God's Mercy for Sinners

Homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

This Sunday’s readings give the lie to that cherished bookkeeping analogy for the life of grace which we all find so hard to abandon. Through the Prophet Ezekiel, God tells the people of Israel that their attitudes toward God are unprincipled because God so readily forgives the repentant sinner but does not turn a blind eye to the misdeeds of those whose established righteousness is well-documented. As they imitate little children who cry out, “It isn’t fair,” when Ezekiel delivers God’s message, we can almost see such people stamping their feet and wailing at God’s perceived injustice. God is constant, not vindictive; it is in the nature of human freedom that sin destroys and conversion saves.

Matthew’s parable fits into so many other stories from the Scriptures that begin with the words, “A man had two sons…” – we remember Cain and Abel, Isaac and Ishmael, Esau and Jacob, and the younger and older brothers from the Gospel of St. Luke. Jesus invites comment on his parable from the chief priests and the elders. As has happened so many times before, they walk right into the trap, praising the young man who refuses to do his father’s bidding but relents and obeys the father’s directions. Jesus then reminds them of their criticism of him for eating and socializing with sinners, especially the hated tax collectors and the scorned prostitutes. God is never fooled. God sees right through the massive edifice of human respectability, righteousness and merit-banking, and looks at the outcome of it all. That is why Jesus seems to have had such an easy relationship with the disreputable. That is why in him such discouraged and abandoned people found hope and affirmation. Conversion is always possible to those who know they are astray.

It is small wonder that St. Paul writes, even to the Philippians whom we see as a rather model Christian community, that they should leave no room for rivalry or personal vanity. The life of grace is not a banking account, and it is not competition. Out of the consolation of life in Christ, life should overflow in gratitude with love and concern for the salvation of others; for the salvation of others costs us nothing. Therefore, there is no need to keep an account of our relative standing in the sight of God. It is meaningless.

St. Paul quotes an ancient Christian hymn about the humility and exaltation of Jesus. We usually read this text about Jesus being in the image of God and emptying himself, taking it as referring to his stripping off his divinity and accepting humanity (which is a valid interpretation). However, perhaps that is not what Paul had in mind. Perhaps Paul thought of Adam, made in the image of God, but who asserted his excellence and freedom in independence, and then of Jesus in the image of God accepting total dependence, not ashamed or afraid to be identified with sinners and criminals as he hung on the cross, not asserting his own righteousness.

Perhaps that is why Paul quotes this hymn in the midst of his exhortation to the Philippians. Perhaps that is why the Church wants us to reflect on this hymn in the context of Ezekiel’s warning and of the story of the two sons. No matter how we read this beautiful hymn from ancient liturgies, the message is clear. Jesus gave everything for the salvation of sinners and made the ultimate sacrifice so that salvation was available to all who turn away from sin and embrace the love of God and neighbor. His deed is the reason for our salvation. Our deeds do not save us; they only speak of our faith in Jesus as our Savior. Jesus has paid the debt for our sins, and like the Good Shepherd that he is, is ready to embrace any of his lost sheep.