Once while having lunch with Archbishop Brunett, he picked up the bottle of water on my tray and exclaimed, “Thirty grams of sugar! Wow!” Stunned by his comment, I felt like he was saying, “Shame on you!” He then told me that he had pretty much eliminated sugar from his diet. Now, I could see the value of cutting out candy, cookies, and deserts, but any thing that has sugar, like carrots and potatoes? With skepticism, I asked him if this sugar free diet really worked and he bragged that he had lost 35 pounds.
I am not suggesting that any of us here need to go on such a diet but in today’s gospel, we find Jesus walking through the most unchurched region of ancient Israel, Zebulun and Naphtali, urging those who would listen to consider a diet free of sin. “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Most of us yearn for the kingdom of heaven yet so often we are drawn to sin. Despite the life of peace, kindness, love and compassion that the kingdom offers us, we are reluctant to always follow the simple advice that Jesus offers here. We might not think that our choices are sinful but if they result in bitterness, confrontation, indifference, bigotry or hate, we have given into temptations that lead us away from experiencing the kingdom of heaven. Doing what we can to get what we want at the expense of someone else is a slippery slope toward sin, not a path toward peace.
We sin because like the delicious dessert that tempts us, loaded with empty calories, wrongdoing offers us fleeting pleasure. As any dietician will tell us, our craving for sugar, if left unchecked, can threaten our physical health. Likewise, our compulsion to sin threatens our spiritual well being and potentially harms our relationships with God and others. All sins tear apart the family, the nation, and our world.
This gospel passage provides us with Jesus’ prescription for our spiritual health. Repentance isn’t simply a feeling of sorrow. It means taking a second look at our lives. If we are to repent, we must first change our mindsets regarding the kingdom of heaven, temptation and sin. The kingdom of heaven is neither an earthly realm nor a distant place we enter after dying. Rather, the kingdom of heaven is made real by our response to Jesus. It emerges in our willing obedience to leave everything behind that leads us to sin and to follow Christ without counting the cost.
How do you feel when you have committed a serious sin? Do you feel ashamed, perhaps even embarrassed by what you have done? Maybe even too embarrassed to confess your sins to a priest? Do you fear that God will reject you for what you have done? If so, do you hide from God as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden? When God went looking for them, he found them hiding for they were ashamed.
When you have sinned, do you feel as though God is saying, “Shame on you”? That is a criticism many of us grew up with, aired when we were being scolded for misbehaving. Recall your gut feeling whenever you heard that line being leveled at you. Did you feel like retreating just as Adam and Eve did, going back into the darkness of your little world, hiding from God?
God, however, is not one to shame us. Go back to the story of creation and you’ll discover that the one who planted the seeds of shame in Adam and Eve was none other than the one who tempted them in the first place, Satan. The last thing God wants us to do is hide from him, remaining in the darkness of our sins. He sent his son into our midst to dispel the darkness of sin with the light of his love.
As Isaiah points out, “The people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those who dwell in the land of gloom, a light has shone.” Yes, Jesus came to pull us out of our little cubicles of darkness, revealing to us what the Father truly thinks of us. What Jesus heard at his baptism are God’s words for us as well. “You are my beloved child upon whom my favor rests.” In other words, “God loves you” is the message Jesus wants us to hear and believe and live by, no matter what we have done or failed to do.
Jesus invites us to experience the light of God’s love. “Come after me,” he said to Andrew and Peter. He speaks those same words to us. “Come with me and together we will change the world.” Instead of hiding in the darkness of our sin, Jesus wants us to venture with him toward building the kingdom of heaven as a friend, a sister, a brother. Agreeing to follow Jesus is a necessary step toward living a life without sin. As Pope Francis recently said, “Jesus came to destroy the influence of evil in our hearts.”
Looking at daily headlines, we know that the kingdom of heaven hasn’t arrived on the scene yet. Wars, racism, bigotry, poverty, murder, theft, verbal and physical abuse all remind us that sin is still in our midst. If the kingdom of heaven is to emerge, we must confront the darkness of evil in our society and in our own hearts, like many have done in marches that uphold the dignity of women and the unborn.
Striving to live a sin-free diet is Jesus’ remedy for removing the hurt, tragedy and destruction that color our world. When we seek to follow Jesus, we are doing our part to make the kingdom of heaven very real in our midst. Whatever our political opinions may be, as followers of Christ, may we be united with the same mind and purpose, to live the Gospel message of Jesus, which is to love, teach, pray and serve.