ARE YOU “SAVED” OR “SLAVED”? (Homily for February 28, 2016. Third Sunday of Lent, Year C.)

Bible Study:  Exodus 3, 1 to 15, 1^st Corinthians 10, 1 to 12 and Luke 13, 1 to 9.

Slavery can be described as a terrible crime of man’s inhumanity to man. To be enslaved is to be reduced from the dignity of a human being to an object lacking any rights or privileges that is now used by a fellow human being. To be enslaved is to suffer the brutality and scorn of a master and yet remain compelled to obey the voice of the master without even daring to complain. To be enslaved is to be oppressed and afflicted. Sin by its very nature is form of slavery. It is an affliction, a suffering that God so much desires to free us from hence he said to Moses at the burning bush: “I HAVE SEEN THE AFFLICTION OF MY PEOPLE AND HAVE HEARD THEIR CRY. I KNOW THEIR SUFFERINGS.”

Now, just as Moses was sent by God to free the people from slavery in Egypt, Jesus was sent by God to free us from the slavery of sin, evil and corruption. Again, just as the Israelites were afflicted and agonized over the sufferings imposed on them by the Egyptian taskmasters, we are all afflicted as long as we remain under the dominion of sin. This is exactly what St. Paul is trying to explain in the second reading when he said: “These things are WARNINGS for us, not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, "The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance." We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. We must not put the Lord to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents; nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer.”

Quite often we do not really understand the gravity or the seriousness of sin as a new taskmaster. We are readily moved by physical calamity such as the report of some Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with the sacrifices or the report of the 18 persons on whom the tower of Siloam fell BUT when it comes to sin, we so much trivialize it that we only end up laughing about it.

The point Jesus want us to get in today’s Gospel passage is this: sin by itself is just as deadly and dangerous as having a whole tower fall on top of a person, sin is a vicious and bloody as having one’s blood extracted and mixed with sacrifices. Jesus want us to understand that God did not allow those things happens as a form of punishment for their sins because those persons were not worse sinners than any of us. Their death is not a punishment but as long as we allow our lives to be ruled by sin, we are destroying ourselves daily. Sin afflicts, sin is wicked, sin is deadly, sin destroys. In fact, sin in itself is worse than any physical, human or natural disaster you can think of. This is why Jesus says: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus is not saying, unless you repent, one day a big stone will fall on your head. No, he is saying, unless you repent, that sin you allow to linger in your life will have the same effect on your soul as a heavy stone will on your head.

We must be able to see sin for what it really it is, as an oppressive force that makes us slaves, slaves to our flesh, slaves to our passions, slaves to material possessiveness, slaves to power and lust. As long we remain in sin, we are not yet saved and just as slaves are not free to take personal decisions, we cannot bear the fruits expected of us by God when we are enslaved to sin. Salvation happened for the people of Israel when they finally left Egypt forever. Pharaoh had no power over them anymore, there was no way he could give them any instruction and they were not under any compulsion to obey him. That was a physical salvation.

True salvation is being able to walk out of Egypt to a place where sin no longer has dominion over your life. If you are still struggling with sin, you know something is not right and God is not happy about it and you still feel compelled to do it, then you are not yet saved. If fall into a pit, you need someone on the surface to drag you out. As long as you still remain inside, you are not yet saved. Now, if someone were to give you a rope and tells you to hold tightly to it while he pulls you out, you are being saved. But then let’s say, upon getting out, you change your mind and let go of the rope, what happens? You fall back inside. Jesus has given us Christians the rope by suffering and dying for us. But it is sad to say that we are not yet saved so long as we have come to fall in love with our sinfulness and would rather prefer to sin than bear the right fruits of virtue expected by God.

Repentance is the key to salvation. If we still trivialize sin, paint it as “normal” or laugh about it, it means we are special types of slaves; slaves who have come to love their master so much that there is nothing their master does that moves them. To tell a lie, to steal, to commit adultery and so on may look trivial, but in the real sense, these evils are of equal gravity of having a whole building collapsing on one’s head. The thought of this connection should make us repent, we should hate the pit so much that we hold on to the rope and have Jesus pull us out.

Let us Pray:

Lord Jesus, grant me the grace of freedom from the captivity of sinfulness that I may bear the fruits of goodness you have deposited in me. Amen.

God bless you. Good morning. Be Happy. Live Positive. Have Faith. It is well with you. Happy Sunday.