Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
We are ten months into the Jubilee of Mercy. I hope that you have taken the time to reflect upon the significance of this year. It is also my hope that you have let mercy rule in your lives. May this year not pass you by without you making it to the sacrament of penance and also offering unconditional mercy, forgiveness and love to someone. Here is the deal. If “mercy” has not been a big deal for you, then, may be today’s readings will not a be a big deal either. Today’s readings celebrate mercy to the point of it being a scandal. God’s mercy is a scandal! It is a scandal but it is true.
Let me say three things about God’s mercy.
1. God Gives Scandal. There are stories in the gospel that are unique to the gospel of Luke: the story of the rich fool (12:16-21), Lazarus the poor man (16:19-31), the Good Samaritan (10:30-35), and the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32). There is a common strand in these stories. It is the poor and those on the fringes of society who find easier access to Christ and to God. The insiders become the outsiders and the outsiders become the insiders. Hear how Luke makes his point. He says, “Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” For the scribes and Pharisees it was a scandal that tax-collectors and sinners were being drawn to Jesus. But Jesus said to them, “I tell you… there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.” For the Pharisees and the scribes, Jesus was a scandal. He hung out with sinners. It is a scandal but it is true.
2. The God who Defies Expectation. There are three parable in today’s gospel reading: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost son. In each of these parables, Jesus' logic defies commonly accepted rationale. If I had a hundred sheep and one of them went astray, my concern would be for the ninety-nine. Our natural instinct is to save the majority; to sacrifice the one for the sake of the many. Especially, if the sheep went astray because of its own fault, we would lack sympathy for the lost sheep. Perhaps, we would say, “That one deserved it!” That surely was the attitude of the elder son in the parable of the lost son. He said, “‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns, who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.” But the parable ends with these words, “But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because Your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.” Scripture gives us reasons to believe that when it come to salvation, God defies our expectation. And strangely, the ones we consider lost or astray might get there before us. It is a scandal, but it is true.
3. The Temptation to Exaggerate other’s sins and Minimize Ours. There is a tendency in the church that I have noticed these days. We can be a very judgmental church. We have the tendency to minimize our sins and exaggerate other people’s sins. Other people’s sins always look bigger to us, whereas, we have a way to justify our own sins. Paul, in today’s second reading, is more realistic. Paul never forgot that his own salvation was the result of God’s mercy. He says, “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated…. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost.” If we can learn one thing from Paul it is this – that if we are saved it will not be because of our own merit but rather because of the abundant love and mercy of God. The moment we believe that we are saved because of our own holiness, we just lost it. It is a scandal but it is true.
If we really think about it, this Eucharist is a scandal. Christ gives himself to sinners. Christ comes to us not because we are worthy, but because God's mercy knows no bounds! Let us allow God's mercy to rule our lives, Amen.
Fr. Satish Joseph