Twenty-fourth Sunday of Year C
God mercifully Finds us when we
are Lost
Fr. Udoekpo, Michael Ufok
§ Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14;
§ Ps 51:3-4,12-13,17,19(R/v Lk 15:18);
§ 1 Tim 1:12-17
§ Luke 15:1-32
What
a wonderful, mercy-filled scripture readings the church presents us with,
today- from Exodus 32, Paul’s First Letter to Timothy and from the three great parables
in Luke’s Gospel chapter 15. All these scripture passages remind us of who God
truly is: a merciful father who loves us, a merciful God who doesn’t judge us
as we deserve, a merciful God who searches for us, a loving God who
finds us when we miss our ways, and when we get lost: like the lost sheep, the
lost coin and the lost prodigal son. In these readings we also find a God
who wants us to be a prayerful people, a forgiving people, who pray and
intercede for one another (E.g....).
In
the 1st reading this is who Moses is: a leader, a liberator, a
prophet, a man of prayer and an intercessor who intercedes for his people
gathered sinfully at the foot of Mount Sinai. Sinfully in the sense that as
Moses was on the mountain praying and encountering God on behalf of his people,
the very people were busy practicing idolatry, making golden calf- other gods
for themselves. They got loss. They lacked focus- drawing God’s anger who
contemplated of punishing them, except for intercessory role of Moses who prayed
“why O Lord, should your wrath blaze against your covenanted people whom you
brought out of the land of Egypt.” Some time we get loss and we need to
pray for one another; our friends, our families and our nations.
Same
could be said of Paul in today’s second reading (1 Tim 1:12-17), whose past
anti-Christian attitude we are familiar with. He was lost not only in
blaspheming but in hating and persecuting the Christians (Acts 26:9-11)- only
to be saved by God. Today Paul is prayerfully grateful to God who has
mercifully treated him. Writing to Timothy he says, “I am grateful to him who
has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord because he considers me trustworthy
in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and
arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated, because I acted out of ignorance
in my unbelief.”
Some
of us get lost in our sins, our selfishness not because of our own faults, but
because of one factor or the other. It could be our environment. It could be
the type of company we keep. It could be the type of books we read. It could
also be the type of movies we watch. It could be ambition or the wrong choices
we make in life. Even political ideologies can make us lose track of the
universal mercy of God.
But
in the tender eyes and love of God there is always room to make- up, for a
rediscovery, for atonement, for a renewal. And this is again demonstrated in
the three parables of today’s Gospel: the parable of the lost sheep, the
parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost son. In all these “losses”
there is this image of merciful, concerned, caring owner who left everything to
search for the lost item. At discovery they are all very happy and joyful.
Our
Merciful God loves us. He searches for each and everyone one of us. All that he
expects of us is to be people of prayer, men and women, with a forgiving heart.
And each time we offend God to be able to say like the 2nd son in
today’s Gospel and in the responsorial Psalm “I will rise up and go back to my
father.” Let us rise up at this Mass and go back to God our Father.
Reflection
Questions
1.
What have we learned from the scripture passages of
today?
2.
Do we realize that the Lord, a good father, searches for
us when we get lost?
3.
How often do we search for one another or be our brother's
and sister’s keepers?
Homily Twenty-Fourth Sunday of Year C
Enduring Mercy of God
§ Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14;
§ Ps 51:3-4,12-13,17,19;
§ 1 Tim 1:12-17
§ Luke 15:1-32
Today’s readings
speak of the enduring mercy of God, our Father, who finds his children when
they are lost. This is exemplified with the stories of Israel and Moses, Paul,
the lost sheep, coin and the prodigal son.
Moses was sent by
God in the Book of Exodus to approach Pharaoh so that he would let Israel,
God’s children go. However difficult this mission would turn out to be, Moses
successfully, patiently led Israel through the sea, and the wilderness to the
foot of Mount Sinai. It was here, on the mountain, that Moses received the law,
the commandments, and a covenant was established between God and Israel. A
covenant of God's love and mercy- God's presence no matter what!
But before Moses
could come down from the mountain the Israelite were once again lost to sin of
apostasy, idolatry and worship of golden calf. God contemplated of punishing
them except for the intercessory role of Moses “why O Lord, should your wrath
blaze against your our own people whom you brought out of Egypt.” With
this God relented when Israel atoned for their sins followed by the renewal or
the rediscovery of the tablets, their relationship with God (Exod 34).
Same could be said
of Paul in today’s second reading (1 Tim 1:12-17), whose past anti-Christian
attitude we are familiar with. In Acts of the Apostles 26:9-11 Saint Paul, then
Saul was lost in his persecution of the Christian communities until his
conversion by intervention of divine mercy, manifested in the redeeming person
of our Lord Jesus.
In gratitude to
God’s mercy, Paul writes to Timothy, his missionary companion, “I am grateful
to him who has strengthened me, Christ Jesus our Lord because he considers me
trustworthy in appointing me to the ministry. I was once a blasphemer and a
persecutor and arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated, because I acted
out of ignorance in my unbelief.”
Some of us get
lost in our sins, our selfishness not because of our own faults, but because of
one factor or the other. It could be our environment. It could be the type of
company we keep. It could be the type of books we read. It could also be the
type of movies we watch. It could be ambition or the wrong choices we make in
life. Even political ideologies can make us lose track of the universal mercy
of God.
But in the tender
eyes and love of God there is always room to make- up, for a rediscovery, for
atonement for a renewal. And this is again demonstrated in the three parables
of today’s Gospel: the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin
and the parable of the lost son. In all these “losses” there is this image of
merciful, concerned, caring owner who left everything to search for the lost
item. At discovery they are all very happy and joyful.
For example, in
the case of the Good Shepherd he left 99 other sheep to search for the only
lost one sheep. The woman also left 9 coins to search for just a single coin.
While the father’s joyous, celebrative response to the remorse and return of
the prodigal son also shows that, though he had a lot including, animals,
servants, another son, and perhaps children, he rather had invested so much
thinking, emotions and prayers wishing his lost son returns. He says, to the
angry first son, “My son, you are here with me always, everything I have is
yours. 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.”
In fact, the
many times we have gotten lost, our merciful God is the one who finds us.
But although our God is a merciful God, who cares for each and every one of us,
the poor, the one lost sheep, the one lost coin, the lost son, gratitude
to God as in the case of Paul is demanded of us, especially when God intervenes
in our lives, when he finds us.
This last summer (Few
Summers ago) I was in Portugal with a group of pilgrims. I presided over Mass
at the Church of Saint Anthony of Padua. It was interesting to notice how the
pilgrims were conscious that Saint Anthony of is reputed as the patron saint of
lost items. During the intercessory prayer, taken spontaneously there was a
popular refrain, “Anthony Find us.” Clearly this also would highlight the fact
that it is very easy for us to get lost in our anger, in our selfishness,
inordinate ambition, materialism, appetite for violence, terrorism, war and
sterility of the sense of the sacred.
But
when God finds us we want to celebrate his love, his mercy, his everlasting
covenant, his presence, his compassion and his redemption. And this is what we
do each time we gather to celebrate the Holy Eucharist, which of course, is the
sacrament of redemption, a sacrament of divine mercy and of God's
everlasting presence among us.
Reflection
Questions
1.
What have we learned from the scripture passages of
today?
2.
Do we realize that the Lord, a good father, searches for
us when we get lost?
3.
How often do search for one another or be our brothers
and sister’ keepers?
4.
Do we sometime act like the first son?
