24th Sunday

24th Sunday Ordinary
September 12, 2004
"So the LORD relented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people." (Exodus 32:7-14) 'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice... your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'" (Luke 15:1-32)
This Sunday it is hard to avoid the spirituality of losing and finding. God's favorite people seem hopelessly lost and alienated from him, but Moses pleads successfully with the Most High to relent from his threat to punish them for wandering away from his love and care. This well-known story of losing our way focuses on Moses' intervention on behalf of his people and portrays the Most High as angry and vengeful. In many other places in the Hebrew and Christian Testaments the Most High is also portrayed as a gentle, solicitous parent who wants the best for us, even when we act foolishly.
We are at times, like our spiritual ancestors in the desert reveling in the forbidden, destroying ourselves, and taking more from the earth than we give back, not even aware that we are lost. This could be the most frightening prospect of all: not listening or discerning the signs, and courting disaster in our personal and corporate lives. Perhaps at these times God may also "panic" at the possibility of losing us?
Jesus tells stories of the lost being found, a shepherd leaving the rest of his flock to go after one lost sheep, a woman looking for her lost savings, a parent welcoming back a lost son. The third of these stories ("the prodigal son") makes it clear that Jesus wanted us to understand that it applies ultimately to restoring us to the fullest life (symbolized by the banquet for the returning son). The father is the same Father God with whom Moses pleaded, welcoming us back. Even the older son, sulking childishly with anger and envy, is gently reminded of his father's persistent love. This is really a story of lost children trying to find their way back to integrity, hope, and the Holy One, our source of life.
A close friend and I reflected this week on the feelings of panic which accompany losing something of great value. It seems that life from the beginning (and by necessity?) presents us with abundant opportunities for losing and being lost. Many of us have felt that panic over relatively small things: losing keys or a wallet. We have identified with parents of missing children, in a panic over the possibility of losing what is most precious in our lives. Anxiety seems built into our human experience. Is the root of this anxiety the fear of permanently losing our connection with God, the source, center and goal of our lives? If so, we would do well to remember the words of the father to his child, "you are here with me always". In truth the Holy One is always there, never gives up on us.