Homily Twenty-siixth Sunday Year A God's expectations
Homily for the Twenty-sixth Sunday Year A
Reading 1. This reading is a follow-up to last Sunday’s
first reading. Last Sunday we heard, “My thoughts are not your thoughts; my
plans are not your plans.” Today, Ezekiel expresses our response and God’s
words to us. From the human perspective, God’s ways seem unfair, because we
judge from a self-focus, subjective viewpoint.
God, through Ezekiel, shows the truth of God’s ways.
If a virtuous man commits sin and dies unrepentant, he shall surely die away from
God. On the other hand, if a wicked person repents and turns back to the Lord
and dies, he shall live with the Lord. From a human perspective, this seems
unfair. But not from God’s. The focus is not the fairness but the mercy of God.
The presumption is that the first person remained in
sin, in spite of the grace of mercy calling him to repentance. He died in his
sin and remained in that state eternally. The second person received the grace
of repentance, acted on it and died in that grace. That is his state for
eternally.
The nature of sin deserves punishment. That is justice
and rightness. But the gift and grace of God is mercy for those who truly
repent. We cannot begin to comprehend the reality of sin in relationship to
God. Nor can we comprehend the reality of mercy in the face of our sinfulness.
If God would render strict justice, there is no hope for any of us. Without his
loving mercy his justice would be everlasting damnation and alienation.
Reading 2. To begin to glimpse into the mercy of God—the
overwhelming love of God for us--, all we have to do is reflect on the
incarnation, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the God-Man. If God would
have just became man, that would have been more than enough to show his love
and mercy for us, sinners. But he chose to embrace death on the cross, the cruelest
punishment for wrongdoing, even though he had not done any wrong. He took upon himself our sins out of love
for us. He gave his life for our life.
In this reading, Paul tells us to have the same
attitude. What does that mean? Do
nothing out of selfishness or vainglory, but humble yourself, thinking of other’s
needs before our own. Sin centers around one’s desires, pleasures and wants; love seeks
the needs of others first.
Gospel. Jesus
gives us two basic words which lead to eternal life or eternal death: yes and
no. He shows that it is not merely
saying the words which count but living them. The parable of the two brothers
focuses on the reality of repenting and turning away from what was wrong and
doing what is right, what is the will of God. Jesus identified that the great
sin was not the first no or the lie, but the insincere yes with no intention of
doing what is right. Applying it to those around him, Jesus indicates that the
greater sin was to see others repenting and returning to the Lord but still,
because of the hardness of one’s heart or the false self-righteousness,
remaining in sin.
The most important moments of our life are when we
come into a personal, intentional relationship with God through his grace and
when we die in relationship to God through his grace. All we do in between is
to ensure that we respond to that last moment of grace, to die in relationship. Even if we sin in between as horrible as that
is, if we return to the Lord and die in his love, those are not remembered.
God’s mercy is a given because of who God is, not
because we have a right to his mercy. But when a person does not respond to
this gift of mercy but chooses instead to remain in sin with some false
expectation that God’s mercy will be there when and if the person becomes read
to change, is really an affront to the mercy of God. How long can we live in sin, while externally
trying to maintain a relationship with God? God is looking for the sincere
heart not the foolish heart that is not willing to turn away from sin but wants
the blessings of God anyway.
Where are we saying “yes” to God but not meaning it
which in reality is saying “no”? Where are saying “no”, but on hearing his
word, we experience the grace to repent, changing our “no” to “yes”.
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