(Audio)
Things that cause sin will inevitably occur,
but woe to the one through whom they occur.
Not only is sin itself a problem, but so too is scandal, putting a proverbial stumbling block in front of little ones whose faith is still in a formative and vulnerable stage. Paul knew that he himself was free in the Spirit to eat whatever food he wanted. But listen to his concern that the way he used this freedom not cause scandal:
Therefore, if food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble (see First Corinthians 8:13)
There are different ways of causing scandal. Politicians that persist on receiving communion in spite of unrepented mortal sin do so by making the faithful uncertain about the true teaching of the Church. These leaders externally appear to still be in communion in the Church and yet formally support abortion or other grave evils. This becomes scandal when it convinces average Catholics in the pews that they are free to do the same. But scandal came even come where there is no grave sin on our part. Maybe we feel as though watching certain movies does not subject us to excessive temptation. We still should be cautious about broadcasting our love for such shows to new converts for whom they may represent a real danger. In such cases it is like indulging in alcohol around an alcoholic. We aren't directly harmed but we really are culpable for putting a brother in jeopardy.
Rather than being among those who makes sin seem ambiguous and thereby causes others to stumble we are called to help others to recognize when boundaries have been transgressed. This is called fraternal correction. It is difficult because we would often prefer to leave well enough alone, to mind our own business, and to try to leave things between the individual and God. We feel afraid to speak a word of correction because we fear being guilty of judgment. We fear coming from a place of self-righteous superiority that will in fact be unhelpful to anyone. Yet Jesus doesn't want us to see sin and simply look the other way. He is not asking us to make any kind of judgments about individuals, but he is asking us to clearly label and identify actions. When we do this he wants it to issue from a place of compassion rather than an act of condemnation. The proof of this will be the power of the words to cut to the heart and convict and our own readiness to accept their apology and forgive.
And if he wrongs you seven times in one day
and returns to you seven times saying, ‘I am sorry,’
you should forgive him.”
But really, why all these words of caution about sin? Don't we know better in our modern era? Isn't sin an outmoded concept for what we now consider to be mistakes and learning experiences, even if they are sometimes experiences of learning the hard way? Jesus is insistent about the danger of sin because it is even more serious than we often realize. It can "separate a man from God" and deprive an individual of wisdom. It darkens our minds (see Romans 1:21), or, as another writer often puts it, sin makes us stupid. It is not the sort of mistake that yields experience from which we can learn and grow, unless it is interrupted by a gift of grace. Without such grace given and accepted sin will draw us ever downward, making us ever more senseless, evil, and unjust. This is why wisdom, though kindly and gentle, cannot simply acquit the blasphemer of his guilty lips.
Because into a soul that plots evil, wisdom enters not,
nor dwells she in a body under debt of sin.
Wisdom became incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ and is now given as a free gift to us by the Holy Spirit. Once we welcome this gift we must persist in using the grace we have been given to avoid anything that would desensitize us to divine wisdom. However, Jesus recognized that such things would occur even in spite of our best intentions. So when we do fall into sin or scandal we can take comfort into the fact that God is always ready to forgive, even more than the seven times he asks of the disciples. He knows our frame, and knows too our weakness. He is prepared to work with our lack of faith, building it up with each occasion of sin we resist until even mountains and mulberry bushes are uprooted from our own hearts, our communities, and even the world.
Guide me, Lord, along the everlasting way.
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