Who is there like you, the God who removes guilt and pardons sin … You will cast into the depths of the sea all our sins.
– Micah 7: 19-20
In college I went to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. I am not much of a science geek so I thought I would be bored, but I ended up being drawn in by the deep sea display.
As I wandered through the exhibit gaping at the ugly, otherworldly creatures that inhabit the deepest areas of our oceans, I thought, “If God exists, (I was an atheist at the time), He definitely is creative and has a sense of humor.” Just gazing at these absurd creatures made me laugh. (I think someone needs to write a proof for God based on the humor in nature, but I digress…)
So where do these strange creatures hang out you ask? Well, the deepest part of the ocean is the Mariana Trench near Japan. If Mount Everest were put in this trench there would still be over 7,000 feet of water above it! That is just astounding to me. There is another world in our oceans, with creepy looking creatures floating around, and we think we know it all!
In the book of the prophet Micah, we are told that God does not persist in anger when we sin. Rather, He casts our sins into “the depths of the sea.” When we read Scripture, do we ever pause and sit with the most literal sense of things? Of course, Scripture is not really meant to be read literalistically but in the true literal and spiritual sense. However, reading in a literalistic way can sometimes unearth insights that help us understand the true literal and spiritual sense of the text.
So, the other day I sat with the image of God throwing my sins into the depths of the ocean. I gave Him the deepest, darkest memories of sin and He threw them with all his might into the ocean. I imagined my sins sinking at the speed of a bullet, far from my memory and His.
(Then I imagined my sins floating by those creepy fish and my prayer time got a little weirder but I digress….)
Do we believe in God’s mercy?
I thought I did, but the more aware I become of my own sinfulness, the more aware I am of God’s unending mercy. I know it sounds terribly negative to talk about sin all the time. But (most) Christians do not speak of sin in an attempt to make people feel terrible and guilty. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus exhorts us, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). Jesus makes it clear that repentance is a necessary first step before we can believe in the Gospel.
Why?
So, we can fully experience God’s mercy and goodness.
If we don’t think we are sinners then Christianity loses its meaning (hence much of modern, “sinless,” secular culture). When we buy into the lie that we are not sinners it does not make us better, it just makes us conflicted, miserable liars.
Christianity also loses its meaning if we think that good behavior can open the gates of heaven for us. When we separate ourselves from others, when we put other groups of people into the “worst sinners” category and leave ourselves separate, we lose the message of the Gospel.
Pope Francis recently confirmed this truth in a talk to chaplains when he revealed that he still calls the prison in Buenos Aires on Sunday afternoons. He described his connection with prisoners by pointing out that we all have the wound of original sin that can potentially lead us to make terrible decisions. He said, “Thinking about this is good for me: When we have the same weakness, why did they fall and I didn’t? This is a mystery that makes me pray and draws me to prisoners.”
What a beautiful sentiment that is worth taking some time to take in. Pope Francis reaches out to sinners because he recognizes that he himself is a sinner. But Pope Francis and other Christians do not declare: “We are all sinners!” because we want to stop there. Christianity is about the next step. Yes, we need to recognize that we sin in order to experience the truth of who we are but after we recognize our sinfulness then we can move to the best part – God’s goodness – that is what the Gospel is all about!
This is the Good News of Jesus Christ: God forgives our sins.
He died to forgive our sins.
(And He throws them into the deep sea to chill with creepy fish)
Amen.
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This post is a revised version of a post that originally appeared on Sr. Theresa’s blog: Pursued by Truth
7 thoughts on “Pope Francis, Sin & Creepy Fish”
Yes, there is mercy, but in this day and age there seems to be a propensity to believe that mercy means that God is averse to nothing. We really are all sinners in need of repentance. God changes us, if we let Him. If we cannot acknowledge our sins and repent of them, we turn away from the possibility of change.
Exactly!
Interesting, inspiring essay….Thank you!
This reminds me of a retreat I made at Gloucester–after confession I took a long walk along the ocean front and prayed with that very verse–“He has cast into the depths of the sea all of our sins.” The experience of forgiveness is an incredible grace. And the flip side is that along with forgiveness, God infuses grace into our soul so that we are actually given a share in his life. We are truly made into a new creation.
The Mariana Trench reminded me of something I had almost forgotten. In 6th grade I did a report on the ocean, and part of it had to do with the Mariana Trench. It was a long report and when my father saw me typing it with two fingers, he said he could teach me how to type. And he did. That’s a good memory.
I love that you wrote a report about the Mariana Trench in 6th grade….I’d love to read it Sr Lorraine!
1. Approval of terrible accidental (I’m guessing) pun, “chilling” in the deep sea with creepy fish.
2. Those fish were so creepy that my sister and I actually found ourselves highly interested in the floor tiles because we decided we wanted to sleep well that night. (We’d gone for the dinosaurs. We like dinosaurs.)
3. I love the idea of writing up God’s sense of humour–after all, giraffes, penguins, and flounder are all very silly looking animals.
#1 I love it, unconscious puns, I need to write more of those….
#2 They were creepy yes, but also kind of amusing..(in a creepy sort of way…)
#3 – I nominate you! Link to whatever you write, I’d love to read it 🙂