THE FORGIVING MERCY OF GOD EVEN IN PUNISHMENT

20150728 THE FORGIVING MERCY OF GOD EVEN IN PUNISHMENT

Readings at Mass

First reading

Exodus 33:7-11,34:5-9,28 ©

Moses used to take the Tent and pitch it outside the camp, at some distance from the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who had to consult the Lord would go out to the Tent of Meeting, outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise. Every man would stand at the door of his tent and watch Moses until he reached the Tent; the pillar of cloud would come down and station itself at the entrance to the Tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. When they saw the pillar of cloud stationed at the entrance to the Tent, all the people would rise and bow low, each at the door of his tent. The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would turn back to the camp, but the young man who was his servant, Joshua son of Nun, would not leave the Tent.

  And the Lord descended in the form of a cloud, and Moses stood with him there.

  He called on the name of the Lord. The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, a God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness; for thousands he maintains his kindness, forgives faults, transgression, sin; yet he lets nothing go unchecked, punishing the father’s fault in the sons and in the grandsons to the third and fourth generation.’ And Moses bowed down to the ground at once and worshipped. ‘If I have indeed won your favour, Lord,’ he said ‘let my Lord come with us, I beg. True, they are a headstrong people, but forgive us our faults and our sins, and adopt us as your heritage.’

  Moses stayed there with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, eating and drinking nothing. He inscribed on the tablets the words of the Covenant – the Ten Words.

Psalm

Psalm 102:6-13 ©

The Lord is compassion and love.

The Lord does deeds of justice,

  gives judgement for all who are oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses

  and his deeds to Israel’s sons.

The Lord is compassion and love.

The Lord is compassion and love,

  slow to anger and rich in mercy.

His wrath will come to an end;

  he will not be angry for ever.

The Lord is compassion and love.

He does not treat us according to our sins

  nor repay us according to our faults.

For as the heavens are high above the earth

  so strong is his love for those who fear him.

The Lord is compassion and love.

As far as the east is from the west

  so far does he remove our sins.

As a father has compassion on his sons,

  the Lord has pity on those who fear him.

The Lord is compassion and love.

Gospel Acclamation

1P1:25

Alleluia, alleluia!

The word of the Lord remains for ever:

What is this word?

It is the Good News that has been brought to you.

Alleluia!

Or

Alleluia, alleluia!

The seed is the word of God, Christ the sower;

whoever finds this seed will remain for ever.

Alleluia!

Gospel

Matthew 13:36-43 ©

Leaving the crowds, Jesus went to the house; and his disciples came to him and said, ‘Explain the parable about the darnel in the field to us.’ He said in reply, ‘The sower of the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world; the good seed is the subjects of the kingdom; the darnel, the subjects of the evil one; the enemy who sowed them, the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; the reapers are the angels. Well then, just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth. Then the virtuous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Listen, anyone who has ears!’

THE FORGIVING MERCY OF GOD EVEN IN PUNISHMENT

SCRIPTURE READINGS: EX 33:7-11; 34:5-9, 28; MT 13:36-42

In the first reading from the book of Exodus, God revealed to Moses that He is the “God of tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in kindness and faithfulness; for thousands he maintains his kindness, forgives faults, transgression, sin.”  So too in the responsorial psalm, the psalmist praised God’s mercy.  “The Lord is kind and merciful. Not according to our sins does he deal with us, nor does he requite us according to our crimes. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.”  So great and unlimited is His mercy “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he put our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.”  And in the gospel we are also told of God’s patience with the sinfulness of man.  The parable of the Darnel and the Wheat reminds us that God is not in a hurry to remove us from the face of the earth.  On the contrary, the master told the servants to let the darnel grow together with the wheat.

However, alongside the theme of God’s mercy is the theme of God’s wrath.  Indeed, immediately after proclaiming Himself as the God of mercy, God also warns that “he lets nothing go unchecked, punishing the father’s fault in the sons and in the grandsons to the third and fourth generation.”  And in the gospel, we are also warned that at the end of life, we have to give an account of ourselves; and if we live an evil life, then God will throw us “into the blazing furnace” to be barbecued and “there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”  This, then, is our dilemma.  How can we reconcile the loving and forgiving mercy of God and His wrath?  

