Acts 13
Jealousy and envy are often interchangeable. However, we can distinguish them to understand two different states of a soul. A husband may feel uncomfortable and upset when he sees his wife flirt with another man. This is jealousy. Jealousy is a kind of anger we feel when our legitimate or supposedly legitimate honour, right or privilege is given to someone else who is not entitled to enjoy them. We have this emotion of anger as if certain justice is violated. In the Bible, even God is described to become jealous when his people Israel turns to foreign gods.
On the other hand, envy is spiritual sadness on account of the goods another has. Envy feels that the goods of another is harmful and tarnishes one’s excellence or honour. A man may feel sad when his brother becomes very successful. He regards that his excellence is diminished by his brother’s success. Cain probably felt very envious when he saw that his brother Abel was favoured by God when both of them offered sacrifices to him.
It is not always very clear between jealousy and envy. However, envy as the sadness at another’s excellence or goods very often brings much harm. The Holy Scripture teaches that through the envy of the devil death entered the world. And we see an example in the fratricide of Cain and Abel. It was the envy of Jewish leaders against Jesus that crucified the Son of God. Envy leads to other deadly sins such as murder. That’s why it is counted as one of the capital sins, meaning sins that bring other deadly sins.
In the first reading today, the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia rejected the Good News because they became envious of St Paul and his companions for their successful preaching. Through their envy and by rejecting Christ Jesus, they brought death upon themselves as Jesus once told Nicodemus, “he who does not believe is condemned already.” Once again, envy brings about death – this time, a more devastating one.
