Extravagant Love, Extravagant Mercy
by Paulist Fr. Rich Andre
September 18, 2016

25th Sunday of Ordinary Time – Year C 
(Amos 8:4-7; Psalm 113; 1 Timothy 2:1-8; Luke 16:1-13)
18 September 2016 – St. Austin Parish, Austin, TX



The Church must think that we’ve been exercising our spiritual muscles: our Scripture passages today require heavy lifting!

The first two readings are challenging in an election season: in the first, the prophet Amos rails against the leaders of Israel who take advantage of the poor. But the second reading proposes that we should pray for our political leaders and “lead a quiet and tranquil life.” If you want more thoughts about the election, please check out the Paulist Fathers’ Statement on Moral Issues in the 2016 Presidential Election. It’s available online.

Even St. Augustine admitted being baffled by today’s gospel passage. Let me try to explain it before we hear it. A steward is about to lose his job, so he changes the terms of his master’s contracts, so that all the debtors will get a better deal and help the steward after he loses his job. Instead of being enraged, the master praises the steward for his prudence. 

We usually call this “the parable of the dishonest steward,” but here’s my take: we could also call it “the parable of the merciful master.” Once again, in this Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy, let us focus on God’s mercy, a mercy which we do not deserve!


No matter how many times I hear this passage, I keep thinking, “I must have heard it wrong.”  Let’s summarize it one more time. A steward has been given control of his master’s estate, squanders his master’s resources, and is about to lose his job. The steward knows that he’ll need to rely on his neighbors after he’s fired, so he cuts deals with everyone in the neighborhood who owes his master a debt. Instead of being angry, the master praises the steward for his shrewdness. The sayings that follow don’t seem to be related to the parable. Jesus tells us not to serve two masters, but that’s pretty much what the steward does!

Perhaps the key to understanding this parable is to look at its parallels with last week’s gospel, the parable of the prodigal son. The son asks his father for his inheritance, squanders it on all kinds of sinful stuff, and then finds himself in the middle of a famine with no resources. The son realizes that he’ll need to find someone to help him, so he decides to go back to his father’s house and work as a hired hand. Instead of being angry, the father rejoices that his son has returned.  

Remember: a parable is a story with an unexpected twist. The twist in both of these parables is the same: the father and the master respond to egregious sins with mercy. The message is clear: God’s ways are not our ways. There is absolutely nothing we can do to merit God’s love. But God loves us anyway.

Next year, we mark the 500th anniversary of one of the most cataclysmic events in Western civilization: the Reformation. There were political, religious, and technological dimensions to the Reformation, but the theological crux is often framed as an issue about “faith” versus “works.” Do we earn our way to heaven because of what we do, or do we get to heaven because of God’s mercy? 

The problem is complicated by the fact that for roughly 450 years after that, Catholics and Protestants developed their own separate theological terminologies. Even today, when we really try to listen to each other, we often don’t comprehend what the other side is saying!

In the past 50 years, the Church has encouraged all Christians to regularly talk with people of other faith traditions. The dialogues of theologians have led to substantial accomplishments, perhaps most notably the Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, co-written by the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation in 1999. The World Methodist Council signed on to the JDDJ in 2006. In this document, Lutherans, Catholics, and Methodists agree, and I quote: “[Christians] cannot rely on their own good works or boast of their own merits as though they were not still in need of mercy.” Or, as one prominent ecumenist, my Paulist brother Fr. Ron Roberson, puts it: “God doesn’t love you because you are good. You are good because God loves you.”

Despite this overwhelming agreement among Christian theologians, the majority of Catholics don’t believe it. In 1993, a survey of Catholics in the United States showed that 61% of catechists, 73% of parishioners, and 84% of teenagers believed that “by their own efforts… people earn their place in heaven.”  

This data jibes with my own experience as a priest. I talk with a remarkable number of people who think that God doesn’t love them because they think that they are not good enough to deserve God’s love. So, what can we do to grow in believing that God loves each of us as much as Jesus said that God loves each of us? I have three ideas. (1) We can start by praying this prayer every day:

Heavenly Father,

Jesus says that you love me unconditionally, 

just as I am, 

but I’m not sure if I believe it.  

Help me to believe it!

Amen.

(2) We can also look to Pope Francis. Ever since he became pope, he has consistently preached in words and actions that God’s mercy trumps everything. Church doctrine and Church teachings are important, but we as a Church must first reveal God’s love to a world that sorely hungers for it.

(3) We can return to the regular celebration of the sacrament of penance. (Check out my homily from last weekend online for encouragement to go to confession!) Confession is a fantastically graced opportunity to recognize that God is wildly in love with each of us, as individuals. No, I’m not talking to the person sitting next to you. I’m talking to YOU! [Take the time to point to at least ten people individually.] God loves YOU, no matter how unworthy you think you are!

When the journalist Antonio Spadaro asked Pope Francis to describe himself, he paused and said, [Pause] “I am a sinner. This is the most accurate definition.” Then he paused again, explained what he meant, and then he said, “The best summary… is this: I am a sinner whom the Lord has looked upon.”

I hope you liked that prayer I shared with you earlier – I wrote it. Many people receive a copy of this as their penance when they come see me for confession. I ask you to repeat after me:

 

Prayer of Acceptance

by Richard R. Andre, C. S. P.

Heavenly Father,

Jesus says that you love me unconditionally, 

just as I am, 

but I’m not sure if I believe it.  

Help me to believe it!

Amen.