive systems are complete, his reproductive system is only partial. Nor can a couple survive without the assistance of others who, together, create the infrastructures necessary for human life.
And those systems can only reflect the blessed gifts and sinful habits of those who build them. In the real world, grace and sin are both systemic.
In today's gospel Jesus forgives a man's sins and heals his body. The paralyzed man is freed to contribute to the well-being of others. As they have carried him, so he must carry others.
His blessed state represents the wholeness God desires and offers to all humankind. Advent celebrates the promise given to all creation, human and divine, animate and inanimate. One day all will be well, and all manner of things will be well.
Indeed all creation awaits that great day of revelation when all things will be made new.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.