Have You Truly Found Jesus?


Homily 09 15 2013
24th Sunday OT - C

View the Readings for this day

There's an old, old story that I think is still funny. The phone rings and a little boy answers in a whisper:

"Hello?"
The caller says: "Hi, is your Mommy there?
"Yes!"
"Can I talk to her?"
"No!"
"Why not?"
"She's busy."
"What about your Daddy, can I talk to him?"
"No! He's busy."
"Well, is there anyone else there?"
"My little sister."
"Is there anyone else there? Another adult?"
"Uh, huh. The police."
"Can I talk to one of them?"
"No, they're busy."
"Is there anyone else there?"
"Yes, the firemen."
"Can I talk to one of them?"
"No, they're busy, too."
Caller: "Good heavens, your whole family's busy, the police and fire departments are there and they're busy! What's everybody doing?"
The little boy giggled and whispered: "They're looking for me."

Today's passage of Scripture is about searching and finding. And that's an old story that illustrates the frantic nature of people who have lost something and are in search of it.

In today's second reading the author of l Timothy shares the experience of Paul who recognized that he had wandered from the truth and rejoiced in having been found by God.

He had known what it was to be LOST and had allowed himself to be taken hostage by his legalism. Paul realized that his own turning to Christ would become both the voice that would call others to forgiveness and the vehicle of reconciliation.

This letter had been written to an evolving Church and met the crisis of their community.

Paul's own call to ministry had been given to him en route to Damascus in his famous conversion, and from that point onward his conversion made all the difference.

Like John Newton the 18th Century composer of Amazing Grace, Paul would declare his past openly. "I once was lost." I once was a blasphemer, a persecutor, one filled with arrogance and he always was humble to admit God's amazing grace of transformation.

Today's reading ends with an eruption of praise before the mystery of God's divine Goodness.

Gathering today we consider the parables of Jesus about lost sheep and lost coins, and a prodigal son, and the joy of Jesus welcoming each of us with our histories.

Undoubtedly some who heard Jesus' parables judged them to be impractical if not improbable, yet Jesus always attempted to share God's love.

The Gospel is woven through with the assurance that all of heaven rejoices as the shepherd and woman celebrated when they found what was lost. Each of the stories makes a fundamental point that God is seeking each of us out individually.

We can all legitimately ask ourselves: "What are the times when we are lost...and in the greatest danger of remaining...lost because we don't even realize we are lost?"

Have you noticed that nobody celebrates alone in these parables? Friends and neighbors, family and angels gather to share the joy. We gather in community just because of this. Joy is multiplied when we realize that God is searching for the lost part in each of us.

Today, we gather as a community of sought out and pursued sinners; today, the readings celebrate God's special overtures to the sinner in each of us. We are invited to seek and pursue God in Jesus.

Both Luke and the author of Timothy invite us to holiness: Luke's concept is simple: if you are a sinner, let yourself be found, or let yourself be found in any case.

The author of Timothy's message is also simple: "the grace of the Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus."

If we let ourselves be found, holiness will be ours.

The Gospel today doesn't celebrate the flock all gathered or all coins that are together It speaks about the deep effects of sin, the self-destruction of hatred and the infinite mercy of God.

This is a story of love, of conflict, of deep heartbreak, and of ecstatic joy. In Exodus we have reference to the golden calf, the idolatry of the first flock, with things getting out of hand which proves that just because you are in a group of people gathered to worship God, doesn't mean you dance the same dance.

It's good for us to be gathered rather than to isolate ourselves. We gather here because of Jesus, to be renewed so we can follow him out of here.

Jesus cares also about those who are not here, who are absent, and for those parts of us that are lost.

A contemporary novelist, Joyce Carol Oates wrote: "It's the generous gesture that leaves me disoriented and at a loss for words," as she describes a traumatic event that happened to her as a child.

I will end with those words, disturbing as they are, and let you make connections. A people about to share the Eucharist is not a people without hurt, yet we must grow as a people aware of our vulnerability and God's desire for us to grow in community and God's desire for each of us to be found.

jjl

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