In 1973 the psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book called Whatever Became of Sin?  For those of us who are Catholic, the book arrived 8 years after the close of the Second Vatican Council that had moved the Church from an often-smothering focus on sins to a renewed sense of the Gospel of joy, new life and hope.  

Still, many people lamented the loss of previous mission sermons that literally aimed to full us with fear and scare us away from hell. A better theology about a loving and merciful God began to be preached. Surprisingly, however, several times I have had parishioners challenge me after a sermon on God’s Love for not hammering the pulpit about God’s justice and judgment for sinful human beings.

But as we study the Bible and Jesus more closely, and particularly in the light of Jesus’ revelation of God as our Loving Father, we can begin to recognize that the statement in the First Letter of John that quotes “God is Love” brings us to a growing awareness of our limited understanding of God and then our limited understanding of the nature of sin

I invite you to go on a short excursion with me to see what the Bible and Jesus say about sin.

Throughout the Old Testament, the number one sin presented to us was the sin of idolatry, the belief in and worship of false gods, often in the form of idols of gold and silver.  

But today we may have invented another form of idolatry through our human misrepresentation of God. We have created a god suited to our own imagination. 

Briefly stated, we think about God in strictly human terms. We talk of God the punisher, God the vengeful. We project onto the Living God the very human characteristics of anger and jealousy that we experience when we feel wronged. 

We then point to how this God of vengeance has created a world of misery, a punishment for all of us for all of our sins. And we conclude: There is nothing I can do about it. That then becomes the sin of despair.

But, in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses demands that we make a choice: “I put before you death and life. He says, “Choose life that you may live!” So choose Him; choose His presence. Sin takes over when we wallow in despair and darkness instead.

Think for a moment and you will see that much of the suffering of human beings on earth is the result of human choices – choices that opt for war and violence, or economic systems that overwhelmingly favour the rich, or laws that disproportionately punish the poor, or hatred, or... well, it is not hard to recite the mantra of evil in the world. Nonetheless, our sin at the most personal of levels is despair, a despair that says these things that happen in the world are too big and there is nothing I can do about it.

But it is this sin that destroys human beings. At the same time, we know, even in our darkest times, that we understand God as our Saviour, full of mercy and compassion, that God is really the enemy of sin, not of human beings! Then we have to make a choice about where we focus and what we choose. 

The practice of nightly gratitude lists, for example, is one way of noticing and choosing this Presence every day in our lives. The witness of martyrs becomes a powerful confirmation of God’s triumph over sin and death, even if most of us pray that we never be put to that test. But every day, when we read of our neighbors persecuted for the colour of their skin or for their poverty, we can say ‘No’, even a silent ‘No’ but one that will then lead us to join our hearts and minds to others who are also saying ‘No’. And we will change the world for the better, even if only in simple ways.

In conclusion perhaps we need to stop and meditate, to ponder in our hearts like Mary did, on the first great commandment: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength. That’s not a concept; it’s a relationship. Love is our calling. So let us further remember the words of Jesus:  Where your treasure is, there you will find your heart. And so I ask you: What is your choice?  Is this God of perfect Love your treasure?