20240628 FULL BLOWN CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
28 June 2024, Friday, 12th Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | 2 Kings 25:1-12 |
The sack of Jerusalem and the final deportation
In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his whole army to attack Jerusalem; he pitched camp in front of the city and threw up earthworks round it. The city lay under siege till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. In the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, when famine was raging in the city and there was no food for the populace, a breach was made in the city wall. At once, the king made his escape under cover of dark, with all the fighting men, by way of the gate between the two walls, which is near the king’s garden – the Chaldaeans had surrounded the city – and made his way towards the Arabah. The Chaldaean troops pursued the king and caught up with him in the plains of Jericho, where all his troops deserted. The Chaldaeans captured the king and took him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, who passed sentence on him. He had the sons of Zedekiah slaughtered before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes and, loading him with chains, carried him off to Babylon.
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month – it was in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon – Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard, an officer of the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem. He burned down the Temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses in Jerusalem. The Chaldaean troops who accompanied the commander of the guard demolished the walls surrounding Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, commander of the guard, deported the remainder of the population left behind in the city, the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the common people. The commander of the guard left some of the humbler country people as vineyard workers and ploughmen.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 136(137):1-6 |
O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!
By the rivers of Babylon
there we sat and wept,
remembering Zion;
on the poplars that grew there
we hung up our harps.
O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!
For it was there that they asked us,
our captors, for songs,
our oppressors, for joy.
‘Sing to us,’ they said,
‘one of Zion’s songs.’
O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!
O how could we sing
the song of the Lord
on alien soil?
If I forget you, Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!
O let my tongue
cleave to my mouth
if I remember you not,
if I prize not Jerusalem
above all my joys!
O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not!
Gospel Acclamation | Ps144:13 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
The Lord is faithful in all his words
and loving in all his deeds.
Alleluia!
Or: | Mt8:17 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
He took our sicknesses away,
and carried our diseases for us.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Matthew 8:1-4 |
'If you want to, you can cure me'
After Jesus had come down from the mountain large crowds followed him. A leper now came up and bowed low in front of him. ‘Sir,’ he said ‘if you want to, you can cure me.’ Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him and said, ‘Of course I want to! Be cured!’ And his leprosy was cured at once. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Mind you do not tell anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering prescribed by Moses, as evidence for them.’
FULL BLOWN CONSEQUENCES OF SIN
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [2 KGS 25:1-12; MT 8:1-4]
The tragedy for many of us is that we do not take our sins seriously. We fail to realize that every sin has its offspring; not one, but many. As a result, we do not pay attention to the sins we commit in life. We think that getting angry, lying, pilfering, gossiping, flirting around, salacious talk, pornography, heavy drinking and smoking, and gambling is tolerable. We think that if we skip mass on Sundays, it is all right. Indeed, the beginning of sin looks mild and insignificant. But this is where we are ignorant about the strategy of the Evil One. He first tempts us to sin in small ways. Then he leads us to sin further and commit more sins.
Today, the Scripture shows us how sin grows like leprosy. Leprosy was most feared during the time of Jesus. It is a slow death and a tragic one, because one sees his body being eaten up bit by bit, and the senses going numb. This is why leprosy is a biblical symbol of sin. We see this in the case of Miriam who was jealous of Moses. She spoke ill of him. Her sin was rooted in pride because she felt she was the best person for the office and tried to influence others to go against him, even tarnishing his reputation. She felt that she and her brother Aaron had equal rights to be leaders of Israel. She was reprimanded by the Lord and turned into a leper. (Num 12:1-16)
Sin begins small. It begins with a negative thought, then it manifests in uncharitable words and gives birth to selfish actions. Indeed, if we are not attentive and careful of our sins, of our thoughts, they will soon be expressed in words and actions. It grows from strength to strength, slowly invades the rest of the body and eats up the person. Numbness sets in and one cannot feel any more pain even though the body of the person is rotting away. This is why St Peter warns us, “Discipline yourselves, keep alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour.” (1 Pt 5:8)
In today’s first reading, the downfall of the Kingdom of Judah and the deportation of King Zedekiah to Babylon were all written on the wall. But the people were too selfish and blind to the warnings of the prophets. God sent one prophet after another to ask them to repent. They saw the fall of the Northern Kingdom, Israel, to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. because of their infidelity to the Covenant. The selfish rule of the king and the injustices of the nobles and the rich, their oppression of the poor and the corrupt priests led to its downfall. The same happened to Judah. But they did not take heed of God’s warning signs. Alas, it came to this sad and tragic day when “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his whole army to attack Jerusalem.” They failed to understand and learn their lessons when the first batch of inhabitants were exiled earlier. Instead of submitting to the Babylonians and being contented as a vassal state, King Zedekiah rebelled against them. As a consequence, the city was besieged, resulting in famine. The king tried to make “his escape under cover of dark, with all the fighting men, by way of the gate between the two walls.” He was caught and the Babylonian King “had the sons of Zedekiah slaughtered before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes and, loading him with chains, carried him off to Babylon.” Indeed, one sin leads to many other sins!
