Good and Evil"
Today's Mass Readings
Evil! The face of evil, the presence of evil, the effects of evil, the origin of evil; these are the issues that we are faced with in today’s readings. Let us admit, life would be so much better without evil in the world. I mean imagine a day on which no one was killed, robbed, cheated, divorced, aborted, raped. Imagine a world where everyone had enough, people did not hoard things but selflessly shared, where no child dies of starvation or lack of attention. Just imagine one day when the whole world was happy! Where did evil come from? Today's first reading (Gn 2:7-9; 3:1-7) answers this question. God did not create evil, but by making us free human beings in one sense he created the possibility for evil. It does not mean that God created the possibility of evil as a separate entity, but by the very fact that he made us free, that possibility for evil is naturally created. God made us free. He made us so free that we even have the choice to freely choose God or to freely choose to live without him which is evil. God did not create us like our pets at home, the dog or the cat that we have. Even though we love the pet, the pet has no choice to choose us or not. Whether it likes it or not, the only choice it has it to belong to us. God made us free and part of the freedom is creating us with the ability to either freely choose him or to freely not choose him. If we did not have that possibility, then we are not really free.
Adam and Eve are mesmerized by the potentialities of evil. It looked good and attractive. And they freely chose to rebel, to disobey, to become like gods. With that choice came all the consequences of their choice. Lies, deception, fear, betrayal, killing, death, struggle, injustice, hatred.
Christ came to undo the very consequences of the choice that Adam made. On Christ’s free choice depended our salvation. In today's gospel reading, (Mt 4:1-11) Jesus, as he is tempted in the desert, freely says ‘no’ the possibility of evil, and reveals to us the possibility of good. Single-handedly, he reversed the choice of Adam and Eve.
Lent is about understanding the real battle between good and evil. Lent is about understanding the horror of sin and evil and the consequences of our evil choices. Lent is about understanding how we can freely choose good and change the world. Lent is about understanding that no matter how evil we are, there is hope, if only we make the right choices. Lent is about reorienting our lives. Lent is about understanding how much God loves us, and how he wants us to be reconciled to him. Lent is about freely choosing God. Lent is about being…Jesus.
- Fr. Satish Joseph