[stephenkhoo]

Monday, 07 November, 2011, 32nd Ordinary Week, Cycle 1
SCANDALS MUST BE DEALT WITH FIRMLY YET WITH COMPASSION AND FAITH

SCRIPTURE READINGS: WIS 1:1-7; LK 17:1-6

More than any time in our contemporary Church history, we have come to understand the gravity of scandals in religions, especially among the leaders of religions. Indeed, with growing secularism in the world, a secularism that is anti-religion, the world is always looking for ammunition to destroy the faith of believers. For this reason, the mass media finds every opportunity to highlight the failures of religious leaders, especially priests from the Roman Catholic Tradition since we are perceived to be the moral spokesman for the world today. It is within this context that we are invited to reflect on today’s scripture readings.

Firstly, with respect to scandals, the gravity of it is underscored. This explains the harsh words of Jesus in condemning scandals when He said, “Obstacles are sure to come, but alas for the one who provides them! It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone put round his neck than that he should lead astray a single one of these little ones.” Scandals damage not only the community, but also the people individually as well.

Secondly, Jesus pointed out the gravity of the scandals especially because it destroys the simple faith of the “little ones.” The little ones refer to all simple people whose faith is weak. If we are not careful, these weak ones lose the little faith that they have. Indeed, this is considered a serious sin because we are not simply hurting them physically or even emotionally, but we have destroyed the little faith they have in God. And because of our sin, we cause them to turn away from God and to the world, or some other false gods in their lives. Very often, our negative behaviour at home, at the workplace or even in Church ministry have led to people to lose their faith in God, and caused them to be lost!

Thirdly, Jesus uses the maximum term in condemning those who cause others to sin. Jesus appears to have no mercy for He said, “It would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a millstone put round his neck.” Again, this is to emphasize that the sin is equivalent to a millstone put round our neck. In other words, the guilt we bear is so heavy, as symbolized by the millstone, that if we were to reflect seriously on the consequences of our actions, we would feel so burdened with our conscience that we feel that we can never be forgiven and deserve to die. Even if the civil or religious courts do not punish us, our guilt would have condemned us to fear, sorrow and guilt. And this guilt extends to a fear of our sins being uncovered. We dare not proclaim the gospel for fear of being accused of hypocrisy. More often than not, our sins silence us from proclaiming the Truth. As a consequence, we are continually blackmailed by our sins and Satan has won victory over us by paralyzing us. Hence, the exhortation of Jesus, “Watch yourselves!”

However, it is important to see the condemnation of scandals in perspective. Having stated the seriousness of scandals, we must immediately speak of forgiveness. Indeed, the gospel speaks of the need to rebuke those who cause scandals. We must rebuke our fellow brothers and sisters if they do something wrong. We have a duty to correct each other. We cannot say that it is not our responsibility. But censuring a person must be carried out in the context of love. It must be said that we are not ready to offer correction to anyone if it is done simply out of strict human justice, “an eye for an eye” or worse still, in order to take revenge and destroy the sinner. Fraternal correction and official judgment should always take place because of love. Our desire to correct or even to punish must be done simply for the good of the sinner and the hope is repentance, not condemnation. If we rebuke someone, it is not to condemn him but that he changes his way of life. Reprimanding a person is for the sake of his conversion and happiness, and should never be done out of revenge or hatred. When there is no love in our hearts, we are not disposed yet to correct our brothers and sisters.

Hence, Jesus said, “If your brother does something wrong, reprove him and, if he is sorry, forgive him. And if he wrongs you seven times a day and seven times comes back to you and says, “I am sorry,” you must forgive him.” So whilst we as a Church must condemn scandals and reprimand those who cause scandals, this must be tampered with compassion and forgiveness. This has always been the position of the Church since it is the command of Christ. No sinner is condemned; only his sins are. So once a person is chastised, we must move forward. Such forgiveness is unlimited since God has forgiven us again and again. Of course, many in the world cannot understand this principle. They cannot tolerate forgiveness and they want revenge. They accuse the Church of being slow, perhaps trying to cover up or lacking justice in punishing offenders. The world cannot accept that a person can be forgiven without punishment.

But the Church, as the compassion of Christ, empathizes with those who have been hurt whilst also empathizing with those who caused the scandals. Jesus tells us those who sin often do so out of ignorance. Sin, greed and lust will blind a person and he loses wisdom in judgment. This is what the first reading tells us. “Selfish intentions divorce from God; and Omnipotence, put to the test, confounds the foolish. No, Wisdom will never make its way into a crafty soul nor stay in a body that is in debt to sin; the holy spirit of instruction shuns deceit, it stands aloof from reckless purposes, is taken aback when iniquity appears.” When we are in sin, we become blind to many things in life.

However, in the final analysis, only God knows the heart of man. We can only judge the external action, but we cannot judge the heart or intention of sinners. As the book of Wisdom says, “Wisdom is a spirit, a friend to man, though she will not pardon the words of a blasphemer, since God sees into the innermost parts of him, truly observes his heart, and listens to his tongue.” For this reason, we cannot be too rash in passing judgment on those who have been accused or even found guilty by the civil courts. We must leave all judgment to God alone. The responsorial psalm speaks of God who searches our hearts and knows our ways.

In order to accept what is taught in the gospel, we need to have the faith of the mustard seed. Yes, forgiving those who have caused us much hurt and pain is never easy. Like the apostles, we must cry out to the Lord, “Increase our faith.” For as the Lord replied, “‘Were your faith the size of a mustard seed you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea,” and it would obey you.’” Yes, only faith enables us to trust even in difficult circumstances. Indeed, we need to pray for faith, for God’s grace to see the sin and punishment in a positive light, and also pray with faith that God’s grace will heal us. Without faith, we cannot forgive or accept the sinful reality of the human Church. But with faith, we know that God will give us the grace to forgive and to sinners, the grace of repentance.

Such faith is also necessary for those of us who commit scandals and are weak in struggling against temptations. Today, Jesus asks us to surrender ourselves to Him. To have faith in Jesus means that we want to try sincerely to live His life, depend on Him and be faithful to Him. We only need to humbly have faith in Jesus and He will uproot the sins that cling so tenaciously in our lives and cast them into the sea and the depths of hell. But we must cry out to Him with deep faith and conviction. We must believe that God is greater than our sins and that His grace can do what we cannot do humanly. Therefore in spite of our own sins and the sins of others, we must believe that His grace is continuously at work in our lives.

Such faith comes from prayer. Only the Lord imparts His divine wisdom to us. That is why the first reading exhorts us, “Love virtue, you who are judges on earth, let honesty prompt your thinking about the Lord, seek him in simplicity of heart; since he is to be found by those who do not put him to the test, he shows himself to those who do not distrust him.” So, let us be watchful of our own actions so that we do not cause scandals ourselves. We must learn from the mistakes of others and continue to pray for their conversion. Every single person is important to the Lord, whether they are the little ones who were scandalized or those who cause scandals. The Lord loves all and desires to save all.