Desperate? There is a way out!

 

Back home there is a song about a young bride who lost her mother at a young age. Before her mother died, she gave her a necklace that was passed on from mothers to daughters, many generations before, she knew she needed to take great care of this precious family heirloom. Unfortunately, on the day of her wedding, while busy, she lost it. The song is about her lamenting and waking everyone up so they can help her look for the lost necklace. At some point, she cried out asking even airplanes in the sky to land immediately so everyone can help her find her necklace. Do you know what I identify with in this story? the desperation! Been there, Done that! Losing something special sometimes can put us in a down spiral, it’s not a good place to be. Jesus tells us in our Gospel reading today, that it becomes an experience of passing from desperation to great joy when the lost item finally, is found. When the prodigal son returns home; or when a sinner turns towards the light of Christ. When we are in desperate situations, it is only with the power of God, that we can pass from desperation to joy. Jesus is trying to demonstrate how can this come about.

As Fr Jeff told us last Sunday, all institutions are fallen just as we individuals are, this situation of fallenness is very much a reality in our lives. Where there is sin, surely consequences are not too far. That’s why at times we see so much heartache or chaos all around us. Jesus is facing two groups of people where multitudes had come to him to listen to Him. The first group was made of publicans and sinners: fancy words for tax collectors and gentiles. They were in the margins of society: Israelites didn’t like Tax collectors because they collected taxes for Romans their oppressor. The second group is the Pharisees and Scribes. They got good status! The Bible says that they were grumbling; complaining: “How can Jesus sit and eat with this group of people meaning publicans and sinners? We are encouraged to bring back those far from God, but also, we are to be careful that they may not bring us down in case they encourage us to join them in their evil activities.

Jesus looks at this grumbling and teach them a few parables. My Emphasis: [Hey, I am caring for the lost sheep here, just as much as I care the 99 who are safe]. The situation of the lost sheep is desperate: when you are the lost sheep, You are alone, lost to God, and lost to community, it is a place of darkness where you can’t see where you are going, and you don’t know what’s lurking in the bush ahead trying to devour you; you are wandering without a destination and always frightful at anything that may happen but hasn’t happened. It’s a place of fear and not of faith and hope. This is not a good place to be for anyone. You, on the other hand, you are in the flock, the community around you feed you with faith, hope and love, when bad things happen and you have a booboo on your knee, or you have been attacked by the evil one, the community comes around you and bandage your wound/ antibiotic, and make sure you are protected, but not the lost sheep, its wound may even get infected because in a Godforsaken state, the lost sheep gets scratched more in its desperate hurry to get to safety. Unfortunately, things seem tougher than they look when you feel you are alone.

Guess who has come out of these two groups? St. Matthew the Apostle comes to Jesus as a Tax Collector! He made the leap of faith and followed Jesus. I bet now you will read the Gospel according to Matthew with great interest. He, like many others didn’t know if Jesus would even be interested in them, they didn’t know he would give them the assurance of admission into the Kingdom, they thought this privilege of repenting and being pardoned wasn’t for them.

From the other group came St. Paul the Apostle. He was a Pharisee trained by Rabbi Gamaliel. It doesn’t surprise us to hear Paul saying: “I am grateful to Jesus Christ our Lord who strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy, because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief… Christ came to save sinners of whom I am the worst!” Wow! This is a Pharisee saying I am a sinner, the worst that there is… There was more joy when they both repented and followed Jesus.

Whichever group we may identify with, we are all called to repent and follow Jesus. St Matthew could have stayed and held on to sin, just because it’s more comfortable. Or, St Paul could have remained in his self-righteousness because it meant he was superior to others. You see, the more we get to know God, the more we are acquainted with our lacking/blind spots. God is glorified when we repent! We need the power of God to fully repent!  Choose LIFE, Repent and Follow Jesus!