David MacPhee, OMI: Reflection for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

I was thinking this week: how many of us when sitting around with some friends, will whip out the iphone or computer to solve a debate about what person was in a certain movie? In today’s society it seems that we have a world of abundance. New media gives us the impression that we have everything at our finger tips. And this may be the reason why we can quickly skip over the image of God that is being displayed in today’s Gospel.In the first story Jesus asks a peculiar question “which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine and go after the one?”

Today we may be lost in the current notion about animal-rights, but in Jesus’ time the answer to this question would have been a resounding “no”.

Sheep were property and to jeopardize 99 sheep by leaving them alone to find one would have been ridiculous.

Also shepherds in the first century were hired hands and commonly they were some of the most disreputable in society.

Yet Jesus compares God to this shepherd that risks everything for the least important piece of property.

The second story once again displays the abundance of God. What woman having lost ten silver coins wouldn’t tear the house apart to find them?

Fair enough, the coins represented a days worth of work, but would that be worth throwing a party with all your friends?

I realize that after an eight hour shift at a minimum wage job someone may be able to afford a couple of beers at the Royal Oak but we all know it wouldn’t be worth it to have a kegger.

Seems the woman in the story is a little excessive doesn’t it?

But this is how Jesus is referring to God. And of course the last story that we are all familiar with: “The prodigal son.”

Once again we have an abundant image. A son by asking for his inheritance essential is telling his father he would rather him dead.

And what does the father do?

He runs towards him, and even before his youngest son even opens his mouth to ask for forgiveness, he takes him into his house again and throws an enormous party.

And what’s more than that, although it is not written exactly in the scripture, in order to spot his son the father had to watch every day with longing in the direction in which his son left with hope that he would come back.

This is a God that not only forgives when we come to Him, He is a God that longs for us, pining day after day to come to Him, even after we tell Him He would be better off dead.

So what else do these three stories tell us about God?

Aside from the excessive love and acceptance God has for us it also tells us that those we may label as sinners are the ones that are sought after.

The people we might despise or are disgusted by are welcomed, not only in the kingdom of heaven with great rejoicing, but also into the walls of this church here tonight.

Unlike the abundance of new media that can sometimes overwhelm us, God’s love and mercy ends up being infinitely more abundant. Yet for some reason most people spend more time on the internet then they do feeling overwhelmed by God’s love.

But also these stories are an instruction to those that are the Christian faithful.

The instruction is that those like the older son who have always been close to God are obligated to rejoice along with the angels for those that Jesus claims for His’ own.

This is especially true in the second reading when Paul writes “The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners- of whom I am the foremost.”

Could you imagine how hard it was for Peter or any of the other disciples of Jesus to accept Paul into their group?

Paul who previously murdered some of the disciples close friends.

Yet we too who are disciples of Christ are called to accept people that we might think of as sinners.

Over the summer in Vancouver I was some-what shocked to find out the judgmental attitudes of the different organizations that help the poor in the area I was living.

One group would comment that they didn’t like the way another did things.

I couldn’t help but wonder if some of this was jealousy.

Are there parts of us that are jealous when we see people in church that we don’t feel should be there? 

There is a Jewish parable that speaks of a farmer whom God comes to and says “I will grant you three wishes but there is a catch I will give your neighbour twice whatever you wish.”

The man wished for a dozen cattle from God which satisfied the man and his neighbour received two dozen.

The man wished for 5 acres of land for grain his neighbour then receive 10 acres.  Finally the man noticing his neighbour’s success became overcome with jealousy, so he then wished that God would make him blind in one eye, God began to weep.

As we begin this year at school and here at St. Joe’s, can we decide to be the type of Christian community that welcomes the other with hospitality?

A radical hospitality that reaches out to outcast people and the outcast parts of ourselves.

Br. David MacPhee, OMI