MISERICORDIA
The
Gospel today opens with the line, “As Jesus drew near Jericho.” Many
times in the Gospels, Jesus is shown as heading towards Jericho. Jericho
is one of the most well-known places in the Bible. Biblical scholars
tell us that Jericho has the reputation of a city of sin. It was the
popular city destroyed when the Israelites entered the Promised Land.
Mentioning Jericho is not merely a geographical detail of a story. It
conveys a theological lesson worth pondering on.
Religious leaders in Jesus’ time were not found in places of sin. They
were not supposed to associate with sinners, lest they be contaminated and
rendered impure. Jesus went and passed through Jericho — that city of
sin — many times. He did not go around it. He did not avoid it. Why? Because
that is precisely His mission: “I came not to call the righteous but
the sinners” (Luke 5:32); “Healthy people do not need a doctor, sick
people do” (Mark 2:17).
This is why the Gospel is really good news. We do not have to hide from
God as Adam and Eve did after knowing that they sinned (see Genesis
3:8-10). We do not have to prop ourselves up and make us “presentable”
for Him notice us. We do not have to make up stories that will justify
us before Him. It is our misery that attracts Jesus to us.
Paradoxically, it is our sin that attracts Him towards us. Mercy is
attracted by misery.
The Latin for mercy is misericordia, which means a heart that goes out
for misery. God’s love for us sinners spring from within this heart, not
from what He finds in us. God loves us because He chooses to do so, because He is misericordia.
Do you want to return that love? Do you want to give back to that love?
Give up your sin; after all, that is the only thing that is really your
own. And that is the only thing God really wants from you — that He may redeem it, for everything else in you comes from Him anyway. Fr. Joel Jason
REFLECTION QUESTION: When did you last visited the confessional? Misericordia is waiting for you.
Have mercy on me, God, in Your kindness; and in Your compassion, blot out my offense. Amen.
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