Paradox of Sin

Sin is a concept which has been made to be exploitative in nature. The augmentation of sin consciousness among the faith community has always been directly proportional to the flourishing of the Church. Bring into your memories the greatest ecclesiastical vice of the Medieval Christianity – Indulgence.  Indulgence, to be precise, was the act of selling forgiveness initiated by the Roman Catholic Church. Leo X, the then Pope in Rome, to support his extravagant lifestyle and to raise funds for St. Peter’s Basilica resorted to the use of a new fund-raising scheme—selling forgiveness of sins. For a fee, the bereaved relatives could get a deceased loved one out of Purgatory. At the right price, they could also save up for their own future sins. Johann Tetzel, a Dominican friar, makes this explicit, “When a penny in the coffer rings, a soul from Purgatory springs.” It was predominantly against this systemic evil, Martin Luther protested, which led to the Protestant Reformation – a significant landmark in Church History.

The conventional form of Indulgence might have been eradicated but its modern manifestations are myriads. The concept of sin is still being used pivotally by the Church to torment the faith community thereby giving rise to docile and fragile disciples of Christ. The sin consciousness in people are cautiously nourished and intensified each day, making spirituality devoid of radical engagement and praxis. Ever before a child is born, he/she is given the yoke of sinfulness to bear. The interpretations of the sacrament of Baptism legitimize the same. In the upbringing of a child, priority is given to ‘individualistic holiness’ over being ‘defiled’ by engaging with the ‘sinful’ world at large. The demarcation of ‘holiness’ and ‘profanity’ is maintained to be equivocal as well as the definition of ‘sin’ is presented to be ambiguous to keep the numbness alive in the faith community so that they do not dare to question the Magisterium.

Jesus was someone who addressed the paradoxes engulfing sin. In the Old Testament, sin was mostly attributed to actions. On the contrary, Jesus redefined sin by attributing it to thoughts. For instance, he taught that we do not need to physically murder someone or commit adultery rather simply thinking the same would make us sinners. Basically Jesus tried to convey that sin was the defilement of thoughts. 

It is of great importance that we traverse the Greek and Hebrew etymology of the word ‘sin’. The Greek word for sin is ‘hamartia’ and the Hebrew word is ‘hata’. Both invariably mean ‘missing the mark’. This word originated in the context of archery, hence this meaning. Fr. Bobby Jose Capuchin comments, “Sin is the groaning of the nexus between the life we live and the life we ought to live.” So there is nothing like great sin or trivial sin rather when we do not live a life we ought to live we commit sin.  It could be very subtle. For instance, a child been asked to purchase rice returns purchasing balloon is a sinner as he as deviated from his purpose. When we do not do what we ought to do we become a sinner; it is as simple and as grave as that. Unfortunately we have been taught to foster a parochial notion of sin. George Zachariah opines;

We have failed in understanding the structural and systemic nature of sin and as a result we do not perceive hunger, casteism, ecological destruction and patriarchy as sin. We also tend to avoid and deny our participation in these systemic sins that cause death and destruction. When it comes to casteism and patriarchy we prefer to deny their existence and abstain from discussing it. Friends who show the nerve to address these systemic evils are criticized for destroying community life. With privatized understanding of morality we refuse to get involved in social issues.

Thus our silence, indifference and complacency towards life-denying practices are sins.

Martin Luther introduced the concept of ‘Sin Boldly’. He advised his friend Melanchton to “sin boldly but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly”. This should not be misunderstood. What Luther meant was that our fear of sin should not be an impediment to engage with the systemic evils. Even if we sin in the due course of our praxis, the forgiveness which Christ offers is impeccable. I urge my readers once again to consider this argument in its purest essence as naïve people would find this an excuse to commit sin.

Lent is not a time of abstinence but rather of solidarity. It is a time to be more conscious about the agony, miseries and pathos of the victims of the sinful prevailing order. Disengaging from the hard realities of life, fearing to be ‘sinful’ is undermining the redemption offered by the blood of Christ on the cross. Heed the statement of Luther “sin boldly but believe and rejoice in Christ even more boldly.” I conclude with a quote of Paul Tillich, a Systematic Theologian;

People who risk and fail can be forgiven. But people who never risk and never fail are failure in their whole beings. They are not forgiven because they do not feel that they need forgiveness. Therefore, dare to be not conformed to this eon but transform it courageously first in yourselves then in your world – in the spirit and power of love. Amen

Prayers

Dn. Basil Paul