Jesus summoned the crowd again and said to
them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand. Nothing that enters one from
outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are
what defile.”
When he got home away from the crowd his
disciples questioned him about the parable. He said to them, “Are even you
likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes
into a person from outside cannot defile, since it enters not the heart but the
stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)
“But what comes out of the man, that is
what defiles him. From within the man, from his heart, come evil thoughts,
unchastity, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness,
envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly. All these evils come from within and they
defile.”
+ + + + + + +
Reflection:
Where does the desire to commit sin
emanates? It first emanates from within us. It begins when we think about it
and if we don’t stop thinking about our desire to commit sin it slowly
progresses. Until we actually give flesh to our desire to sin by actually doing
it.
For example, the desire of a husband/wife
to betray their marriage vows. He/she starts by thinking about it and when
she/he sees that the situation is conducive to commit the act of sin/betrayal.
The spouse will now succumb to commit this immoral sin. Therefore, the desire
to commit sin originates from within us first.
How then could we avoid sin? We pray to
Jesus and ask His help to exterminate whatever sinful desires that we have in
our minds. Then we also have to do our part by taking action to rid ourselves
of the desire to sin and by confronting the sin and stepping on it so that it
would die. Because if we pray yet our actions are not according to what we have
been praying for we would still commit sin sooner or later. As the saying goes
God help those who help themselves.
But come to think of it, why do we commit
sin? The simple answer is we don’t take our faith in Jesus seriously this is
the reason why we commit sin when we want to commit it. Are we not tired yet of
sinning? Are we not tired yet of mortgaging our lives to the devil? When we
continuously mortgage our lives to the devil through sin, there is the danger
that we may not anymore be able to get out of it!
It’s about time that we change this cycle
of sin, it’s about time that we rid ourselves of any sinful thoughts and
desires. It’s about time that we free ourselves from any problems and complication
brought about by sin. – Marino J.
Dasmarinas
