If you’re over 50, you were brought up with a pretty clear idea about sin. Quite simply, it was doing something “bad”. Lying, cheating, stealing, lusting . . . are the first things that come to mind. And when we did any of these things, we pictured a “black mark” on our soul; some dirt or mud that covered our former innocence. To this day I don’t think that’s a bad start (at least for children) in realizing the damage sin causes.
But let’s go deeper. What IS sin? Does it exist? Can you hold it in your hand? The answer is “not quite like that”. It exists in a negative way. Let me explain.
Evil (another name for sin) can only be detected in the presence of Goodness. Think of the bright sunlight that falls on your apple tree. Both the sunlight and the tree have their proper being and purpose. There is a positive “good” to them. But there on the ground, is a shadow.
The shadow only exists because of your lovely tree. The most that can be said about shadows is that they lack sunlight! Shine a light on them and they disappear! Theologians say sin/evil is a “privation”, a “lack of being”. Something is wrong, only in light of what’s true. That’s why the devil is called the Father of Lies.
Many other images help us picture the negative nature of evil. Rust holes on your car’s fender, a vacuum that sucks up oxygen, a hole in a perfectly good pair of socks!
So what does sin lack? That’s simple . . . goodness. Another way to put it, sin lacks love. And what is the source of all love? God. And so, finally, we can come to an adult understanding of sin as “that which offends against God who is love.”
You can see now why the 10 Commandments are couched in negative terms, “Thou shalt not”. In other words . . . refrain from doing what is lacking in love.
And that’s why “confessing our sins” is not a matter of finding the times when we “broke the rules”. It’s recognizing when we have injured goodness as it exists in truth.
What does Jesus tell us about sin? Without abandoning “the shalt not” of the commandments, Jesus gives us a new law based on the positive. “I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34.
So two things are at work here: refrain from doing evil, but also to DO good. A good check on ourselves and our actions is to ask the question, “What would love do?” St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is a reminder of what love DOES. (1 Corinthians 13).
Lastly, in going to confession, certainly there are things that we have done that are “bad” and for these we are sorry. But let’s begin to see these sins as lacking what love wants us to do. And in seeking to love as Christ has loved us - – – we grow in our union with God.
Lord, show us the way to your Peace.
Fr. Tim
