What is sin?
Why are we sinful?
What should we fear?
There is commentary following the gospel, but most of the commentary relates to the 2nd reading.
Reading 1
Jer 20:10-13
Jeremiah said:
“I hear the whisperings of many:
‘Terror on every side!
Denounce! let us denounce him!’
All those who were my friends
are on the watch for any misstep of mine.
‘Perhaps he will be trapped; then we can prevail,
and take our vengeance on him.’
But the LORD is with me, like a mighty champion:
my persecutors will stumble, they will not triumph.
In their failure they will be put to utter shame,
to lasting, unforgettable confusion.
O LORD of hosts, you who test the just,
who probe mind and heart,
let me witness the vengeance you take on them,
for to you I have entrusted my cause.
Sing to the LORD,
praise the LORD,
for he has rescued the life of the poor
from the power of the wicked!”
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 69:8-10, 14, 17, 33-35
R. (14c) Lord, in your great love, answer me.
For your sake I bear insult,
and shame covers my face.
I have become an outcast to my brothers,
a stranger to my children,
Because zeal for your house consumes me,
and the insults of those who blaspheme you fall upon me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
I pray to you, O LORD,
for the time of your favor, O God!
In your great kindness answer me
with your constant help.
Answer me, O LORD, for bounteous is your kindness;
in your great mercy turn toward me.
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.
Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
the seas and whatever moves in them!"
R. Lord, in your great love, answer me.
Reading II
Rom 5:12-15
Brothers and sisters:
Through one man sin entered the world,
and through sin, death,
and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned—
for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world,
though sin is not accounted when there is no law.
But death reigned from Adam to Moses,
even over those who did not sin
after the pattern of the trespass of Adam,
who is the type of the one who was to come.
But the gift is not like the transgression.
For if by the transgression of the one the many died,
how much more did the grace of God
and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ
overflow for the many.
Gospel
Mt 10:26-33
Jesus said to the Twelve:
“Fear no one.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”
Commentary
We all know the story of Adam and Eve. But in the 2nd reading, Paul discusses our first parents so it’s important that we understand what happened.
It’s very important to understand sin because without God letting us know what the problem with sin is , we cannot understand it completely. If we better understand sin as God teaches us, we will take our decisions seriously and do all that we can to avoid sinning. Sin is bad because it is offensive to God. We should stop sinning for the right reason, because it hurts God and it is offensive to him and causes separation between us and God. Below is an easy explanation:
Quitting For the Right Reason
In a very simple analogy, let’s imagine for a moment that I am married. I cheat on my wife. I now have an STD (sexually transmitted disease). So I approach my wife and tell her that I have been cheating on her and now have an STD. I tell my wife that because the STD is causing uncomfortable symptoms, I have decided to quit cheating.
Now how would she react to this incident? She would get mad, sad, and then angry because I don’t’ want to quit cheating on her for the right reason. The worst part of my cheating is not the disease that I caught. The worst part of my cheating is that it HURTS MY WIFE and it HURTS ME! Cheating is offensive to my wife. Just the same, we have to quit sinning for the right reason. We have to understand what sin IS and what we are to do about it. To understand sin, we have to acknowledge that it is an offense against God and that’s why we should be sorry for sin. Natural consequences like STD’s should not be the reason to stop sinning.
Let’s look at Adam and Eve in order to understand better. Adam and Eve were born holy.(CCC 399) But after listening to the serpent, Eve ate the fruit and then Adam did the same.
Lack of Trust
The sin of Adam and Eve was a sin against God. In the first sin, “man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God’s command.” Here we see a clear description of sin and what is at the root - lack of trust. Adam did not trust God who told Adam that if he ate the fruit, he would die. Adam did not believe it. He did not trust the word of his creator.
Another example: God loves me, and he asks that I tell the truth at all times. For example, my wife asks me if I watered the plants while she was out of town. I lie to her because I forgot to water the plants. So, what happens? She finds out the truth on her own. She is sad and understandably upset. She begins to wonder what else I lie to her about. She begins to wonder what sort of man she has married. We start arguing and I start wondering why she loves her plants more than she loves me and I start wondering what sort of woman I have married. As you can see here, sin creates lots of problems and mistrust immediately.
In this example, I know it’s a sin against God to lie. But I thought to myself, “hey God, it’s okay to lie to my wife about the plants because she is not going to find out and it’s really not a big deal. I know you told me to NEVER lie, but I’m not so sure you are right about this. I am going to take matters into my own hands here because I know my wife very well.”
At the heart of EVERY sin is disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.1 In this example, I would have been better off listening to God and telling the truth. Disobeying God is an offense against God, but I must keep in mind that God wants what’s best for me and my wife. He wants me and my wife to be happy. That’s why he commands me to tell the truth.
We are Christians and we believe in God. When we sin, we say with our actions that WE DO NOT TRUST God. Now that is a terrible statement to make to God and we all know that actions speak louder than words. We should use our actions to praise God, not to curse him.
