I am intrigued by the expression in the first reading: "Today I have rolled away from you the disgrace of Egypt." (Josh 5: 9a) It reminds me of the question in the minds of the women as they went to the tomb of Jesus on the day of resurrection: "Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb?" (Mk 16: 5) The entrance of the Israelites to the Promised Land is a form of resurrection as the people are brought back to life after the "death" of slavery and the hardships of the wilderness. In the Gospel we also get a sense of coming back to life: "But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and has been found." (Lk 15: 32) When we repent from sin and know God's forgiveness we return back to the kind of life that God's wants for us. The "death" that serious sin entails no longer has a hold on us. That we have been healed and reconciled doe not stop there. It impels us to share these gifts with others so that the stones which hold them in tombs of darkness, loneliness and fear are also rolled away: "All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us." (2 Cor 5: 18-19)
Some years ago I sat beside a young man at Sunday Mass. At the Lamb of God he sang, 'Lamb of God, you take away the shame of the world'
ReplyDeleteA well meaning woman from behind him tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, 'It's the sin of the world'
He acknowledged her with a nod but, without missing a beat, continued 'Lamb of God you take away the shame of the world'
In faith we know our sin is forgiven, but the residual shame can be crippling especially if our wrong doing is publicly known.
That young man reminded me that the Grace of reconciliation means we can stand tall again as children of the living God.
Lamb of God, you take away the sin and shame of the world, have mercy on us.
That is a very interesting observation. It is heartening to know that some young people are thinking about the prayers and theology of the Mass in such a considered way. I have never thought about this issue in terms of the Lamb of God prayer. Books can and have been written about sin and justification. My initial response would be that shame is a consequence of sin as we see with our first parents knowing shame in Genesis after eating of the forbidden fruit. Thus, to refer to shame is to deal with the symptom rather than the disease. We could also have a discussion about the distinction between Original Sin and personal sin. Also, what is actually meant by "the sin of the world"? There is the great mystery of the Cross in which Jesus reconciles the world to God and breaks down the walls that divide the human race so that the old divisions are no more but we live a new life and a new humanity.
ReplyDeleteThere is a sense or realized eschatology, the now but not yet, that we encounter when considering the mystery of the resurrection, with all that it brings, along side our own often broken reality. The season of Lent reminds us all that we are on a journey of repentance and yet to make it to the Promised Land. We still need to work on our personal sins and failings so as to receive the gift of healing and grace that God offers to us and is mediated most powerfully and immediately through the sacraments.