When we sin, our sins do not only affect us. It affects our loved ones and those people under our charge. Besides the slaughter of his sons, the Temple of the Lord was also burnt, and the royal palace and houses and the walls surrounding Jerusalem were demolished. The rest of the population were deported to Babylon, especially those who were skilled. They left behind, “some of the humbler country people as vineyard workers and ploughmen”, who suffered injustices, oppression and poverty. The Lord allowed them to remain behind as they did not sin!
This is why we must think far and not just look at our sin as affecting us individually only. We are interdependent. We affect each other for better or for worse. Our sins will have consequences for our loved ones. When we are sent to prison for our crimes, we bring shame, trouble and suffering to our loved ones. When we cheat and steal, we cause our family to suffer when we lose our job. When we smoke and drink excessively, our health would deteriorate and our loved ones will suffer on our account. Worst of all is when we meet with an accident as a consequence of our drinking. Indeed, many of us suffer the consequences of the sins of our parents and our leaders even though we are innocent. So if we have a thought for our loved ones, we should try not to commit even a single sin.
Our sins will also influence those under our care, our friends and our loved ones. We are in the collective situation of sin. This is why the Lord has this stern warning for us: “Occasions for stumbling are bound to come, but woe to anyone by whom they come! It would be better for you if a millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea than for you to cause one of these little ones to stumble.” (Lk 17:1f) When we set bad examples, we will lead others to sin as well. Parents, teachers and leaders are often the ones responsible for causing their families and society to fall into decadence. Knowing this truth, all the more, we must avoid leading others to sin by our conduct.
Because sin is so serious, the punishment for sin is always exile. We know that a leper must stay outside the community lest he infects others. So too, the people of Israel were sent into exile. Otherwise, they would gathered together again and start another rebellion against the King of Babylon. It was the safest thing to deport the rich and powerful and talented to Babylon where, as a minority, they could not organize themselves to fight against their conqueror. They would also be gradually assimilated into the Babylonian culture and no longer be a threat to the Babylonians. Their faith and their culture would weaken over time. And indeed, after over seventy years of exile, when the time came for them to return home, many were settled comfortably in Babylon and no longer desired to return to their ruined kingdom. They had gotten used to the comfortable life they had built in Babylon.
But the lesson we can learn is that the only way to avoid sin and to protect the rest of the community is to separate the sinners from the righteous. Otherwise, the good people would be contaminated by them. This explains why in the Church, there is such a thing as excommunication. This is not so much a punishment but, firstly, a desire to ensure that their bad behaviour would not be condoned by the rest of the community. Secondly, it is hoped that their exile would cause them to reflect on their sins and seek repentance. Excommunication is not meant to be a permanent act of cutting a person off from the community but an instrument to make a person come to consciousness of the seriousness of his or her sin.
Consequently, today, the gospel wants to assure us that God desires to heal us all. He wants to reconcile us with Him and return us to our community. When the leper came to Jesus, He showed His mercy and compassion for him. Not only did He heal him, but He also touched him to assure him that he was loved and forgiven. God is ever ready to heal us and reconcile us with Him and our community, if only we are sincere, humble and yearn to be healed, like the leper who “came up and bowed low in front of him. ‘Sir, if you want to, you can cure me.'” Jesus was assuring, “Of course I want to! Be cured!” “And his leprosy was cured at once. Then Jesus said to him, ‘Mind you do not tell anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest and make the offering prescribed by Moses, as evidence for them.'” Being cured of his leprosy or his sins was but the pre-requisite to being reconciled with the community. Let us therefore turn to the Lord and seek reconciliation through the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is one of the greatest gifts that the Lord left us with, so that we are assured of not just being forgiven and reconciled but also healed of the wounds and consequences of our sins. But we must take the first step of repentance. May the consequences of our sins awaken us to conversion instead of resentment. “O let my tongue cleave to my mouth if I remember you not, If I prize not Jerusalem above all my joys!”
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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