THE IRRATIONALITY OF SIN

FRIDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT   

Gen 37:3-4,12-13,17-28; Ps 105:16-21; Mt 21:33-43,45-46

The Fate of the Son of Man

In the field of mathematics, the concept and existence of irrational numbers never cease to amaze us; they are ubiquitous in the number system, but they defy our complete grasp and simple representation, unlike rational numbers. Their uniqueness comes from their refusal to be comprehended by any rational ordering. Sin has so much similarity to an irrational number, for it arises from a disordered relationship in a human will. Because we acquire new knowledge through a process of relating our new experiences with our old knowledge and experiences, whereby the old knowledge is reinforced, and new ones are initiated when we sense a certain non-commensurability between our new experience and the old and known ones. Sin stands out as irrational because it does not yield itself to being ordered to any rational good. Hence, sin is considered anti-life because it is anti-good or anti-reason. Our affections are said to be well-ordered or rational when a well-reasoned knowledge or truth awakens them. When our affections arise from flawed reasoning, which is not founded on truth and a corresponding good, then they give birth to sin, which constitutes a personal and social disorder. God must be the common denominator in all our experiences for the problem of sin to be resolved in us, personally and communally. The conversion process is for this end.

Jacob was favoured by God and inherited the promise of Abraham in place of Esau, his elder brother. His children, who would inherit the promise from their father, put themselves in a difficult position when they developed hatred for their younger brother, Joseph, because of his dreams and the love their father showered on him. Their hatred of him, which emanated from their envy, created the possibility of sin. “But his brothers, seeing how his father loved him more than all his other sons, came to hate him so much that they could not say a civil word to him.” Joseph was not responsible for any of the reasons for which they hated him; he did not merit their hatred. Thus, the irrationality of their envy and hatred is due to the lack of foundation or ground for their hatred and treatment of him. “They saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they made a plot among themselves to put him to death. Here comes the man of dreams’ they said to one another. ‘Come on, let us kill him and throw him into some well; we can say that a wild beast devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams.” A wild beast devoured him indeed, for sin is a raging wild beast within a sinner. The important thing to note here is the absence of God in the plan or plot of the children of Jacob against their younger brother, Joseph. Irrationality appears when a nondivine denominator is employed to understand our experiences. We must make God the foundation for the understanding of our every experience.

The importance of having God as the foundation of our understanding of reality and experiences is sounded by the psalmist. “Remember the wonders the Lord has done.” That we are alive is God’s wonderful work. We have the same lesson in the parable our Lord told the chief priests and the elders of the people. The parable clearly stated that the land, the vineyard, the winepress, and everything belong to the man in the parable. But those he hired as tenants lost their grasp of that fact and desired to appropriate or steal what belongs to another. “But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come on, let us kill him and take over his inheritance.” So, they seized him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.” Our lives belong to God, for He made us for his own good purpose. We are not our own; hence, we must fill our minds with the fact that God made us for his own purpose and will surely reward us for our work for him. We are the vineyard of the Lord that the Son of Man will inherit from the Father. We must cultivate ourselves to be fruitful and pleasing to Him who made us. Sin arises from our attempt to usurp what belongs to the Son of God. Ignorance of the word of God that brings divine presence within us causes the wild beast of sin to rampage in us. Without Jesus Christ, we can never be good for God nor for ourselves. “It was the stone rejected by the builders that became the keystone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is wonderful to see.”

Let us pray: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, purifying us by the sacred practice of penance, you may lead us in sincerity of heart to attain the holy things to come. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.