sins of their fathers ... 3rd week saturday

Today in our first reading David faces the consequences of his sins.  For committing murder, Nathan pointed out David's punishment saying, the sword shall never depart from your house.  Indeed David's sons Amnon, Absalom and Adonijah will die violent deaths.  For committing adultery Nathan said in his prophecy, I will take your wives while you live to see it, and will give them to your neighbor. Indeed his wives, his concubines will be taken by his son Absalom.  And lastly for the crime of sending an innocent man to his death, his innocent son, the fruit of his relationship with Bathsheba will also die.

Modern language would call this karma.  Biblical language would call this divine retribution, divine punishment.  In reality these are consequences of sin.  If there are consequences in the physical order, there are consequences in the spiritual order.  IN the physical order when you eat cholesterol then chances are you will get a heart attack or aneurysm or a stroke, whichever comes first.  The spiritual order is also like that – there are consequences to our actions.  This is the first point.  Call it retribution or punishment or karma – sin has consequences to our person.

The second point is this:  In the bible you will hear the children being punished for the sins of their parents.  Is this not unjust?  Ngaa maantus ang kabataan sang sala sang ila ginikanan?  It may sound unfair but the consequences of sin handed down from one generation to the next is true.  When a father has a sinful lifestyle, his children are likely to practice the same sinful lifestyle.  The sons are committing the same sins their fathers committed.  And so the curse of sin can go on and on and can span for generations.  With an alcoholic father the chances of the son falling into alcoholism is greater.  With a womanizer father, there would exist a greater possibility of the son becoming a womanizer himself.  A looser father, a looser son, what else.  It is the same sin and therefore the same consequences of sin. Ngaa maantus ang kabataan sang sala sang ila ginikanan?  Because they repeat the same sin, that is why.

How do we stop this?  There has to be a generation who will decide to stop it.  In David, Solomon has to be born and he can stop it if he wants to.