15 September 2013 - heart of mercy

15 September 2013 - heart of mercy

They have soon turned aside from the way I pointed out to them,
making for themselves a molten calf and worshiping it,
sacrificing to it and crying out,
‘This is your God, O Israel,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt!’

How far out of Egypt can we get before we turn to idols?  The LORD delivers us miraculously from bondage and yet we turn aside.  The idols of empty entertainments and pleasures come first.  Eventually we're attributing even the supernatural salvation God gives us to a result of serving these idols.  We mistake the joy of our salvation for just one more earthly pleasure.  Doing so, we begin to seek pleasure all the more.  This is the sort of attitude that can reason, 'Mass just isn't entertaining enough.'  That is not to say it shouldn't be joyful.  But confusing joy and entertainment can be a serious problem.

Fortunately, God is all about mercy.  He often raises up leaders who have to depend on it themselves.

I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant,
but I have been mercifully treated
because I acted out of ignorance in my unbelief. 

Seeing their example we too can come to trust in the mercy of God.

Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example
for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life. 

The leaders of his people must understand this mercy.  They must have hearts that plead, not for what the people deserve, but for what God wants to bestow upon them in his love.  As with Abraham pleading for Sodom, in today's first reading we see Moses pleading for his people.

But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,
“Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,

God is teaching his leaders to have a heart like his heart.  He longs for his people to cry out:

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.

This is because he is the one who searches for the lost sheep

And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy

He is the one who sweeps the house for the lost coin

And when she does find it,
she calls together her friends and neighbors
and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’

And above all, he is the father longest for the return of his son

While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him,
and was filled with compassion. 
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. 

God's heart really isn't in wrath and anger.  He manifests these at times so that he can move us toward mercy.  He isn't some despotic king that we can only just keep satisfied.  He is a father who loves us can't tolerate the distance that sin keeps between us.

Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.’

We know the feast of the Son who was dead and is now risen.  Let us enter in to this feast with full joy, calling to all the lost sheep to join us.