Word to the Wise
Tuesday, October 24, 2017 - Tuesday in the 29th Week in Ordinary Time
[Rom 5:12, 15b, 17-19, 20b-21 and Luke 12:35-38]Through one man sin entered the word and through sin, death, and thus death came to all men, inasmuch as all sinned. If by that one person's transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one man Jesus Christ overflow for the many. [Romans]
Many of my generation were taught in catechism class about "original sin" and how our baptism had "taken" it away. Although the term comes from St. Augustine, whose interpretation has shaped Roman Catholic theology ever since his time (380-470 CE), the nucleus of the idea may be found in today's first scripture from Romans. As I mentioned earlier, St. Paul's conversion experience led him to re-interpret the meaning and force of the Mosaic Law by going back to Abraham and, today, to Adam! Paul engages in what scripture scholars call "typology" in which a biblical figure is taken to symbolize something much larger than him- or herself. In today's first scripture, Adam represents all of humanity. His act of disobedience is our act and brings about "death" in the world. Christ is presented as a kind of "new Adam" whose death and resurrection brings about the overpowering grace of God that conquers "death" and unites us with Christ through baptism. [cf. Romans 6:1-4]
This is pretty powerful theology and takes time and effort to digest. Most of us probably do not give much thought to our baptism and what it represents other than getting us into the Christian faith. It HAPPENED (past tense) and we have a certificate to prove this. What St. Paul is calling our attention to is that baptism is HAPPENING (present tense) and we are spritually alive because of what Christ has done for us in overcoming the "original sin" (St. Augustine's term) of disobedience. The Mosaic Law in St. Paul's vision, became simply a way to guide humanity until such time as Christ would come in the plan of God. In living out the baptismal commitment in day to day life, we are proclaiming what Christ has done and continues to do in the living breathing person of each one of us. AMEN
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