No, a mother cannot be punished for a son's crime

Mother's Day had just been celebrated.  Father's Day will be celebrated in June.

There is this story about a mother and her son -- a loving mother and a not so good son.  One day the son committed a heinous crime, was caught, and was sentenced to 15 years jail by the court.  The mother was heartbroken.  She asked the judge whether she could bear the 15 years punishment for the son, so that the son could continue with his life of freedom.  "No, No, that can't be done.   Whoever commits the crime, whoever would be punished.  There is no substitute." the judge replied.

Well, it seems sensible that whoever sins, whoever should be punished.  It is logical that there is no substitute. 

When a person sins (now, we all sin), then 'the wages of sin is death' (which is eternal separation from God).  But fret not -- God has hatched a redemption plan.  God sent His only begotten Son to die for us sinners.  God use His Son's death to substitute for the death for sinners, so that sinners need not die.  This is substitutionary atonement.

I have been grappling with this issue for a long time.  Why in the real world, the mother cannot take the rap for the son, but in God's kingdom, this can be done through the person of Jesus Christ.

I have stopped confusing myself.  After all God is so big and infinite, that mere humans like me can only understand 5% or 1% of what He is.  I accept Christ's substitutionary atonement by faith.

After all, Christ has proven he could do it.  He is the only one who died and rose again.  No one else can ever do this.

  

Corruption and Shrewdness

This parable is really a surprise!

There was once a rich man who had a servant who managed his property.  The rich man was told that the manager was wasting his master's money, so he called him in and said, 'What is this I hear about you?  Turn in a complete account of my property, because you cannot be my manager any longer.'  The servant said to himself, 'My master is going to dismiss me from my job.  What shall I do?  I am not strong enough to dig ditches and I am ashamed to beg.  Now I know what I will do! Then when my job is gone, I shall have friends who will welcome me in their homes.'

So he called in all the people who were in debt to his master.  He asked the first one, 'How much do you owe my master?' One hundred barrels of olive oil,' he answered. 'Here is your account, the manager told him; 'sit down and write fifty.' Then he asked another one,  'And you - how much do you owe?'  'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he answered. 'Here is your account,' the manager told him; 'write eight hundred.'

As a result the master of this dishonest manager praised him for doing such a shrewd thing; because the people of this world are much more shrewd in handling their affairs than the people who belong to the light."  Luke 16:1-8.

What! Praise the dishonest manager? Okay, okay, praise his shrewdness, then sack him after that! After all, the master had already told him 'you cannot be my manager any longer'.

Now, 2000 years ago, people were already so corrupted and shrewd. Today, people are more so.  Be careful.

However this is not the lesson behind this parable.  Read Luke 16:9 for the real lesson.

Poor Mother Theresa - She missed God for 60 years

I find this article by Father Ron Rolheiser very interesting and profound. 
http://ronrolheiser.com/what-dark-nights-do-for-us/#.U29_jZVZrIU

He explained, in a rather scholarly manner, how Mother Theresa's dryness of God's presence and God's experience in the last 60 years of her life, had resulted in purity of her ministry and her love for God.

I like this article because I too experience God's absence all the time.  I know many God's people who have experienced the same dryness after dedicating their lives to serve God.  Conversely, their are many charismatic Christian speakers who claimed that whenever they read the Bible, or when they pray, God's voice is so real and so close, as if God is whispering to their ears.  These people never had "Dark Nights".  Mother Theresa had "Dark Nights" for 60 years. 

I leave it to you to read this article.  The English is difficult and heavy-going, so read slowly.

Shalom.  Have faith even during "Dark Nights" . 
Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1 

Ignore All. Focus on Him Alone

Sometimes when we read the Bible, we are bothered by what we read.  Sure, we do not understand a lot of things written.  We do not understand the story of Cain and Abel, or the story of  Abraham, or the stories of  Moses, or the old Testament laws or the prophetic accounts.

Sometimes when we look at the many Churches, we are bothered by the lack of unity, the difference in practices and sacraments, the differences in teachings, the disagreements in beliefs, the Church politics.

Sometimes when we look at the Church leadership, we are bothered by the low morality, by personal failures of leaders, by sin and greed.

But this is earth.  This is not heaven.  The world, and all that is in it, is sinful - including the things of the Church.

That is why God sent His Son Jesus to come down from heaven to die on the cross to redeem us and the world.  He that is without sin, died for us sinners.

We will just have to ignore the sinful nature of man, and the imperfections of the Church, and focus steadfastly on Jesus Christ.  He alone was crucified, died, buried and rose again.  No one can prove this is not so....although everyone can choose not to believe.