Daily Archives: February 14, 2025

Original Rebellion

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The first reading today, from Genesis, recounts the story of “original sin,” “the fall of man,” “the fall from grace,” “paradise lost,” “eating of the forbidden fruit,” and a host of other names. Each of the monikers has their origin. The term “original sin” originates primarily from the theological development of Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) who was the first to systematize the doctrine of original sin as it is understood in Western Christianity. Earlier, Church Fathers, in various forms, did discuss the consequences of Adam’s sin. Some key figures include:

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Valentine’s Day – did you know?

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Happy Valentine’s Day to one and all. I have to admit I never gave a lot of thought to the origins of the celebrations surrounding the day.  And these days as an ordained priest I don’t give a lot of thought to the commercial aspects of the day and so I was taken by surprise when I stopped in at the local grocery store. Walking in the front door was as though walking into a sea of reds, shades of reds, and shades of shades of red. There were displays of roses, cookies, candies, cakes, floral displays, already-inflated balloons, cards, and an array of “stocking stuffers” for lack of a better description. It would have been easy to convince me that this was a commercial conspiracy of Hallmark Corporation of Kansas City, MO.

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Hated, Excluded and Insulted

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The gospel for this coming Sunday, the 6th Sunday, Year C is St. Luke’s “Sermon on the Plain.”

“Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven…Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.

The theme of the last blessing is clearly rejection “on account of the Son of Man” (v. 22); that is, rejection because of following Jesus, because of becoming a disciple. One cannot read this without thinking of Jesus’ own experience of rejection by the hometown folks at Nazareth that has set the tone for his ministry. The very ones who should have most readily accepted him, drove him away. For Luke, as well as for the other Gospel writers in different ways, following Jesus, following the path of discipleship, is costly and will often result in personal loss and suffering.

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