Thought of the Day February 18, 2019 Jesus plunged into our misery
Jesus does
not deny that sin and sinners exist; he does not justify Zacchaeus’ frauds or
the deed of the woman caught in adultery or Peter’s triple denial or the
repentant thief. He recognized the
sickness that sin brings about, a sickness that distorts the true image of the
person. Amidst
the internal misery, he saw the imprinted image and likeness of God within. His mercy is greater than their misery.
His mercy can transform their misery into beauty once again.
Jesus
justifies his behavior toward sinners saying that this is how the heavenly
Father acts. He reminds his adversaries of God’s word to the prophets: “It is
mercy that I want and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13).
This is the
theme of the parables of mercy we read in Luke 15: The lost sheep, the lost
coin and the prodigal son. The strayed sheep is vulnerable to its predators,
will die without food and drink. It
cannot take care of itself. The coin is precious to the woman, who diligently
searches for it. The prodigal son’s life ends up in dire straits so much so
that he can’t even eat the food of pigs, because he is worse than them in his
own eyes. As the Shepherd goes after the lost sheep out of love and mercy, as
the woman searches until she finds the lost coin and as the Father welcomes
back the lost son, so Jesus says my Father will show each of you mercy.
Someone has said: “An act of mercy is really to enter into somebody’s chaos,
into all the attendant issues that they have to work with and live with,”
This is what Jesus did when he became man. He plunged into our life of misery so that we can plunge into his eternal mercy. (To be continued)
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