Today’s Gospel is one of the more difficult ones to hear proclaimed. It’s about judgement and sin. It tells us three things about the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit will convict men, mankind, of sin. When the Jews first crucified Jesus they did not think that they were sinning, they believed that they were serving God but in time they realized that they had done a terrible sinful act.
Even today as we compare the life of Jesus, his message of compassion and forgiveness, to the way that he died we realize that not only was it a tragedy but also an injustice, a sin.
The Holy Spirit will convince men of righteousness. It was the Holy Spirit that made the centurion realize what he had done, it was the Holy Spirit that was responsible for the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus.
The Holy Spirit convinces men, mankind, of judgement. It is the Holy Spirit that convinces us that one day we shall all stand before God in judgement.
Some years ago, Karl Menninger wrote a book entitled “Whatever happened to sin”. In it he predicted that the term sin would be replaced with words like illness, dysfunction, syndrome. The human condition would be excused as a product of biochemistry, environment, experience, and trauma. He projected that even crime would be justified as a result of mental illness.
Sound familiar? Too often these days as we read of the tragic shootings and other terrible acts taking place in society, we describe it as caused by mental illness. Some acts are indeed caused by mental illness, but many acts are the result of individuals who are unfortunately, evil, sinful.
The challenge is to face the facts and not make excuses. It’s the challenge of today’s Gospel, it’s the challenge we still face in contemporary society.
Image: “Hiding from judgement” by Nick in exsilio is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.