Foolish mercy

We attempt to increase our comprehension of the mercy of God through the texts today from the Roman Catholic Lectionary. The Book of Exodus tells of Moses receiving both the Commandments and the news from God that the Israelites who had been led by the strong arm and mighty hand of God from slavery in Egypt were now making an idol of a golden calf to worship. Friar Jude Winkler points to the cheeky natural conversational relationship of the interaction (prayer) of Moses with God. This Chutzpah of Moses offers us a glimpse that we need to be in struggle and contradiction with the Divine if only due to the great difference between Creator and creature. Our motivation for action requires self reflection. Moses stands before God to defend those who persecute him. Our practice of mercy toward those who give grief to our lives could be more like this example. The author of the letter to Timothy recounts the great transformation in the life of Paul as a consequence of the 180 degree turn in the life of the Apostle to the Gentiles as he began to live with the Spirit of his encounter with Jesus. Turn around is very much a need in our lives. The Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is celebrated at this time this year. The believer seeks the restoration of a healthy relationship with God through the acknowledgement of the ways, like the psalmist today, that we have “done evil in your sight”. The standard of mercy which is set by Jesus in the Gospel today from Luke may seem foolish and futile to our rational mind hardened by the ‘real world’. FatherLarry Gillick SJ comments on some scenarios which we might expect to follow the return of the selfish son to the merciful and generous Father (actually the Prodigal) and the reaction of the unforgiving and self righteous sibling to these events. The invitation of Jesus is to live the mercy which is foolish. He asks us seek the lost one when we have ninety-nine already. We search for the missing and we forgive before we are asked. It is not the expected reaction to being hurt by sons who would prefer you were dead. It is the standing up and loving those who do not love you. It may be the encounter for them which will begin a transformation to living in the Spirit.