Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time C
On this same weekend the last two years, I’ve taken part in
the Adirondack Canoe Classic, a 90-mile race on the water through the heart of
the Adirondacks. For various
reasons, my paddling partner and I chose not to sign up this year. As soon as the roster of competitors
came out, folks noticed that the “Paddling Padres” weren’t on the list. I received an email from Tom and
Theresa—he was on her crew these last two years while she paddled with
others—saying that they were disappointed they wouldn’t see us in the
race. When I offered Mass on
Saturday evening in the campground, they were at the heart of my tiny impromptu
congregation. But there was a
change in their plans, too. Tom wrote
in an email:
Here’s a little more
about this year’s race. My wife
has paddled twice, both in a three-person canoe with young, strong
paddlers. This year she was
without a partner but very set on doing the race. So I have volunteered to do it with her…. Why would I do such a thing? Because out 50th wedding
anniversary is 9/10/16! And that’s
the present she wanted most.
I can say from firsthand experience: paddling a canoe for 90
miles over three days is a pretty crazy thing to do! But love makes you do crazy things. And so I was very happy to head off to
the campground last evening, to offer Mass for Tom and Theresa and their crew,
and to give these two rather tired and sore paddlers a special blessing on
their anniversary.
This Sunday, we get a three-for-one special in the parables
of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. By the very names we give to these stories, you can tell
which characters hold our attention.
But I’m not sure there was much need for Jesus to tell tales that would
help us understand the experience of being lost and in need of rescue. We know all-too-well what it’s like to
get off track, to lose our way, and to end up far from home.
Instead, I think that the figures Jesus actually wants to catch
our eye are the shepherd of the flock, the woman sweeping her house, and the
father waiting for his son’s return.
And they all do some pretty crazy things, right? The shepherd leaves 99 sheep
unprotected to go off and save a single stray. That wasn’t exactly a prudent move. Most of us would prefer to cut our
losses. The woman, after finding a
small coin—think a penny or a nickel—invites her friends and neighbors over for
a party. Won’t she end up spending
rather more money than she recovered?
Protecting our possessions or wealth will move us to action sometimes,
but only so far. And the same is
true of our pride. It’s wounded
pride that causes the older son to make a stink after his brother’s return, but
if anybody should be upset, it’s the father. His younger boy has brought incredible shame on the entire
family. And yet, instead of facing
a locked door or a lecture, the prodigal son is welcomed back with open arms.
More than anything else can, love makes you do some crazy
things.
While we can clearly see ourselves in the lost sheep, the
lost coin, and the lost son, it’s in the good shepherd, in the diligent woman,
and in the merciful father that Jesus wants us to see God. And no one is more crazy-in-love with
you than God! That’s the very heart
of the Gospel—not just these three stories, but the entire message announced by
Jesus Christ: that God so loved the world that he’d go to the extreme, sending
his Son from heaven to earth, taking on human flesh, living among us, dying on
a Cross, and rising from the dead, so as to save us from our sins and gain for
us eternal life. He’s already
proved it: there’s nothing God wouldn’t do out of love for you!
Love can make you do some pretty crazy things.
And no one is more madly in love with you than God.
And no one is more madly in love with you than God.
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