You are Precious to God

Sept. 11^th, '16 Sunday homily- Fr.Francis Chirackal CMI

Ex 32:7-11, 13-14; 1Tim 1:12-17; Lk 15:1-32

Is there anybody here who never had the experience of searching for something, which somehow you misplaced or lost? Lost and found boxes are found at many public places. Usually, we see something left in that box. Some things will be left there as its permanent occupant, while other things will be collected by the owner at the earliest opportunity. We may remember the emotions and worries we felt when we searched for our lost keys, wallet, or purse with our credit cards, important information or materials, pets or even our own children. When we lose something, our eagerness and interest to search for it and get it back, depend upon the value we give it. In today’s gospel, with three parables, Jesus tells us that we are worthy and of great importance, that Jesus loves and cares for us, more than everything else.

The first reading from the book of Exodus, tells how the intercession of Moses saved the Israelites from the wrath of God for their ungrateful act. God was moved to mercy by the prayer of one faithful member of an ungrateful race. St. Paul, in the second reading presenting his own example, says that there is no sinner so wicked who can't be forgiven and will be forgiven if he listens to the call of Christ. Jesus through three parables tells us that God loves everyone of us, and are so precious, that He comes after us whenever we turn away from him and He feels so joyful when we turn to God.

Jesus was speaking to a crowd. He tells them that if a man in the crowd had lost one of his sheep, he would go and look for it; or if a woman had lost a coin, she would go and look for it. Her one of the ten coins was so precious to her. So she’ll naturally look for it, carefully sweeping the dust and dirt on the ground until she finds it. Likewise, the sheep is precious to the man. So he’ll go and look for it. God comes in search of us because we are precious and we are more than just flesh, blood, and bones. We are children of God. We have a soul, with eternal nature and we have a loving heavenly Father who is merciful and concerned of our wellbeing and salvation. Jesus is saying if we would make a point of looking for something lost that is precious to us - then how much more will the God himself, search for his lost ones, precious to him? As Jesus says in Luke 19:10, ‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’ For Pharisees, many were sinners, while for Jesus they were the lost ones.

Looking at our own life, we may be able to find situations where we felt lost, we felt we lost the love, we lost the care, we lost the protection we were in need of, we lost the success we deserved, we lost the safety and security we required, we suffered untimely lose of wealth, health or strength, we lost the company we enjoyed or longed for, we lost the opportunity which will not return, we lost the grace we once had. But in today’s gospel, Jesus, tells us that our every lost condition was noticed by the mighty One, and He is happy when He finds us returned or recovered. We have a God who is capable of enabling us to regain everything we lost.  God cares about each one of us and doesn’t want any of us to be lost. Sometimes we get lost because we thoughtlessly wander off in the wrong direction, moving further and further away from our shepherd. Little by little, like a lamb looking for juicy clumps of grass, we suddenly wonder how we got lost.

Looking at these three stories, we are able to understand that if we become lost because of our ignorance, innocence or due to no fault of ourselves, God will come to our rescue. But if we become lost as the prodigal son did, by our own deliberate will, freedom and decision, God is not going to find us unless ‘we come to our senses’. But, He will be waiting for our return with great love and mercy.

We earn our reward by making use of our freely given grace to grow in Spirit and the same way we earn our punishment by moving away from God’s grace. Let us make effort to remain in grace and grow in the Spirit, and experience the love and mercy of our Heavenly Father, here on earth and in the life after. God bless you.