The Blinding Power of Evil
Evil works in ways that justify disobeying the moral law for no other reason than we think we should.
Readings for this homily can be found here
We had an interesting conversation the other day in our meeting of the Fraternity of Priest. Someone brought up how in the past for a few weeks a priest only preached from the Old Testament. There is a well-known Boston area scripture scholar who also only preached from the Old Testament. I may not do this, but it is good to look at the Old Testament reading which is always the first reading every week except during Easter Season.
Today, the Old Testament reading comes to us from the Book of Wisdom. We see a fascinating verse in which some men are plotting to harass a man who stands us for righteousness.
In case you did not know, the first reading, again outside of Easter Season, always has a connection to the Gospel. In the Gospel we see Jesus predicting his own death and the manner in which he will die. This is the connection between the two readings.
A portrayal of evil
If you look carefully at the Book of Wisdom reading, you will notice that this is a portrayal of evil. This is really how evil works.
The speakers are fully aware they are doing the wrong thing. They are fully aware they are living against what the law teaches and they are fully aware that their plans to harass the man to death are wrong. However, they plan to do it anyway. They also do this as a method to force the man to prove his righteousness.
If you look carefully, this line of thinking is precisely what is screamed at Jesus as he hung on the cross. “If you are the son of God get yourself off the cross.”
That is how they are trying to get him to prove who he is. However, since they are blind to their own evil they are also blind to his goodness.
This is how evil works. It does not work as this great monster that comes out of the wilderness and destroys villages. It works in ways that justify unjust behaviors in the name of goodness
Civilized evil
Notice, it is a civilized evil. This is the evil that looks good. It is the evil that appears to be honorable and dignified in public for a while, at the same time it is one step at a time undermining public order and morals.
This is the evil that breaks the law in the name of appearing to do something good whereas it is actually a source of evil.
When you first encounter this kind of evil, it tries to convince you that it is actually good and if you miss the clues, it will lead you down the wrong path every time.
This is the politician who takes a bribe but that is ok because he is actually supposedly doing good things. He or she does not realize that what was sold was a part of his soul.
This is the new gang recruit who is told to rob a store because this proves to his friends that he is one of them and they are with him.
This is the TV reporter who asks someone a man on the street question of which he has no knowledge but tries to get him to say something on camera for the piece running that night on the evening news.
This is the journalist who comprises him or herself by working with a political campaign to ensure their coverage favors that candidate’s win.
It is this little form of evil that begins a trajectory into more evil territory but looks so benign as to appear ok.
Evil is . . .
This is the evil warned about in the book of wisdom.
It is a violation of justice and it eventually causes great destruction to whole societies.
When we don’t adhere to the law as a source of wisdom then we will take ourselves as the wisdom and undermine the law. Eventually that small infraction leads to a bigger one that creates a great injustice.
It always starts by rationalizing the law. We are talking about blatant acts of injustice that create greater acts of injustice. Taking twenty dollars from the cash register because no one will notice it. However, that is still stealing.
Cyber bullying someone because he is an easy target.
Cheating on homework because that is the only way you will pass.
Tiny things that are almost insignificant but they lead to a hardness of heart and that hardness leads one to be blind to true justice.
Jesus knew of what kind of evil was pursuing him. He also knew that the only way to defeat this evil is to let it win and then it consumes itself. It is an evil that creates a hardened heart that is blind to goodness.
Remember, Jesus warned the pharisees that even if he was to return from the dead they would not have listened to him, that is why he never went back to them after his resurrection. They had been consumed by their evil and that evil would soon consume the whole nation until it fell at the hands of the Romans. That is how he defeated it.
Never forget that the only reason God destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah is because they had been so consumed by evil there were no more righteous people in it.
This is why we must be people of prayer, humility and wisdom or we are no good to a society that needs us to live our faith even if they hate us for it. This is how we defeat evil. That evil is subtle and destruction until it is overwhelming and collapses in on itself.
This is what you see in the first reading. A look at evil blind to goodness and so self-centered it will destroy another to protect their interests even though one time they thought it was the wrong thing to do.
Fr. Robert J Carr is pastor of St. Anthony Parish in Allston, MA
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