radicality of the gospel

​6th Sunday of Ordinary Time/Year A

​The Book of Sirach (15) states you have before you the choice of fire and water: which would you choose?

Well, probably water because fire burns. Water quenches thirst. Water cools. Fire we associate with burning and pain, with water purity, cleansing, and life. These are the choices of every day because God’s commandments are precisely the equivalent to choosing fire or water:
--Choosing death or choosing life.

​The metaphor used in the book of Ecclesiastes is quite fitting: With fire we might be tempted to poke it, or even put our finger on it, only to discover how hot it is, and even get burned. And suffer. The pain the fire causes, we are left with the marks even the scars of being burned.

Is this any different than when we sin? We are left with the marks of sin? And we can carry that scarred tissue for a long time, even years…
Put out your hand: some choices mean life, others mean death.

Notice the freedom of which Sirach speaks: which ever your prefer, which ever you like – you choose. You are free.
Wonderful expression of freedom: God is not a tyrant who imposes on us and tells us what we must do. No. He leaves us free to choose, but our choice has consequences.
That is where we need to reflect and discern and ask ourselves simply whether this choice brings me closer to God or distances me from God. That’s how we choose.
And if we choose to distance ourselves from God, and place ourselves in the fires of hell, that is what God will give us. Your choice, Sirach says.
If we choose the purifying and regenerating waters that to Everlasting Life, that is what God will give us, Eternal life.
We are left to choose.

The question is whether we fear God, fear God as children who love their heavenly Father, and do not wish to offend Him by choosing sin. That is the choice God leaves us with: to sin or not to sin. While he does not command us to be godless, he has not given us permission to sin, either. When we truly love someone, we have no desire to hurt or offend them – this is true with God.

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