Evangelizing the Text: Oedipus Rex

      First of all, from Oedipus we can see that humans are not in control of their own lives.  In the story, it was the gods or Fate that controlled people.  In reality, God is in control.  Even though we have free will in our decisions, God still has control over what happens in our lives and what we decide.  He already has a plan for our lives.

       Another theme in this story is that sin cannot go unpunished.  Oedipus had to face the consequences of killing his father and marrying his mother by leaving the city he was once king of.  When we sin, it separates us from God because of His holiness.  However, Christ died to cleanse us of those sins.  Christ took the punishment for us so that we do not have to spend eternity in Hell, but someone did have to be punished for our imperfection.

        Also, as seen from this story, we choose to sin.  Even though it was "the prophecy's fault" that Oedipus killed his father and married his mother, he had a chance to stop that and so did his parents.  Instead of facing what could happen in the future, Jocasta, Oedipus's mother and wife, sent the baby with a shepherd to be put on a hill to die.  By being willing to kill her own child, the prophecy eventually came true as a consequence for her action.  Then, when Oedipus met King Laius on the road, he did not have to kill him.  As a result of his pride and bad temper, he killed his own father trying to escape the very crime he committed.  He chose to kill that man in the coach even though he could have walked away.  We do the same thing even as Christians.  Even though we may not always realize it, we choose to sin.  I don't have to be angry at someone.  I could let it go, but as humans we are flawed and instead of doing what we know is right, we stay mad and in doing so we are "murdering."  We choose to be mad or lie or talk bad about someone.  We know when we sin, and even though we know it is wrong, we still choose to do it.