Our Walk away from Sin

In just a matter of days we shall begin Lent with Ash Wednesday. It is a reminder, again, of what brought each of us to this memorial originating eons ago. It all began when God said; “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Gen. 1: 26).

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord had made. The serpent asked the woman, “Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the garden?” The woman answered the serpent: “We may eat of the fruit in the garden; it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, You shall not eat of it or even touch it, lest you die.” But the serpent said to the woman: “You certainly will not die!” “No, God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is bad.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made loin cloths for themselves. (Gen. 3: 1-7).

Sin was born into the world and mankind has never been the same since. I just finished watching a commentary on WW II with emphasis on the fighting in the Japanese territories with so much blood and death surrounding it. The ending of this segment was the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It brought tears because of the thousands who were killed, not with the two cities but the countless military and citizens that were victims of another war. We are not guilty of sin because of war, but the reasons that war occurs is from sin itself. What does this have to do with Lent and sin? Everything! Of the many insurrections pitting man against man we can read of the intense battles that most of the Old Testament reveals with factions fighting for territorial domination and the struggle with God’s people bringing the Hebrews to adherence of his law. To ignore these infractions of inhumanity against inhumanity is a sign of the evil that has penetrated our world and the violence of all of us perpetrated on everyone else is sin in its most crucial adherence.

If it wasn’t because of sin entering the world we would live in peace which God meant for us. Yet, because of sin Christ was born as a human to become the expiation which we acknowledge during the Paschal Mystery. Hence, the need for Ash Wednesday as a reminder of our redemption.

We may not even consider the Old Testament during Lent until the Easter Vigil where water takes an important role symbolizing what baptism means with the catechumens converting to Christ and the Church. But sin with its most significant seduction is like Eve when she saw it was good and pleasing to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom (not wisdom as the goodness from God).

There is a parallel to Eve’s sinfulness and our viewing how wonderful sin looks in a subtle manner because it has an attraction that we don’t see as sin. That is the trapping of how easy it reaches and we are caught in its grasp.

How we treat the period of Lent as the opportunity to seek its effect on each of us will depend on the closeness to Jesus and his cross can be reflected by any one of us in a desire to recognize our own cross and carry it to Calvary.

Walking away from sin may be a struggle, but through the grace of God our faith will sustain us!

Ralph B. Hathaway, Walking away from sin!