Homily for Tuesday of the 4th Week of Lent

For daily readings, see http://www.usccb.org/nab/readings/030408.shtml

Jesus takes sin pretty seriously. Remember when he said, ‘Until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter of the law will pass away.’ Do you remember when He said as well, ‘Anyone who teaches one of the these little ones to sin by breaking one of the least of the commandments, it would be better for that man to have a millstone tied around his neck and that he be thrown into the sea.’ Yeah, Jesus takes the law seriously. He takes sin seriously. Yet not so seriously that He could see that it is better to do good and to save life on the Sabbath than to destroy it. So he cured the man who had been ill for 38 years – told him to pick up his mat, and to go home, even though it was the Sabbath.

But then Jesus goes right back to taking sin seriously. He reminds the man not to sin, so that nothing worse would happen to him. That is like telling someone who is just being released from the hospital after battling a long illness not to take the Lord’s name in vain, so that something worse doesn’t happen to them. Does Jesus think there really is something worse than being ill for 38 years? Apparently so, and so we should think the same. We should never take sin lightly, for it blinds us to the presence of Christ, and this is far worse than suffering an illness in this lifetime. We should do everything we can to do good and to avoid evil, and to humbly receive the sacrament of reconciliation as often as we can, so that our soul does not become sick for eternity!