13th Week OT (F)
Fr. Philip Neri Powell, OP
St Dominic Church, NOLA
Moses was tongue-tied. King David was a murderer and an adulterer.
John the Baptist was smelly locust-eating hobo wandering 'round the
desert. St. Matthew was a tax-collector for the enemy of his people.
Saul hunted down and jailed Christians before the Holy Spirit got
him. Jesus himself named St. Peter “Satan,” and Peter later lied
about even knowing Jesus. . .three
times! St. Moses the
Ethiopian was a murderer and a gang leader. St. Augustine was a
fornicator and a heretic. St. Francis was blowing his daddy's money
on wine and women. St. Patrick worshiped idols and Blessed Giles
worshiped the Devil. St. John of the Cross nearly drank and gambled
his life away.* When Jesus hears the Pharisees criticizing him for
eating with tax collectors and hookers, he says, “Those who are
well do not need a physician, but the sick do. . .I did not come to
call the righteous but sinners.” If the blood of the martyrs waters
the seed of the Church, then the repentance of sinners is the harvest
she reaps. Our Lord sees us exactly as we are, without filter,
without sentiment. . .warts, scars, scabs. . .he sees it all. And he
says to each and every one of us, warty, scabby, and scarred, “Follow
me.”
To
follow him, Jesus says we need to learn the meaning of “I
desire mercy, not sacrifice.”
Our
Lord is paraphrasing the prophet, Hosea, pointing us toward what is
fundamental to our life in the Spirit – if we will to follow the
Father's will for our lives, then we will show mercy and receive
mercy rather than rely on the sketchy effectiveness of sacrifices and
ritual purity to relieve us of the burdens of sin. A life lived in
mercy necessarily grows in holiness. The one who receives mercy is
relieved sin's guilt, and the who shows mercy is relieved of the
burden of seeking restitution for the offense. Everyone is freed from
the stain of sin! And holiness is possible only when we are free. The
animal sacrifices and ritual purity of the Pharisees only temporarily
imputes cleanliness; that is, they can only pretend to be clean and
only for a short time. This means that Pharisaical holiness cannot
grow; it is holiness on a meter with the clock ticking down. When
Jesus quotes Hosea, he turns us toward the First Commandment of Love,
and says, “How you show and receive mercy is how you love one
another.” Shut out the adulterer b/c he is an adulterer, or refuse
to love the thief b/c she is a thief, and the entire Christian
project fails. “Those who are well do not need a physician, but the
sick do. . .I did not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
And
what did he come to call us sinners to? Repentance. He calls us to
turn ourselves around, re-orient ourselves toward righteousness, and
come home to our loving Father. Showing mercy to the sinner in no way
implies approval or acceptance of his/her sin. Receiving mercy as a
sinner in no way implies that my sin is not sin. I
can only show another mercy for a sin; in other words, if there is no
sin, then showing mercy is pointless. And I can only receive mercy
for a sin; in other words, if my sin is unconfessed, then mercy is
pointless. The whole purpose of mercy is to destroy the power of sin
and death over those caught in its grasp. Confession and repentance
are necessary, otherwise sin and death squeeze just that much
tighter. All the saints I mentioned before are saints b/c they all
tired of the oppression of sin and sought their freedom in God's
mercy. They all grew to be saints b/c they practiced mercy. Being
free of sin and death, and living toward eternal life. . .that's why
we were made and re-made in Christ. Our Lord says, “Follow me.”
*Saints Behaving Badly, 2006.
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