In conclusion, just as through one transgression
condemnation came upon all,
so, through one righteous act,
acquittal and life came to all.
For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners,
so, through the obedience of the one,
the many will be made righteous.
Forty days of Lent prepare a people who have knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins. It is time for personal prayer and sacrifice as together we remember our unworthiness, and each person admits their particular sins. Adam and Eve sinned together when they ate the forbidden fruit, but Adam's sin was not that of Eve. Where she distorted the truth of God's law, he blamed God and his wife for what he'd done. Each one's sin is specifically theirs. It split them apart. But we stand together in penance before God.
God's mercy begins with his question and accusation, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat?"
No one told them they were naked; they discovered that on their own. Our news media daily discover waste, greed, and corruption, both public and private, religious and secular. No industry is pure; no institution is holy. Writers and pundits howl with helpless outrage at these sins; they insist none of this is necessary and there is still time to undo the damage. But they know as we all know the crimes will continue. Every reform is tainted before it's applied.
“Man is conceived in sin and born in corruption and he passeth from the stink of the didie to the stench of the shroud. There is always something."
(Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men)
God's mercy discovers our sins and Lent invites us to see, own, and confess them. For without penance there is neither purpose nor meaning nor salvation.
King David, the adulterous murderer, ancestor of Jesus, and author of Psalm 51 teaches us what to say:
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight. (Psalm 51)
The Son of David also shows the way as he rebukes Satan, "The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve."
Philosophers, poets, and theologians of every age and religion have recognized, If there is a God we must worship him. We owe the LORD love, devotion, and worship because of who he is and because of what we are. Refusal to worship is sin against our own nature and must destroy us. It is irrational, violent, and fatal.
Most of all, man is in need of a sense of the unconditional. Otherwise, he will perish. "Without relating himself to the unconditional," Kierkegaard says, "man cannot in the deepest sense be said to live... that is it may be said he continues to live, but spiritlessly."
Kierkegaard... felt that man's gravest danger lurked in the loss of his sense of the unconditional, the absolute. We conduct our lives according to conditionals, compromises, and concessions, all relatives.
In faith an individual commits everything to the Absoluteness of God. But the Absolute is cruel; it demands all. Abraham Joshua Heschel, A Passion for Truth, Jewish Lights Publishing, 1995, page 112
Lent insists that we come to our senses like the Prodigal Son. There is still time. But there is only forty days.
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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.