About six years ago, an appalling P10-billion
pork barrel scam was exposed. It was said to be masterminded by Janet Napoles
involving a number of our “honorable” lawmakers and other high-profile
officials. Everyone then was understandably
dissociating from her. A mere photograph
in the past that showed posing with her all smiles at a party or any function
became regrettable as it would raise public suspicions of complicity with the revolting
corruption she was tied with. Nobody wanted to be seen hanging around with her
anymore.
Our keen hypocritical sense nudges us to
keep a distance from those we consider sinners because it is shameful and
detrimental to our already damaged “reputation.”
In the light of today’s readings,
particularly the gospel (Lk 15: 1-32), it’s possible to imagine Jesus doing
what everybody else is avoiding—dining and probably enjoying the picture taking
with the scam mastermind in front of all the raised eyebrows around.
The gospel reading today depicts Jesus
hanging around with the public sinners of his time who were drawing near to
listen to him. A complaint from the observing religious sectors goes this way: “This
man welcomes sinners and eats with them” (v.2). This passage may be
approached from two vantage points, that of the self-righteous and that of the
sinner.
In fact, this statement comes from the
self-righteous religious groups of Jesus’ time. As such, it is a criticism of
Jesus’ act. The Pharisees and Scribes are scandalized by Jesus’ association
with the sinners. For them, it is important to maintain a distance from sinners
as purity is their most important vow and brushing elbows with the sinful is
risking contamination. From where they stand, the act of Jesus is unbecoming of
a holy man. They expect Jesus to act like them, i.e., to shoo away the sinners
as one drives away a leper.
From the stand point of the sinners, however,
their experience of Jesus mingling and dining with them is an experience of
profound hope, the experience of the Good News. When the institution of their
religion has virtually closed the door of salvation for them, they experience in
Jesus the God who seeks them out when they are lost. They experience a God who
does not condemn but saves. Jesus’ act
of spending time with the sinners is their invitation to conversion and their
assurance that God’s mercy is available for them.
The three parables, that of the lost coin, the
lost sheep, and the lost son, have a common message: God rejoices over a sinner
who repents and turns back to Him. In the parables, Jesus probably intends to
depict unrealistic reasons for the joyful celebration, like inviting the
neighborhood for a feast because a coin is found. Jesus’ message could be that God’s mercy, in
human reckoning, is unrealistic and illogical. The ways of God in dealing with
the sinners is far beyond our ways.
Especially the self-righteous, represented
by the elder brother in the parable of the lost son, cannot understand the
father’s merciful and unquestioning acceptance of the wasteful and
irresponsible sibling. And it’s much harder to find any rhyme and reason in the
joyful celebration of a banquet with his return. The self-righteous has his own
logical standards and moral parameters; and the problem with this is that God’s
mercy does not work in accordance with this standard or parameter. Hence, the
self-righteous, while trying to maintain an exacting and high sense of justice in
life, is in great danger of missing out on the abundance of God’s mercy.
On the other hand, the sinners receive
God’s mercy as a welcome surprise like the experience of the prodigal son being
embraced by the father and unquestioningly reinstated as a son after having
turned away from him. The sinners real sense of unworthiness may find God’s
forgiveness incredible but the same experience of humility makes sinners
recognized their thirst for forgiveness and their absolute dependence on God’s
graciousness.
Let us avoid self-righteousness. It is the
surest way not to experience the mercy of God, not because there is lack of it,
but because our conceit doesn’t allow the ocean of God’s mercy to flow into our
hearts.
Our invitation is clear: Let us celebrate
hope in spite of our helplessness as sinners. We may be naturally incredulous
of the vast mercy of God revealed by Jesus but let us embrace it anyway or,
more correctly, let us allow the God of mercy to embrace us as a father
embraces his child with love.
We are in many ways like J. Napoles, only
with different forms and degrees of sinfulness perhaps. It is consoling to
remember that Jesus would always love to dine with us and allow us to take
pictures with him in spite of our horrible reputations. He does not dissociate
from us because we are sinners. On the contrary, he invites us to be in
fellowship with him, to trust in God’s mercy, confessing with total surrender
our sins that we may regain the newness of life that we have wasted and lost. Indeed,
Jesus is “the face of the Father’s mercy” (Misericordiae
Vultus, 1).
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