Sin Goggles
In case you didn’t know, wearing “beer goggles” means you are drunk. The alcohol distorts your senses including your vision. And so, you are wearing “beer goggles”. Sin works in the same way. In Genesis Chapter 3, Adam and Eve sin and their immediate reaction is to hide. Had God done anything to Adam or Eve that they should fear him? Of course not, God was only loving to them both. He was thinking about Adam when he made Eve because he said, “it is not good for the man to be alone.”2 Also, God had lovingly given everything to Adam including life and power over all the animals and food and drink.
Yet Adam and Eve were afraid of their loving God after they sinned. They suddenly had a different view of God. That’s why they hid after they had sinned. They had on “sin goggles”. Because of the “sin goggles”, Adam immediately saw Eve in a different way as well. He complained to God, “The woman whom you put here with me- she gave me fruit from the tree, so I ate it.” Eve because of the fear and shame that sin brought, also joined in the blame game by pointing out the serpent.
When I sin, I not only become ashamed but I also become afraid. I become afraid of God and afraid of others. I even start to become suspicious of God and his love. I am sure that no sin, not even the smallest, is worth committing.
Original Sin
In the 2nd reading, Paul says that, “through sin, death came to all men.” He is talking about Adam and his sin against God, which resulted in Adam’s eventual death. Yet, “death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam.” That means that people continued to be sinful after Adam and they also died. In order to explain what this means, I’d like to use another example:
Someone told me that there was a hidden camera study done a while back. Kids were told to wait in a room. They were also told not to look in a certain area of the room. Every kid in the test would wait for the adult to leave the room and would then look at the one place they were told not to.
And so, our nature is partially corrupted because of the sin of Adam and Eve. We are drawn towards sin. It is important to be aware of our sinful nature. Because of this, we understand our need for salvation. Also, all people are connected to each other. And so, when one of us sins, all of us are hurt. Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, we suffer. The good news is that because Jesus became human, we are also connected to HIM just as we are connected to Adam. And so we benefit and are saved by Jesus’ death on the cross. In Romans 5:18, Paul says, “just as through one transgression (one sin) condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all.”
Fear- Commentary on 1st Reading and Gospel
In the first reading, Jeremiah says, “the Lord is with me……Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has rescued the life of the poor from the power of the wicked!” In the Gospel, Jesus says, “Fear no one.” The readings discuss fear.
And so as a common person, here are some things I fear:
- I’m afraid to lose my job or to fail at school
- I’m afraid my wife/girlfriend will leave me
- I’m afraid I won’t be able to pay the bills
- I’m afraid that my friends will make fun of me
- I’m afraid people will find out the bad things I have done
- I’m afraid of being unwanted
- I’m afraid of dying
- I’m afraid of being ugly
To this Jesus, says “Fear no one.” Getting killed, losing our jobs, losing our boyfriends/girlfriends, or being humiliated, is not what we should fear. Jesus assures us that God is watching and protecting us constantly. “Even all the hairs of your head are counted.” God even keeps a watch over the birds. If God keeps his eyes on birds, he certainly keeps his eyes on us as well, and so we have nothing to fear- except one thing.
We must fear “the one who can destroy both soul and body”. Jesus is talking about the devil. What does the devil want man to do? He wants man to disobey God and to sin. He started with the first man Adam and he wants EVERY man to do the same. He even approached the man Jesus. The devil wants the exact opposite of what God wants. God wants us to “have life and have it more abundantly.”3 The devil wants us to disobey God the same way HE does and the devil knows that sin leads to the death of “both soul and body in Gehenna.”
The good news is that the devil is no match for the creator of the universe so truly we can have confidence in our almighty and loving Lord. However, it is important that we recognize “the broad road which leads to destruction”. 4 Although we needn’t fear anything in this world especially our petty concerns, we must recognize that our humanity is corrupted and we are drawn towards sin. We must constantly rely on the Lord for help by asking him to help us. As our lives become holier, we won’t have to rely on ourselves for protection. We will say just as Jeremiah said in the first reading, “the Lord is with me like a mighty champion”. We will grow in confidence that God will protect us from “the power of the wicked.”
The Point
- We must quit sinning for ONE reason. God loves us and we should respond by LOVING him, not by offending him. Sin is bad because it is an offense against God.
- Every sin is a statement to God that WE DO NOT TRUST HIM. We tell God that we know better than he knows.
- Sin immediately causes fear and shame. (is that true for you?) Sin even causes us to be suspicious and distrustful of our God, ourselves, and others as well.
- Because of the sin of Adam and Eve, our nature is corrupted and sinful.
- Because of God’s death on the cross, he paid the price for Adam and Eve’s sin and ours as well.
- We have many fears, but the only thing to fear is sin.
Real Life
Here is a prayer we can share:
Lord,
I am a sinner. Because of my sins, I have spent my life afraid and ashamed. I have been afraid of the future. I have been afraid of what I did yesterday. I have been afraid of what others think of me. I have been afraid of criticism. I need your help Lord. Shelter me, protect me, teach me and forgive me. I know you are with me Lord. You are walking with me. I am confident with you at my side. With you at my side, the devil will tremble and flee. I want to be with you for the rest of eternity. I am not afraid any more. I pray that the rest of my life will be pleasing to you. Stay with me Lord forever….
==============================================Mass Excitement======================
1- CCC 397
2- Genesis 2:18
3- John 10:10
4- Matthew 7:13
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