Our God is Awesome, but Strange

24^th Sunday in O.T. (C); Sept. 15, 2019

Ex 32:7-11,13-14   Ps 51   1 Tim 1:12-17   Lk 15:1-32

Deacon Jim McFadden; SJB

 

         Let’s face it: the God that Jesus reveals does not operate according to the way we go about doing things. We’re given a heads-up in the old Testament from the prophet Isaiah, who, speaking for God, says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are you ways my ways, says the Lord” (Is 55:8). If some ordinary person would think and act the way God does, we’d say “he’s very strange.”

This is born out in chapter 15 of the Gospel of Luke, where God is supposed to be like the shepherd who abandons ninety-nine sheep so that he can save on. ONE! What about the other ninety-nine!?   Or the woman who tears her whole house apart in search of a penny. A PENNY! And, when she finds it, she invites her neighbors to celebrate her good fortune—over a penny! And, the party would cost a lot more than the penny! Then there’s the incredible story of the Prodigal Son, whose Father, despite being disrespected and rejected, welcomes his lost son with joyful open arms.

Brothers and sisters, if any of you act like this, please stand up! We have difficulty in embracing these stories because we’re drenched in the ways of the world and when we look at them, we feel in our gut that God is very impractical and not very real according to the way we think and act. But, here’s the key: Jesus is challenging us to learn how to think and live according to God’s logic.

Let’s look at the Parable of the Prodigal Son to see God’s logic at work, which is one of mercy and not one of calculation and control, with a tit-for-tat transactional way of relating to people. That’s the world that the two sons are operating. The younger man says, “Father give me the share of my inheritance coming to me” (Lk 15:12a). Eventually, this youth would be entitled to a minority share of his father’s wealth. But, his demand was very insulting and, indeed, hurtful, since he’s virtually saying, “why don’t you die and give me my inheritance? Since I can’t wait for you to die, just give it to me now!” What he’s looking for is something that is owed him. This is the secular world of justice, of getting my share of the pie when I want. Notice that this attitude tends to separate and divide. Moreover, it’s not marked by graciousness, forgiveness, or joy.

The young man gets what he wants and goes to a “distant country,” which in the original Greek is chora machra or “the big emptiness.” By trying to grab happiness by acquiring the goods of the world, in this case money, he is no longer in communion with his Father, but is estranged. He is in that’s condition of non-Being, where there is no Life or Love, which is a good description of Hell.

After a life of dissipation, he returns. And, what does the Father do? He doesn’t frown, berate, or punish him. Instead, he runs out to welcome him. And, look he does it: he lifts up his robes, exposes his bare legs, and with the wind blowing through his beard, he’s runs down the hill to embrace his son because “I love you!” I’m going to kill the fattened calf because I’m not going to relate to you according to what you deserve. I’m going to relate to you out of uncalculating mercy and love.

People of God, Jesus is Immanuel: he is God among us and he reveals to us the Father whom he has eternally experienced: God is love! That’s why Jesus is all about mercy. Each one of us has a little of the Prodigal Son within us: there have been times in our life that we have squandered our freedom on false idols, illusions of happiness, and have lost everything. But, God does not forget us. He’s not going to give up on us. Jesus reveals to us a Father who will never abandon us. And, more to it, our Lord invites us to call God Abba or Dad, the one who is always waiting for us. He respects our freedom, which is why he never forces us to love him. Even though we may reject him, he remains faithful to us forever. And, when we do come back to him, he welcomes us like children coming home. And, we do return, his heart rejoices over the one who has come back. The minor prophet Zephaniah drives that point home when he reminds us that “The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a mighty savior; HE WILL REJOICE OVER YOU WITH GLADNESS, and renew you in his love” (Zp 3:17).

Church, we have a choice. We can continue to live according to the law of ‘getting what’s mine’ or we can live according to the Way of Jesus, which is the way of the Cross. The Cross is the judgment of God on us and the whole world. But, how does God judge us? Not by getting even, but by giving his life for us. Jesus’ total act of self-giving love was the supreme act of divine justice which overcame sin, death, and the power of Satan. It’s the supreme act of Divine Mercy. So, Jesus calls us to follow his path: “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Lk 6:36). Amen.