Twenty Forth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This is the twenty fourth Sunday in ordinary time. The Lord in the Scriptures speaks to us about mercy and reconciliation. But we must recognize and acknowledge that we, like St. Paul, are sinners, in need of mercy and forgiveness. He says in his letter to Timothy today, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of these I am the foremost.” If St. Paul says this, so must I say it.

We are inclined to delude ourselves about this. In Mt. 9:13 Jesus says, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but they who are sick. But go and learn what this means. I desire mercy, and not sacrifice. For I have come to call sinners, not the just.” Again in Mk 10:17 in the parable of the rich young man we read, “A certain man running up fell upon his knees before Him and asked Him, ‘Good Master, what shall I do to gain eternal life?’ But Jesus said to him ‘why do you call me good, no one is good but God alone.’”

Jesus makes the distinction between sinners, as the sick, and the just, healthy and righteous. When we hear this we automatically put ourselves in the group of those who are healthy, just, righteous and good. It is the same with those who make class distinctions or distinctions according to race or by what profession they are in or neighborhood they live in. It is that we think we are somehow different than others. We don’t think Jesus means us when He talks about sinners.

The cross of Christ, without humility and a sincere self searching and examination, can be an embarrassment. Like the rich young man in the parable who was doing only what he was expected to do in his life and whose question to Jesus, “What shall I do to gain eternal life?” Revealed the doubt he had about how he was living, Jesus said to him with love “One thing is lacking to you, go sell whatever thou hast, and give to the poor and then shalt have treasure in heaven. And come follow me.” Scripture says:”But his face fell at the saying and he went away sad, for he had great possessions.” He was encumbered with things. Eternal life is revealed as the pearl of great price or the treasure buried in a field. He failed to see that his possessions were from God and that if he set his heart on following Christ he would secure for himself treasure in heaven. Trusting in God’s will for us is critical. We must not lose heart or our patience, but wait on the Lord to show us His mercy.

That was the case with the Israelites whom God had brought out of slavery in Egypt. Moses had gone up the mountain and was away for forty days. The people grew restless and made a golden calf to worship. They had lost faith in God and Moses after all that had been done for them. We do that. We become sufficient unto ourselves and forget all His benefits of times past. We forget that we owe Him everything. And the greatest and most beneficial gift we can give Jesus is our whole self, all that we are. We must submit to the hand of the potter as He molds us, the clay, into the form of Christ. “You are the potter, we are the clay.” Romans 9:21

In the Gospel today, St. Luke relates the words of Christ in three parables: The finding of the lost sheep by its Shepherd; the finding of the lost coin by the woman and the return of the prodigal son by his waiting father. Jesus puts us in the place of one who having found that thing loved and wanted by us react with joy and thanksgiving for the return, which is “His” joy at “our return, the return of the sinner.

There will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents. We are that sinner and we are in need of conversion and repentance so as to have God’s mercy.

This is reminiscent of Francis Thompson’s poem “The hound of heaven”:

     I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
     I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
     I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways of my own mind,
     and in the midst of tears I hid from him, and under running laughter.

     Up vistaed hopes I sped and shot precipitated
     Adown titanic glooms of chasmed fears
     From those strong feet that followed, followed after
     But with unhurrying chase and unperturbed pace,
     Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,
     They beat, and a Voice beat,
     More instant than the feet:
     All things betray thee who betrayest me.

The Gospel acclamation is “God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ and Entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.”

Jesus tells us today that even in our disbelief, our doubts, our questioning and often falling away and lukewarmness that He wants us to experience His mercy, reconciliation and forgiveness. He says: “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

The responsorial psalm is “I will rise and go unto my Father.”

The prodigal son when he had wasted the inheritance his father had given him, and was experiencing his own poverty and hopelessness, thought of his father and his home, and found the courage to rise up and go to his father who had through everything been watching and waiting for his beloved son to return.

When we stop striving we become lukewarm. We become weary of waiting and often time like the Israelites who got tired of looking for Moses to return, we turn to another god of our own making. But God says to us “I am the potter, you are the clay.” “Does the object molded say to him who molded it, ‘Why hast thou made me thus?’”

God’s mercy, forgiveness and reconciliation are like the baton in a relay race. The runner in the final lap must grasp that which is handed to him and carry it over the finish line. The finish line is the particular judgment that each of us must face at the moment of death. In Mt. 16:27 we hear Christ say: “Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is to come with His angels in the glory of His Father and then He will render to everyone according to his conduct.” That is the merit of his striving.

When we hear Christ speak of coming to save sinners, we look with the mind’s eyes at him or her, who is in front of us or alongside us. We can’t imagine He is talking about me. But He is.

We delay coming to the greatest of realities. That if we do not die to all we love in this world in order to let Christ come into us and live and grow in us. To let the hand of the potter, almighty God, mould us according to His will, we may not be able to enter the kingdom, which is Christ.

Jesus says, “But why do you call me Lord, Lord and not practice the things that I say?... He who has heard my words and has not acted upon them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. For great was the wreckage of the house.”

“I will rise up and go unto my Father.” “A clean heart create for me, O God, And a steadfast spirit renew within me. Cast me not out from your presence, and your Holy Spirit take not from me.”