Also inherent in these two texts of the Old Testament is an important and still mysterious aspect of generational bondage - that we are never obliged to repeat the sins of our forefathers; otherwise we would incur absolutely no guilt, as we could always blame it on our ancestors. No, even if there is bondage, there is still responsibility. We still choose in a certain way what we do and what we do not do. But it is our choosing that seems to be in bondage, as contradictory as that may sound. Probably the closest analogy to this are the words of the Lord about Judas: the Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born (Mt. 26:24). The Son of Man indeed had to be betrayed and be killed; it had to happen. And if it had to happen, then someone had to do it to him. But would he be free from guilt - the one who did it? No! Woe to him, says the Lord, because Judas was still free not to do it, so that someone else would do it. And that person, too, would be free not to do it, as well, etc. In this fact lies the mystery. However, the Lord comes to our rescue with his power. If the Lord said of Judas, Woe to him...and Judas had no resurrection power available to him as yet to combat evil (the sacramental power that comes from the death and resurrection of the Lord), how much more would the Lord say of us to whom he has already given the way out of this dilemma - through his death and resurrection? The mystery is in the end solved by the clear possibility we now have to gain total freedom in Christ from these family bondages. Then probably woe to us if we dont, but with a limit here, that this woe may not compromise our eternal salvation, it can only eventually get there, but not primarily, as we see shall explain shortly below. These bondages can also be conceived of as strong inclinations to go on sinning in the same ways as our predecessors did. Whereas resistance to it is possible, it costs more for one whose root has the inclination than the one whose root doesnt have it. But this is not to say that it is impossible to resist the inclination to repeat the family sin, In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood (Heb. 12:4). The verses where God seems to be cutting the father–son sin chain, in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 18, can be read in this light; that the sons dont have to sin anymore in the same ways their fathers did. - Fr. Yozefu B. Ssemakula, The Healing of Families
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 05:40:47 +0000
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