Sin is a rejection of God, a turning away from God. Sin despises and mocks God. However, there is always a huge price to pay for turning away from God. It is “light” to reject and despise God, but the consequences are always heavy.
The Jews at the time of Baruch, the writer of the book from which the first reading of today was taken, failed to understand the horror of sin until they were overtaken by the consequences despising God: They turned their back to God and served other gods. They ridiculed the prophets of God and disregarded their warnings. They filled their land with oppression and injustice. Each did what he or she considered right in his or her eyes. They forgot that for every action, there must be a reaction. There is indeed a harvest time for every seed we sow.
When the time of reckoning came, the Jews paid a heavy price for rejecting God and embracing wickedness: Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, captured Jerusalem and burnt it down, together with the temple of God. He slaughtered the sons of the king of Judah, Zedekiah, before his very eyes, killed the officials of Judah, gorged out King Zedekiah’s eyes and took him prisoner in chains to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took with him the people of Judah, as captives, to Babylon. It was indeed a time of great desolation and unprecedented travail for the people of Judah.
The first reading of today is an excerpt of the lamentation of the exiles in Babylon. “To us the look of shame we wear, as is the case today for the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for our kings and princes, our priests, our prophets, and for our ancestors, because we have sinned before the Lord, have disobeyed Him, and have not listened to the voice of the Lord our God telling us to follow the commandments which the Lord had ordained for us“. Little wonder the book of Proverbs says: “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people” (14:34).
Consequence
The consequences of sin can be horrifying. Nothing disgraces, nothing humiliates, nothing decimates, like sin. Its eventual fruit is eternal death. All the actions of God through the Laws and the Prophets and finally through His own Son are not meant to restrict our freedom. They are not also intended to increase the divinity of God. With or without us God remains God. The Common Eucharistic prayer IV emphasizes the fact that God has no need of our praise, since our praises add nothing to His greatness. The “commandments” of God, His instructions and admonitions, are only meant to help us use our freedom wisely and be safe from the horror of sin.
Often we believe that God punishes people for their sins. But does God really punish anyone? What we refer to as God’s punishment is rather the seed of disobedience, the consequences of our personal choices. This is why the book of Proverbs says: “When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the Lord” (19:3).
The Lord does not actually allot salvation or damnation. These are products of our free choices. God respects the free choice of every human being as long as it does not offend the freedom of another. However, He supports those who choose life by granting them His grace to accomplish their desires. Therefore, we must choose wisely.
Thank you for sharing that God does not punish us but that we are choosing certain paths, and that each choice results in a consequence, some good outcomes for us and some not so good (the previous is my paraphrasing of your comments).
Well this teaching is very different from what I learned in Catholic schools and in churches during the pre-Vatican II era.
Again thanks.