A couple of weeks ago, the second
graders of St. Teresa of Avila Parish celebrated the Sacrament of
Penance for the first time. The kids were all dressed up and, on the
outside, they looked like little angels. Yet, we all know the truth.
Behind the façade of those angelic faces and "Sunday best"
lurks the reality of freely willed sin.
The kids were extremely well
prepared for their first confessions and I was astounded how each
penitent had memorized the act of contrition. Not one of the penitents
couldn’t complete it, although a few did say that they were
"hardly" sorry for having offend "Thee, my God, Who are
all good and deserving of all my love."
Reflecting back upon those first
confessions, I noted that the kids focused for the most part upon their
actions, that is, those sinful things they had done. And that’s pretty
much how it is with adults, too, isn’t it? We put up a pretty good
façade. And, when we focus upon our sins, we think about the evil
actions that we’ve performed, sometimes knowingly and at other times
unknowingly. And, the Sacrament of Penance is viewed as a ritual
recitation of our laundry list of sinful acts.
Today’s readings offer a
different perspective to consider. They focus not upon actions but upon
temptation and, in doing so, reveal the deeper and more deadly nature of
sin that we oftentimes don’t consider and more frequently don’t
confess. That is, how we abuse the power of reason to justify doing evil
things by placing love of self before love of God and neighbor.
"You are dust and to dust
you shall return," many heard on Ash Wednesday when ashes were
placed on their foreheads to mark the beginning of the Lenten season.
This statement serves to remind us, as does today’s selection from the
Book of Genesis that, like every other earthly creature, God has
created each of us from the dust of the earth. God has created us in
space and time, to live in space and time, and we will cease to exist in
space and time. We live on borrowed time and not one of us knows how
long that may be, although God certainly does. As creatures, there is a
beginning and an end, a first day and a last day. As Creator, God is the
beginning and the end, the first and the last.
But, today’s selection from The
Book of Genesis tells us that, in contrast to other animals, God has
breathed His divine life into us, something He gave to no other
creature. That divine life---the power of reason to know good and
evil---is what makes us God-like. So, although we live on borrowed time,
we possess the free will to make the best of that limited amount of time
by doing good and avoiding evil. Or, we can waste that limited amount of
time by doing evil and avoiding good.
Today first reading also
reiterates the singular command God issued to the first humans, namely,
"Do not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil
or you shall die." God did not say, "Don’t eat apples, they’re
bad for you." No, God said not to eat of the fruit of the tree of
knowledge of good and evil because to do so will destroy the life I have
given you. We are not God and cannot be God; instead, we are God’s
creatures and are God-like only in so far as use the gift of the power
of reason.
So far, so good.
But then, we are told, a talking
serpent slithers onto the scene and inquires whether Eve is
knowledgeable of God’s command. Once the serpent establishes that she
is---in order that Eve will bear responsibility for the choice she will
make---the serpent offers a tempting interpretation about why God issued
this command. God’s motive, the serpent explains, was that God is
jealous and doesn’t want anyone to be like Him.
Succumbing to the temptation, Eve
freely wills to disobey God’s command and eats the fruit. Then,
realizing that she has not died and, believing that she had successfully
called God’s bluff, Eve invites Adam to do the same.
Wouldn’t you just love to have
been tuned into that conversation? I can hear Eve offering the following
litany: "Honey, would you do this for me please? Look, God said we’d
die, but I didn’t. Come on, please, would you please, just this one
time? Don’t you love me. You’d do it for me if you loved me."
And, not to let Adam off of the hook, consider what would have happened
had Adam not proven to be so "linguini spined," had he
possessed the courage of his convictions, and steadfastly challenged Eve
to remain obedient to God’s command.
But, Adam gives in and,
"through one man sin entered the world." Suddenly their
eyes are opened. They not only see what they hadn’t previously seen
but they also know things they had not previously known. And, in their
guilt and shame, the two set about covering up their freely willed
disobedience. First, they try hiding behind fig leaves. Second, they try
hiding in the bushes. And, when God confronts them, Adam and Eve try a
third cover up, namely, to deny personal responsibility by pointing
fingers at and blaming one another. Finally, the most preposterous lie
of all: Eve blames a "talking" serpent. See how the power of
reason---what made Eve and Adam God-like---has been abused to the point
that they actually believe that God is so stupid as to believe this pack
of lies?
So, what is sin?
Sin is not so much the freely
willed act of disobedience. Instead, sin is the freely willed choice to
be disobedient. Sin is not so much what was done as it is the abuse of
the power of reason by which people dupe themselves into believing what
is bad (disobedience) is good and what is good (obedience) is bad.
Furthermore, this sin becomes evident not in the choice to be
disobedient but in the ensuing cover up where people attempt to deny
their responsibility by hiding the truth. Then, by so choosing, people
not only forsake their innocence; more importantly, people forsake their
God-likeness. No longer are they pure nor are they trustworthy. Instead,
these people can only put on false pretensions, feigning innocence and
trustworthiness. And, as they do, feelings of guilt and shame assail
them because these people know that they are living a lie.
In contrast to Eve and Adam,
today’s gospel selection presents the other side of the coin. Jesus
does not succumb to Satan’s temptations to seek fulfillment in the
things of this world, including power, fame, and fortune. Instead, Jesus
uses of the power of reason to unveil and to defeat Satan’s deceits.
And, through his obedience to what reason dictates, Jesus exhibits what
Eve and Adam had forsaken, namely, his God-likeness.
Temptation is real. However, we
miss the boat if we think of temptation simply as an urge to act in a
way we know we shouldn’t. In reality, temptation is a test of the
power of reason and our ability not only to know good and evil but also
to freely will one or the other. To be tempted is to realize the choice
placed before us, namely, the choice to be obedient by choosing the good
or to be disobedient by choosing the evil. Eve and Adam failed when they
were tempted, choosing evil rather than good. But, Jesus did not fail in
the test, choosing good rather than evil, even if that meant death on
the Cross.
Lent offers a period of forty
days for us to consider the strength of the power of reason God has
given each of us, to assess how we’ve used or abused that power, and
to assess our God-likeness. Lent is the time:
- to recognize our identity as
creatures of God;
- to admit our guilt and shame;
- to cast aside the fig leaves
by saying, "Away with you, Satan";
- to ask for God’s mercy and
forgiveness; and,
- to put love of God and
neighbor ahead of love of self.
As such, Lent is a gift of time.
It offers us time to strengthen our power of reason, to commit ourselves
to make better choices when tempted, and to experience the grace of
reconciliation with God who, through this season of Lent, invites us to
return to state of goodness in which we were created.