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2014-03-09 Daniel Daring
(Comments welcome here)
Beautiful and holy
Genesis
2:7-9; 3:1-7; Romans 5:
“Every
time I have sex something dies within me,” was an honest revelation of a young
and single woman. Although the mores of our so-called Christian society have
changed and we do not call sinful the things our grandparents once considered
scandalous, yet sin, with death as its main consequence, is still very present
among us, and those suffering under the yoke of sin continue to dream of being
set free. “I want to be holy and beautiful” - added the young woman - “not
just beautiful and carnal.”
The readings of the first Sunday of Lent describe a
move from Adam to Christ, from sin to grace. Adam succumbed to the temptation of
eating from the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 3:1-7), whereas
Jesus withheld the attempt to question His identity of being the Son of God with
a firm response, “Be off, Satan!” (Matthew 4:1-11). Reflecting upon this
history of our salvation, Paul stated that “sin came into the world through
one man, and death came through sin” (Romans 5:12). But grace also came into
the world through “the one man Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:15), and together
with God's grace the possibility of transformation. The question needs to be
asked, however, whether these terms – sin and grace – do still mean
something to us. Or putting it in another way: do we long to be holy and
beautiful or do we we prefer to stay carnal and allow “something” to die
within us?
Paul was proving his claim with three main
experiential factors, namely the presence of idolatry, immorality, and hypocrisy
of worship (Romans 1:16 – 3:18). Apparently, we have moved beyond such things.
Today one venerates status and images and adores certain personalities; there
are no more instances of fornication or adultery among us, but only premarital
sex and extramarital affairs; we do not bribe or give kickbacks, we just give
fees for product testing; and there are no hypocrites among us, only those who
consider religion as a private matter that should not interfere with public
life. But even if we accept this doublespeak, hiding our sins behind such a new
language, we still have difficulties in explaining the many instances of
violence and injustice taking place on our streets and inside our homes, and the
painful truth of our contribution to ecological degradation.
“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of
God,” wrote Paul nearly two thousand years ago (Romans 3:23). The claim seems
to be withstanding all disqualifying
attempts. Nothing has changed. Sin is doing very well among us and the tree of
life continues to be beyond our reach. We appear to be beautiful but something
is dying within us. Is there a chance for us then to become holy?
Grace
“Therefore
just as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man's act of
righteousness leads to justification and life for all” (Romans 5:18). That is
the second claim of Paul. Christ's sacrifice brings justification and life to
those “who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of
righteousness” (Romans 5:17).
The Greek word charis, which is translated
into English as “grace” means a free gift. In order to stress its free and
unconditional aspect, Paul uses three nouns: charis
- grace, charisma – free gift, and
dorea - gift. “But the free gift is
not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man's trespass, much
more surely have the grace of God and the gift in the grace of the one man,
Jesus Christ, abounded for the many” (Romans 5:15). This redundancy underlines
the core of Paul's good news. God is recreating the world to make it the way He
wants it to be by offering His righteousness and holiness as a free gift to all.
In order to experience its effects in our lives, we are invited to accept it and
commit ourselves to Christ.
Again, before we dismiss such statements as lofty
and impractical, let us recall the examples of people who live under the
influence of grace. I have in mind a group of Burmese lay missionaries preaching
the Gospel in the remotest area of their country, an Indonesia sister running a
small clinic in the violent capital of East Timor, and a mother of five
supporting the education of her children from a meager income of washing
clothes. None of these people would consider themselves perfect, but they are
holy. They have allowed God's grace to transform them. Christ broke the yoke of
sin in their lives and made them into a new creation (2 Corinthians 4:16).
“Since all have sinned and fall short of the
glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:23-24). It seems to be more
difficult to find support for Paul's second claim. Yet, something is changing
around us. Tired of their “carnal” way of life, many Christians are finding
the way to the tree of life. By accepting God's grace, they build their new of
life on a relationship with Jesus.
“I
want to be holy and beautiful” - said the young woman - “not just beautiful
and carnal. And so I have decided to say 'no!' and I feel so different, as if a
light dispelled the darkness from my life.” It is difficult to describe how
one moves from sin to grace, from Adam to Christ. It is easy, however, to notice
such transformation having taken
place in life of somebody: s/he radiates newly found joy and freedom.