Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Times – Cycle A
Reflecting on Matthew 21:28-32
Remember your mercies, Oh Lord
Wedding rehearsals are always filled with nervous questions: What if I trip on my veil? What if I forget my vows? What if the photographer is late?
There is an antidote to all that anxiety: make a mistake right off the bat and then enjoy the rest of the wedding. Yes! The flower girl had to be dragged down the aisle kicking and screaming! Whew. Now that the pressure for perfection is blown we can all relax.
At some point in our lives we finally see what everyone else has always known about us: we make mistakes. It’s easy to be distracted from our own faults by observing the huge flaws of all of our friends, and when we run out of excuses watching them we can always turn to movie stars, international banking corporations and all those crooks in Washington. Finally, we can depend on terrorists, serial killers and drug cartels to delay that inevitable, shocking moment of truth: we too have disappointed people and failed to love. We too have promised to go into the vineyard, but never actually gone.
And it’s in that moment of discovery of our own sin that grace begins to settle in. How great is the forgiveness others have offered to us more times than we knew! Remember your mercies, oh Lord, and start with us. Because we suddenly see how gracious you have been in overlooking and forgiving and lifting us up, over and over again.
And so, our cover blown, we can relax into God’s love, with the tax collectors and prostitutes who are speeding into the kingdom, full of sin, full of grace.
Are there people in your life with whom you can be totally yourself and still know that your are loved?
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I have come to light a fire on the earth; how I wish it were already burning (Lk.12:49).