Wednesday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time
I imagine we’ve all had the experience at one time or another of feeling far from God. Sometimes that sensation comes from a place of spiritual dryness; other times we allow the concerns of life to cloud our relationship with God; at times our sin becomes a very real separation between us and our holy God. Whatever it is that creates distance between us and God, either real or perceived, God always pursues us and calls us to new or renewed intimacy with Godself. In today’s first reading, God woos us, With an age-old love I have loved you. Today, let us turn or return to the God of mercy who longs to receive and restore us.
With an age-old love I have loved you. Those words grip me today – an age-old love . . . These words ring poetic, but this is no mere nostalgic love, reminiscent of a bygone era. God assures us that divine love is an everlasting love; God’s loving-kindness knows no bounds or limits, God’s mercy freely flows to all of us without exception. God speaks to an exiled Israel the promise of restoration and renewal. Exiled because of their collective sin, God’s people keenly felt their separation from God and longed for intimacy with God once again. The passage from Jeremiah continues as our responsorial psalm. Our Lord our Shepherd promises to gather the scattered flock and to guard and keep them safe.
Jeremiah writes, The people that escaped the sword have found favor in the desert. As Israel comes forward to be given his rest, the Lord appears to him from afar . . . this description reminds me of the father in the story of the Prodigal Son. When the wayward son returns, we’re told that the father saw him while he was still far off and ran to him, with extravagant love spurring his every step. This love is the age-old love with which God waits patiently for us and responds exuberantly when we return to God.
In our Gospel reading today, somehow this Canaanite woman knew of this age-old love with which God loved Israel. Although not a Jew, she addresses Jesus as “Lord, Son of David.” She comes to him in faith, trusting in God’s merciful love for her and her daughter. She believes that God’s love extends to people on the margins, people distant from God, people who are “outsiders,” people just like her. This woman recognized that even a “scrap” of this age-old love would be sufficient. She turns to God in faith and Jesus pours forth everlasting love upon her and her daughter.
In what way(s) do you feel exiled today? How might you be feeling distant from God? What sins in your life separate you from God? Today, let us turn to the Lord, giving voice to our lostness, expressing and confessing any sense of isolation, sin, or separation. My prayer is that our place of exile might become fertile ground for God’s redeeming work today. Let us turn to God in full confidence, knowing that this age-old love forgives any sin and restores any brokenness. Thanks be to God for mercy, grace, forgiveness, and everlasting love!
- Elizabeth Wourms