Today we are on the third of the pre-lenten Sundays, Quinquagesima, which means 50 days before Easter.
For the last two weeks we have been taking a look at sin. First we dealt with original sin, and then last week we considered sins of commission. Today we need to round off this reflection by thinking about sins of omission.
A sin of omission can be described as failing to do something good when you know you should. The parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30-37 is a classic example of this. Both the priest and the Levite passed by the injured man without helping him, leaving him half-dead, although they knew better.
In the letter of S James, in 4:17, we find written, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin”.
Another way to phrase the explanation of a sin of omission would be to say “He who has the ability to act on an injustice, but who stands idly by, is just as guilty as he who holds the knife.” We can even apply the words of Martin Luther King to the idea of sins of omission. He said, “In the end we will not remember the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends”.
Sins of omission are often those times when we do or say nothing in a given situation because to do otherwise might draw an uncomfortable, or even dangerous, attention to ourselves. Our sins of omission are often linked to our understanding of love; our love of God, of others and even ourselves.
The Epistle today is that passage which has become known as the Hymn to love. It is a passage of Scripture so well known. More often than not a couple seeing the priest to plan their wedding ask if they can have that nice passage about love. All too often they want Aunt Matilda to read it at the wedding. We need to look at the passage very carefully. Rather than it being a hymn to love, S Paul is making a blistering attack on the failings of the young church in Corinth. He uses cutting irony, verging on sarcasm, to ram his point home. Whenever S Paul says "Love is not X", or “Love is X” he is suggesting in a powerful way that the Corinthians are the opposite.
If we look at the list of things S Paul mentions, we can apply it to ourselves. We should reflect as we prepare for the penitential season of Lent on whether S Paul is describing what we are, or what we are not.
S Paul says:
Love never gives up.
Are we the sort of people who never give up no matter how hard a situation may be, or do we throw up our hands in horror when we encounter any opposition.
Love cares more for others than for self.
For whom do we care more – ourselves or those we meet?
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Do we look about us with the eye of covetousness and avarice?
Love doesn't strut,
Is our self confidence overbearing?
Love doesn't have a swelled head,
Do our abilities and talents make us proud?
Love doesn't force itself on others,
Do we allow others to invite us into their lives, or do we force ourselves in?
Love isn't always "me first,"
Do my life and my priorities become the first consideration?
Love doesn't fly off the handle,
When questioned about what we are doing or saying, do we allow our tempers to take over?
Love doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Do we forgive others, or tuck whatever it is they have done to upset us away to use at some future date?
Love doesn't revel when others grovel,
Do we like to see others humiliated?
Love takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Is our pleasure in seeing the truth held up as supreme, even when we are shown up as being wrong?
Love puts up with anything,
Do we really put up with everything? Even those little niggly things that get to us?
Love trusts God always,
Just how much are we prepared to place our trust in God?
Love always looks for the best,
Are we prepared to look for the best in others and in all situations?
Love never looks back,
Do we always harp on what happened to us in the past?
But love keeps going to the end.
Are we prepared to keep going until we reach that place where God wants us to be?
As we went through that list, I am sure many of us would have recognised ourselves in one or other, or even a few, of the different aspects of love that S Paul lists. As we heard each description of love I am sure we would have been able to acknowledge those sins of omission in our own lives.
Over these last three Sundays of Gesimatide we have reflected on sin: original sin, sins of commission and sins of omission. Wednesday is Ash Wednesday when we begin the penitential season of Lent.
We stand now before the doorway of the Lenten season, when we commemora¬tively and ritually travel with Jesus to Jerusalem, to witness through the Scriptures and the liturgy his sufferings, his death, and his resurrection. Let us listen to him faithfully, follow him faithfully, and cling to him by faith, trusting in his Word.
This Lent, perhaps you will spend a little more time in penitence con¬sidering the weight of your sins. In that do not let the voice of your conscience or that of anyone else keep you from Christ, remembering that S John teaches us that God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through him all might be saved. So stand firm in the faith, crying out to Jesus, like that blind man of whom we heard in today’s Gospel lection: “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me.” And like the blind man, we know deep in our souls that he will.
May God bless you this Lent.
