Embracing Negatives

22nd Week in Ordinary Time - Thursday (6 September 2018)

Luke 5:1-11

“Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

For the world, death, illness, human brokenness, ugliness, failures, sinfulness, inner woundedness, all these have to be hidden from our sight because they keep us from the happiness for which we strive. They are obstructions on our way to the goal of life. So we always want to eliminate the negatives, throw away what is ugly, hide our incapacities and failures, repress our woundedness. We even want to deal with poverty and other problems by banishing the poor, the old, the beggars, those who are incapacitated. Somehow we are uncomfortable with suffering, with all that is negative. In this regard, there has been developed a separate field of study and research called "eugenics" (considered part of genetic engineering) in order to improve the genetic quality of the human population. Eugenics strives towards a better life, a better quality of life, but by eliminating undesirable traits in our genes. Disorders and disabilities, ugliness and aging are all seen as undesirable. Are we not pulling out the wheat together with the weeds? Simon Peter in today's gospel is trying to the do the same. He encounters Jesus, the Rabbi and miracleworker, but feels unworthy and sinful in Jesus' presence. He says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.”

But Jesus makes Peter one of his disciples, Peter in fact becomes the head of the disciples. Jesus shows another way, an alternative way unlike the world. He dines and drinks with sinners, prostitutes, and tax collectors. Jesus shows us the way. We need to embrace the cross, accept our brokenness and woundedness. We even learn from Jesus that through death we receive life.

In the divine economy of grace, sin and failure become the base metal and raw material for the redemption experience itself. Sin and gift are two sides of the same coin. Salvation is not sin perfectly avoided. Salvation is sin turned on its head and used in our favour. We will be able to discover that the same passion that leads us to sin, that leads us away from God can also be a gift, it can also lead us back to God and to our true selves. Richard Rohr dares to state: “I do not think you should get rid of your sin until you have learned what it has to teach you. Otherwise, it will only return in new forms, as Jesus says of the ‘unclean spirit’ that returns to the house all ‘swept and tidied’ (Luke 11:24-26); then he rightly and courageously says that ‘the last state of the house will be worse than the first.’” God hides, and is found, precisely in the depths of everything, even and maybe especially in the deep fathoming of our fallings and failures.

We need to keep in touch with our sinfulness, day after day. That is one way to feel with the people. That is compassion. Even our negatives can become a gift, if only we allow God and His light penetrate our lives. Are we willing?