Isaiah 52: 7-10 + Hebrews 1: 1-6 + John 1: 1-18
Given at Holy Spirit Catholic
Church, Mustang, Oklahoma
Mercy is different
than forgiveness. Mercy grants new life. To forgive another person means I am not
going to hold this against you. Forgiveness means choosing not to be filled
with resentment and bitterness for the rest of my life because of something
done unto me— I
am going to let it go, into the hands of God. Forgiveness is more for the sake
of the one forgiving than the one being forgiven—it is medicine which we drink
to heal our hurting heart.
Mercy is something
much, much more. Mercy grants new life where it is undeserved. Mercy brings new
life where it is not merited.
The chosen people of
Israel are sustained by the mercy of God. The people of Israel are gifted with
the Promised Land even though they grumbled and did not trust God in the
desert. The Chosen People of Israel about 500 years later are held captive in
Babylon. God forgives them for their transgressions which led to their
captivity, but also gives them new life by His mercy. The prophet Isaiah proclaims
the wonders of God’s merciful love!
God makes a way
where there was no way for them to return home, even using the pagan Persian King
Cyrus in his plan. God brings about new life from death by His merciful love, restoring
Zion, raising up a new Jerusalem from the ruins of the old.
In the time before
the birth of Jesus, God spoke in partial and various ways through the prophets
about his saving, merciful love. But now that Word of Mercy takes human flesh
in Jesus, born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
The divine, Eternal
Word, in and through whom all things are made, who existed before time---it is
the 2nd person the Divine Trinity who out of merciful love takes our
flesh. The Eternal Word pitches his tent with humankind in order that we might
be able to clearly hear God’s word of merciful love spoken for all eternity. In
Jesus, the Word made flesh, we hear God’s song of love for us, and by Jesus’
life, death, and resurrection, we hear a life-giving, saving word, and that is
MERCY!!!
The Son of God seeks
out sinners, because they need the healing balm of his merciful love. The
self-righteous, those who think they have it all together, who are
self-sufficient and won’t admit their weaknesses and frailties, close
themselves off to the mercy of God in Jesus. Those who are strict adherents to
the Law and are constantly judging others who they deem not worthy—these
self-righteous ones the Son of God seeks out as well, but they are not open to
the great gift of his mercy, because they are unwilling to share it. Jesus is
clear in his teaching and in his life: You can only receive it if you are
willing to give it away.
The Son of God,
through whom the entire universe is made, is born to die for us. This is what
mercy looks like—a
just person laying down their life to save others who are not worthy of such a
gift.
This is the saving mercy
of which Pope Francis preaches and lives--
God’s merciful love
for the sinner. Pope Francis challenges us to share this merciful love of God
by reaching out beyond the safe confines of our church buildings to those who
are lost, who are broken-hearted, who despair, who are poor, who hunger for the
great gift of God’s merciful love.
The setting for the
French novel turned musical, Les Miserables, is in the early 19th
century in France. The novel opens with the main character, Jean ValJean, completing
his 19 year sentence on a chain gang for stealing bread so that his sister’s
children could eat. Jean ValJean is granted freedom, but then finds himself
starving because no one will hire him to work because of his criminal record. Then
a bishop welcomes Jean ValJean into his home, feeding him and giving him a
place to stay the night. In the middle of the night, Jean ValJean steals the
Bishop’s silver, so he can sell it and have some money. However, he is quickly
nabbed by the police, who drag him in front of the bishop, and ask the bishop
if the silver is his. The bishop surprises the police and Jean ValJean by
stating that he had given his silver to Jean Valjean as a gift. Then the bishop
hands over to Jean ValJean the beautiful silver candlesticks, saying,
“Here. You forgot these.” When the
police leave, the bishop tells Jean ValJean, “I have purchased your life for
God.”
The bishop grants
Jean ValJean new life by such a merciful act, and Jean ValJean vows that he
will be the same instrument of mercy to others. The rest of the story reveals
how he becomes that instrument of mercy, raising an orphaned child and saving
this child’s future husband from certain death. This is how the marvelous word of
God’s merciful love takes our flesh.
Or there is a
married couple who I know who tried and tried and tried to have children, but
to no avail. My friends could have chosen to be angry at God and at life in
general, or they could have chosen to “forgive” God and move on with their
lives. Instead they became instruments of the Eternal Word’s saving, merciful
love by choosing to adopt
three children. Those three children have grown up into beautiful young people
because of the merciful love of their adopted parents. This is one way how
God speaks his word of mercy today and gives new life.
Or there are the photojournalists
who have given their lives to bring to light the atrocities of warfare and
terror in the Middle East. One of these brave souls was held hostage and then
released. He could have simply forgiven his hostage-takers, left the dangerous
situation in the Middle East, and come home to safety. Instead he chose to keep
bringing to light the injustices there, until he gave his life, beheaded in a
terrible act of brutality. This is what mercy looks like—a
life given away as complete gift in love of others.
Around this holy
table on this joyful day, we celebrate the Sacrifice of merciful love that
gives means to all of our sacrifices of merciful love.
We receive Him who
is Mercy enfleshed in His Sacred Body and Blood.
We cry out for Mercy
Himself before we come forward for Holy Communion. Lamb of God, you take away
the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Even to the last little prayer we say
before allowing the Son of God to come and dwell within us: “Lord, I am not worthy to enter under my
roof, but only say the word and my soul shall be healed.” What
is the word that the Lord Jesus says?
MERCY!
The mercy that flows
out of our Savior into the lives of we believers is a great gift. By it, we
carry him, the Merciful One, into a world that desperately needs such a gift. He
is born in us and through us by our words and deeds of mercy. Transforming a
world of violence into peace, a world of retribution into justice, and stops
the terrible force of hatred with self-giving love.
So that all the ends
of the earth may see the saving power of God at work in and through God’s
people.
Fr. Joseph A. Jacobi
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.