Firstly, we must make a distinction between forgiveness and sin.  We can forgive someone who hurts us.  But it does not necessarily mean that the person is truly forgiven.  Certainly on the side of the one who forgives, that person is forgiven.  But on the side of the sinner, unless he changes his way of relating with us and with others, it is possible that he can still remain in his sins.  Similarly, God always forgives us our sins.  He does not keep a record of our wrongs.  But although He has forgiven us, we might not have forgiven ourselves, since we continue to persist in our sinfulness.  By so doing, not only will we continue to hurt others but also ourselves.

Secondly, we must also make a distinction between forgiveness and the consequences of sin.  A person can be forgiven but the consequences of sin cannot be erased.  For example, if someone cuts off one of our arms, even if we forgive the person, our arm will not grow back.  And so the person who has been injured will have to suffer the consequences of the sins of others.  And for the person who has been forgiven, he has to suffer the consequences of his sin as well, e.g. his guilt and inability to forgive himself.  For some of us, such pain, whether on the side of the one who is injured or the injuring party, takes a long time to heal.  For some, it might take months and even years.

Similarly, God will forgive us for the offences that we have committed.  But forgiveness does not mean that God will remove the consequences due to our sins.  The consequences of sin follow the course of nature.  This is what the first reading meant when we are told that God punishes the children and children’s children until the fourth generation for the sins of the father.  Certainly, we must not interpret that we are responsible for the sins of our father, our grand-father, great-grand father.  What the author meant is that the consequences of sin will last for quite some time, even as long as four generations.  That is to say, the bad examples of our sins will negatively influence the lives of our children and children’s children.  Parents who are divorced or living in cold war will certainly impact their children emotionally, spiritually and even intellectually. They will grow up unconsciously with deep resentment against their parents and unable to cope with their emotional life in their later years.  Such negative traits are passed to them not just by example but psychologically as well.

Thirdly, we must realize that the so-called “punishments” of God, that is, the consequences of sin, are in themselves the greatest mercy of God.  If God allows us to suffer the consequences of sin, it is not to punish us.  God is not vindictive or revengeful in any way.  Nay!  It is because God understands that the way of human growth is through the normal process of trial and error.  It is through our sufferings and pain that we learn the truth about ourselves.  By living out our pain, anger and guilt, we come to an inner reconciliation.  So the sufferings due to the consequences of our actions are the means by which we grow out of our foolishness. The residue of sins remains even when we are forgiven. The “punishments” we receive must be seen as aids to rectify ourselves.  Sufferings make us grow.  We do not become saints overnight.  For that reason, we must thank God for the sufferings that come our way because we know that they are only temporary as they purify us for eternal happiness.  With the psalmist we too can say, “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness. He will not always chide, nor does he keep his wrath forever.”

Hence, the ‘punishment’ of sufferings that come from sin is also the mercy of God. That is why the priest imposes penance in the Sacrament of Reconciliation as an aid to help us to transform our lives.  Penance must not be seen as punishment.  Thus, we can proclaim that God is the greatest of our friends, just as He was to Moses.  God is not someone who would shield us from the pain of growth.  He loves us so much that He wants to journey with us in our ignorance and foolishness, just as He journeyed with the headstrong and stubborn Israelites. God understands the process of human growth and so allows us to have our own time and pace to become reconciled within ourselves, with others and with Him.

In the final analysis, as the gospel warns us, we still have to give an account of ourselves.  Jesus warned us that “just as the darnel is gathered up and burnt in the fire, so it will be at the end of time.  The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all things that provoke offences and all who do evil, and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.”  Instead of arriving at the end of our life unprepared, we are given the chance to purify ourselves gradually each day so that when the time comes for us to be judged, we would have grown to be more and more virtuous, and then we “will shine like the sun in the kingdom” of our Father.  Of course, this virtuous life is only possible if we already begin our relationship with God as Moses did, seeing Him face to face.  As we grow in intimacy with the Lord, we will find the strength to forgive others who have hurt us; to forgive ourselves for hurting others and most of all, to accept graciously and thankfully even the consequences and sufferings that our sins have wrought upon ourselves and others, for we know in faith that God the all merciful Father will transform everything for our good.

Written by The Most Rev William Goh

Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore

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