How We contract Sin and Righteousness

 Reflection on Today's Readings, Tuesday of 29th Week in Ordinary Time, Year 1, October 19th, 2021
Texts: Romans 5:12.15b.17-21; Ps. 40:7-10.17; Luke12:35-38
It sounds odd when we hear that our toil and death is owed to one man; it seems unjust to us for all men to be punished because of the disobedience of a man. However, it gladdens the heart to hear that all men are favoured because of a man. If it is not odd to set all men free because of a man, why is it odd to punish all men for the sin of a man?
St. Paul, in today's first reading, reminds us of our first parents' sin, which  has brought upon us death. He says, "As sin came into the world through one man and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned."
Death came into the world through the sin of our first parents. Not only death that came through the sin of our first parents, toil ,pain, and suffering also came through it. As a result of the sin, it is said, "To the woman he (God) said, 'I will greatly increase your pangs in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.' And to the man he said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' curse is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground" (Gen. 3:16-19). The sin of our first parents, sin enter the world and spread to everyone. Having shared from the sin, we share from its reward, death.
St. Paul tells us, today, that as through one man we inherit sin and death, so also we should be made righteous and granted eternal life through obedience of. In his words: "For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many." St. Paul shows that the possibility of making all men righteous because of a man's obedience is higher than that of making all men sinners because of one man's obedience. He puts it thus:  "If, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ." God is much more ready and willing to make us righteousness through obedience of Jesus Christ. He also shows that the more our sins, the more His abound; sin cannot overcome the grace of God.
Jesus, in today's gospel reading, asks us to be ready always and to be constant in good works. It is when we persist in our acts as the sons and daughters of God till the end that we have reward.

Lord our God, grant us peace, fill our hearts with joy, and grant us the spirit of perseverance always. Amen.

Fr. Andrew Olowomuke