20170213 REJECTING THE GRACE OF GOD AS THE ROOT CAUSE OF SINS
Readings at Mass
Liturgical
Colour: Green.
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First reading
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Genesis
4:1-15,25 ©
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The man had
intercourse with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. ‘I
have acquired a man with the help of the Lord’ she said. She gave birth to a
second child, Abel, the brother of Cain. Now Abel became a shepherd and kept
flocks, while Cain tilled the soil. Time passed and Cain brought some of the
produce of the soil as an offering for the Lord, while Abel for his part
brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well. The Lord
looked with favour on Abel and his offering. But he did not look with favour on
Cain and his offering, and Cain was very angry and downcast. The Lord asked
Cain, ‘Why are you angry and downcast? If you are well disposed, ought you not
to lift up your head? But if you are ill disposed, is not sin at the door like
a crouching beast hungering for you, which you must master?’ Cain said to his
brother Abel, ‘Let us go out’; and while they were in the open country, Cain
set on his brother Abel and killed him.
The Lord
asked Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I do not know’ he replied. ‘Am I my
brother’s guardian?’ ‘What have you done?’ the Lord asked. ‘Listen to the sound
of your brother’s blood, crying out to me from the ground. Now be accursed and
driven from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s
blood at your hands. When you till the ground it shall no longer yield you any
of its produce. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer over the earth.’ Then
Cain said to the Lord, ‘My punishment is greater than I can bear. See! Today
you drive me from this ground. I must hide from you, and be a fugitive and a
wanderer over the earth. Why, whoever comes across me will kill me!’ ‘Very
well, then,’ the Lord replied ‘if anyone kills Cain, sevenfold vengeance shall
be taken for him.’ So the Lord put a mark on Cain, to prevent whoever might
come across him from striking him down.
Adam had
intercourse with his wife, and she gave birth to a son whom she named Seth,
‘because God has granted me other offspring’ she said ‘in place of Abel, since
Cain has killed him.’
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Responsorial
Psalm
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Psalm
49(50):1,8,16-17,20-21 ©
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Pay your sacrifice
of thanksgiving to God.
The God of gods, the
Lord,
has
spoken and summoned the earth,
from the rising of the
sun to its setting.
‘I find no fault with
your sacrifices,
your
offerings are always before me.’
Pay your sacrifice
of thanksgiving to God.
‘But how
can you recite my commandments
and take
my covenant on your lips,
you who despise my
law
and throw
my words to the winds?
Pay your sacrifice
of thanksgiving to God.
‘You who sit and
malign your brother
and
slander your own mother’s son.
You do this, and
should I keep silence?
Do you
think that I am like you?’
Pay your sacrifice
of thanksgiving to God.
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Gospel
Acclamation
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Ps94:8
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Alleluia, alleluia!
Harden not your
hearts today,
but listen to the
voice of the Lord.
Alleluia!
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Or
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Jn14:6
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Alleluia, alleluia!
I am the Way, the
Truth and the Life, says the Lord;
No one can come to
the Father except through me.
Alleluia!
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Gospel
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Mark 8:11-13 ©
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The
Pharisees came up and started a discussion with Jesus; they demanded of him a
sign from heaven, to test him. And with a sigh that came straight from the
heart he said, ‘Why does this generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no
sign shall be given to this generation.’ And leaving them again and
re-embarking, he went away to the opposite shore.
REJECTING
THE GRACE OF GOD AS THE ROOT CAUSE OF SINS
SCRIPTURE
READINGS: [ GEN 4:1-25; PS 49:1,8, 16-17,20-21; MARK 8:11-13 ]
The grace of God is a real
dilemma for humanity. Yet it is a reality. Many of us are resentful
of God, life and the world because we feel that God is not fair. We see
the inequalities of human beings, some are better off; some are less fortunate;
some are more talented and gifted than others. Why does God not give
equally to all? Why is there this discrepancy? In contrast, the justice
of the world is based on pure merit. You are paid according to what you
do. If you can do a better job than others, you will be paid
more. At the end of the day, workers are appraised and given bonuses and
promotion depending on their performance.
But this is not the way of
God. He loves us all. He blesses us not according to our merits but
because of His love for us. Before God, we cannot make any demands
because He provides us with everything. We have nothing to claim from
Him. He is not our debtor. Everything we have comes from God
and there is nothing that is not His. That is why we are called to offer
sacrifices to the Lord to remind us that all we have comes from Him.
Whether we are farmers or shepherds, like Cain and Abel, we are called to offer
a perfect sacrifice to God. Our responsorial psalm invites us, “Pay your
sacrifice of thanksgiving to God.”
