Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Year C

Readings: Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14; 1Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-32

Seek the company of Jesus to hear Him

The liturgy of this Sunday invites us to look at the mercy of God and experience God’s abundant generosity towards each one of us. The parables in today’s Gospel speak about how God reaches out to all who were lost. God goes to the extent of leaving the ninety nine righteous so that the lost ‘one’ could be found and brought back into one fold. God does not want anyone to be lost for each one of us are created in the image and likeness of God.

Let us look at the context of these parables:

There were many people who wanted to follow Jesus and many of these had bad reputation in the society. The tax collectors and the so called sinners were despised by the ‘righteous’ of the society. They were not allowed to have the table fellowship with them. They were, in a way, the untouchables of the society and their company would defile the puritans. When Jesus begins to associate with them, and more-over, has table fellowship with them, the puritans felt challenged. How come Jesus, a teacher, do this? How can he associate with the sinners? He is supposed to keep the laws of purity and should not even go to them. But Jesus is not someone who is bound by the laws of purity, for he has come not to call righteous, but sinners (Luke 5:32). He has come to bring home the lost. He has come to show all human beings how abundant God’s mercy is. So he can afford to go after the lost one, he can embrace and welcome the lost son and rejoice with the woman who found the lost coin.

We too, dear friends, can be assured of this God of mercy, who is not sitting with a log book counting our faults, rather goes out in search of us. God is not just satisfied with the righteous, who are already in the grace of God, like the elder son, but wants all the lost ones to return. And when they do find their way home with God, the welcome party is lavish and extravagant for the generosity of God is boundless.

Let us then begin to experience this generosity of God in our lives and begin to share this experience with others. God welcomes all, so let us in-turn begin to welcome all. God reaches out to all, so let us reach out to all. God shows mercy to all and let us begin to show mercy to all so that we become the living embodiment of God’s generosity to everyone we meet. Let our witness be through our actions, and not just through our words.

Amen.