In those days, the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. I mean to find out."
While Abraham's visitors walked on farther toward Sodom, the LORD remained standing before Abraham.
Then Abraham drew nearer and said: "Will you sweep away the innocent with the guilty?
Suppose there were fifty innocent people in the city; would you wipe out the place, rather than spare it for the sake of the fifty innocent people within it?
Far be it from you to do such a thing, to make the innocent die with the guilty so that the innocent and the guilty would be treated alike!
Should not the judge of all the world act with justice?"
The LORD replied, "If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake."
Abraham spoke up again: "See how I am presuming to speak to my Lord, though I am but dust and ashes!
What if there are five less than fifty innocent people? Will you destroy the whole city because of those five?"
He answered, "I will not destroy it, if I find forty-five there."
But Abraham persisted, saying "What if only forty are found there?"
He replied, "I will forbear doing it for the sake of the forty."
Then Abraham said, "Let not my Lord grow impatient if I go on. What if only thirty are found there?"
He replied, "I will forbear doing it if I can find but thirty there."
Still Abraham went on,"
Since I have thus dared to speak to my Lord, what if there are no more than twenty?"
The LORD answered, "I will not destroy it, for the sake of the twenty."
But he still persisted:
"Please, let not my Lord grow angry if I speak up this last time. What if there are at least ten there?"
He replied, "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it."
REFLECTION
"The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me."
Today's first reading doesn't mince words on what is to come about Sodom and Gomorrah. The passage happens right after Abraham has entertained the sojourners, and is walking them towards their path on their way out. At that point one of the travelers tells Abraham about the upcoming destruction of these towns because of their iniquity. So Abraham pleads with him to save the city of Sodom. That is where his nephew Lot had settled with his family (Gen 13).
I have heard in homilies, especially in the late 90's (or 1900's like my kids would say), and early 2000's that the Lord destroyed these cities because they did not follow the rule of hospitality that was the norm on the region. That they were not kind to the sojourners and refused to grant them shelter while traveling through their lands.
I find that hard to believe, since in the next chapter of Genesis, as the story continues, three angels visit Sodom and are hosted by Lot. When the news of these newcomers are heard all the men from that city, young and old demand from Lot to hand them over to them to have sexual relationships with them (Gen 19:4-9). And the rest is history.
Abraham pleads for the inhabitants of the city. And I find it interesting that the Lord will not destroy the city if there are still some good people left in the city.
In our post-Christian world, are there still good and faithful people left?
As overall church attendance recedes and more and more people identify as "Nones"*, meaning Non-Religious unaffiliated. They are neither agnostic nor atheist. They think there might be a higher power, but are disenchanted with organized religion. They now represent 28% of the population in the United States.
There is no vacuum when God is removed from everyday life. As humans, we yearn for "something else". We want to see and experience something more than the tangible. So what is this emptiness from God being filled with?
More and more people join the ranks of the nones, the transexual revolution, and the transhuman phenomena. They look for wonder in the occult, the extraterrestrial phenomenon, and/or the AI/cyborg fusion. There is less belief in God, and more acceptance of satan as "original rebel" that challenged "the status quo", or the aliens or other disembodied entities as their guides into transcendence.
What is going to happen to us when God walks towards us to see if the outcry from our iniquities are as grave as what He hears?
We really need to pray to God to help us have a true missionary spirit to show others the real wonders and love from God, and help everybody see the lies of these repackaged forms of Gnosticism that are so prevalent in our society, of the dangers of thinking that we must separate the body from the spirit, the body from the gender, etc.
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