This precisely was the
problem with Cain. He could not accept that God favoured Abel’s offering
more than his. The story does not give us the reasons for God’s rejection
of Cain’s sacrifice. The point that the author wants to make is
that God is free to choose and elect the people that He has called to help Him
in unfolding the plan of salvation. St Paul reminds us that “God chose
what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to
nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of
God.” (1 Cor 1:28f)
The rejection of God’s
grace and wanting things our way is always the root cause of sin. It was
the same for Adam and Eve. God wanted them to share in His life and
love. But they wanted to be like God without God. The serpent said to the
woman, “You will not die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will
be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Gn 3:4f) When
man insists on having things his way, instead of being receptive to the grace
of God, he lends himself to the temptation of the Evil One. Cain was too
proud to accept God’s decision. When he was angry with God for not
accepting his sacrifice, the sin of envy overcame him. This was the same
sin of the Pharisees in Jesus’ time. Earlier on, Jesus had just performed
the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. Yet, immediately after
the miracle, they could come to Jesus and ask Him for a sign from heaven.
Jesus felt so exasperated at their stubbornness and lack of docility
that, “With a sigh that came straight from the heart he said, ‘Why does this
generation demand a sign? I tell you solemnly, no sign shall be given to this
generation.’”
But the truth is that one
sin leads to another. This explains why the Lord warned Cain, sin is “at
the door like a crouching beast hungering for you.” From pride, it
led to anger, envy and eventually killing. When our anger and envy have
control over us, we become their slaves. The Pharisees, like Cain,
allowed the sin of pride and envy to overcome them so that they could not see
that the sign they were asking for was already given in the miracles and
especially in the multiplication of loaves, the reenactment of the manna given
to the people in the desert by Moses. Like Cain, they too allowed their
pride and envy to be their master, resulting in the death of Jesus.
So what must we do in order
to be happy in life? We must not grudge the generosity of God. We
will never understand the wisdom of God’s plan because it is beyond us.
In faith, we must accept the situation we are in and make the best of it.
If only Cain had offered the perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving, he would have
been happy, and God would have been happy with him too. He should have
been grateful for the blessings he already had instead of begrudging God for
showing favour to his brother. Instead of looking at himself, his
eyes were on his brother. Perhaps the reason why his gift was rejected
was because he did not give the best of what he had. We read that “Cain brought
some of the produce of the soil as an offering for the Lord, while Abel for his
part brought the first-born of his flock and some of their fat as well.”
Abel gave the best portion but Cain only took some of his produce.
He lacked gratitude and a spirit of thanksgiving.
Let us be content that
whatever God gives us is sufficient for us to be happy in life. It does
not mean that if we are somebody influential or powerful or famous in the
world, then we could be happy. On the contrary, such people often carry
with them tons of problems, worries, anxieties and fear. They are seldom
at peace because they have so many competitors and opponents. They cannot
sleep properly because of their responsibilities and the many problems they
have to solve. Their life is nothing more than fighting with their
enemies, competing with others each day. They do not even have time to enjoy
life, be with their family or spend time with their children. Wherever
God puts us, that is where we must find happiness. Anything else comes
from the Evil One. St James wrote, “What causes wars, and what causes
fighting among you? Is it not your passions that are at war in your members?
You desire and do not have; so you kill. And you covet and cannot obtain; so
you fight and wage war.” (Jms 4:1f)
We must also be happy for
those who are blessed. This is what St Paul urges us. “Rejoice
with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with
one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.”
(Rom 12:15f) Unlike
Cain, we must declare that we are our brother’s keeper. We are called to
rejoice and celebrate with them. The perfect sacrifice of thanksgiving is
to love and care for our brothers. This is what the Lord said, “But how
can you recite my commandments and take my covenant on your lips, you who
despise my law and throw my words to the winds? You who sit and malign your
brother and slander your own mother’s son! You do this, and should I keep
silence? Do you think that I am like you?”
We must not imitate Cain
who chose to find happiness in his own way. He thought that by killing
Abel, he would no longer be anxious or jealous anymore. But evil is in
the heart as Jesus taught us. “For from within, out of the heart of man, come
evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness,
deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” (Mk 7:21) With the
killing of Abel, the consequences of sin caught up with him. For fear of
his own life, he was forced to flee and be a fugitive. Adam and Eve were
driven out of paradise; now Cain is driven out a second time from the earth.
“Listen to the sound of your brother’s blood, crying out to me from the ground.
Now be accursed and driven from the ground that has opened its mouth to receive
your brother’s blood at your hands. When you till the ground it shall no longer
yield you any of its produce. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer over the
earth.”
Yet at the end of the day,
grace triumphs! Even when man turns against His grace, God continues to
grace us with His love and mercy. In the case of Adam and Eve, even with
punishment, there is the promise of salvation. So too when Cain’s life
was threatened, God would not allow Cain to be killed. God does not
permit revenge and the taking of life. Instead, God assured him of His
divine forgiveness, forbearance and mercy. The Lord replied “if anyone
kills Cain, sevenfold vengeance shall be taken for him.’ So the Lord put a mark
on Cain, to prevent whoever might come across him from striking him down.”
Written
by The Most Rev William Goh Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights
Reserved
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