XXIV SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME - Luke 15:1-32
In the first reading, taken from the book of Exodus 32:7-11,13-14, we are told about God’s reaction to the apostasy of the People of Israel. To be like the other nations, they wanted a god that looked like them, made in their own image; one that they could control and that would allow their human vices. The golden calf was the image of a god made by their own hands. By that, they rejected the living God who had called them to enter into a relationship of love with him. They broke the covenant and proved to be unfaithful to the God who had set them free. Before such betrayal, God became very angry and, in his wrath, He wanted to annihilate the people of Israel, who did not deserve His friendship and love. Then, “Moses pleaded with the Lord his God.” and, through his intercession, God “relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”
In the gospel, we hear the story of a father with two children. The younger one, who stands for most of us, turned his back on the father. We are no different from the people of Israel. To God’s love, we respond with unfaithfulness and disdain. However, in the father, Jesus presents a merciful God who cannot forget us, being always ready to accept us back. In the end, the elder son, who seemed to be faithful, turned out to be full of himself, leaving no space for God and the others. All of us are sinners who turn our backs on God or have no place for him in our lives. All of us need intercessors who plead for us before God. Moses, like Abraham before him, is a model of intercessor. He prayed earnestly for his people. We must do the same, praying for humanity: May God be merciful to us. And we should never forget that Jesus is the great intercessor. Jesus is the one who reconciles us with the Father, opening the gates of heaven for us and inviting us to sit at God’s table in his kingdom. For that, we must do like the younger son who recognised his sin and foolishness and went back to ask for forgiveness.
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