God's grace surpasses the power of sin

June 23, 2002, Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time

	Fr. Richard Ver Bust

Many of us probably think of the story of Adam and Eve in a very realistic way. We probably don't realize what the theological meaning behind the story is. It was probably written down during the reign of either King David or Solomon. The author tried to explain how evil had entered the world. He wanted to reconcile the reality of evil with a good God who had created the world. He placed blame on Adam and Eve. He then showed in the story of Cain and Able how the power of sin had grown leading to murder.

Paul knew the story also. He would have, through his rabbinical training, understood the power of evil. In his letter to the church of Rome, he contrasted this power with the new power of forgiveness and life brought about through the death and resurrection of Christ. While he builds upon a contrast between Adam and Christ and their effect upon people, he is even more interested in the contrast between the two periods of time which each inaugurated. Since evil and sin had come into existence through the human unwillingness to follow God personified in the person of Adam, we have been often overwhelmed by its power. Yet Christ had begun a new age in which life has been transformed through grace. That power is even stronger than that of sin.

While we think of Adam as an individual, the Greek word that Paul uses refers to all humanity and not a single male. So Paul is trying to get the Romans to understand that Adam really represents the whole human race, men and women. It is that thought that strongly emerges from what Paul writes in our second reading for this Sunday.

Paul begins by telling the Romans about the time following Adam. He uses the story of Genesis, but also is able to point out the experience that all have of evil and sin within the world.

He points out that while Adam symbolizes the first sin, all people have sinned. We are weak when facing the power of sin. In Rabbinic thought, breaking the law, the Mosaic Law, received from God, points to sin. Yet Paul maintains that there was sin even before Moses and this is shown in the fact that death existed from Adam on to the time of Moses. Death was seen as a punishment for sin, for all people have sinned, all must die.

But now, Paul tells us, we live in the time of Christ. We must realize that the grace of Christ is even more powerful than sin. If death entered human life because of sin, we should realize that life, not physical life, but spiritual life, entered human history through the action of Christ. The gift of God's grace based on Christ far surpasses the power of sin.

In the responsorial psalm for today, we pray that God in his great kindness answers our prayers with his constant help. In our Gospel reading, Christ tells us that God counts us as worthy when we acknowledge Christ. This is what the power of Christ's action has accomplished. We live in a world of sin and evil too, just as the Romans did. But through baptism, we have experienced the power of God's love. We have been joined to Christ and received his gift of life. While we still sin, the power of God's grace can help us to live the life Christ has called us to live. Paul's teaching about Christ and what has happened within human history should give us hope.

(Fr. Ver Bust holds the title of professor emeritus in religious studies at St. Norbert College, De Pere.)