Homily for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)
Based on Lk 15:1-32 (Gospel), Ex
32:7-11, 13-14 (First Reading) and 1 Tm
1:12-17 (Second Reading)
From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”
MERCY AND COMPASSION
(Three Parables)
The Gospel narrative
of this Sunday is taken from Lk 15:1-32. It is quite a lengthy scripture that
contains the three Parables of God’s Mercy.
Verse 1 says: The tax collectors and sinners, meanwhile,
were seeking his company to hear what he had to say…
Parallel text for verse 1 are:
1.
Lk 6:36 - Be compassionate as your Father is
compassionate.
2.
Ex 34:6 - Yahweh passed before him and
proclaimed:c Yahweh, Yahweh, a God of tenderness and compassion,
slow to anger and rich in kindness and
faithfulness. Footnote c says “Yahweh fulfills
his promise, 33:19-23 and reveals his divine attributes, most particularly his
loving kindness.”
3.
Ho 2:21 - I
will betrothq you to me forever: betroth you with integrity and
justice, with tendernessr and love… Footnote q –
says “God takes
back his unfaithful wife with the fervor of first love, and showers her (cf. Gn
24:53; 34:12) with spiritual gifts”; and Footnote r-says
“The
primary meaning of this word (hesed) is that of a bond, or contract. When used
of human relationship, union, loyalty, especially when there are the outcome of
a treaty. Used of God, the term means his faithfulness to his covenant and the
kindness he therefore shows his chosen people (in Ex 34:6). Used by Hosea in
the context of married love, the word assumes and from then on retains a still
warmer significance: it means the tender love God has for his people, Ps 136;
Jer 31:3; etc., and the benefits deriving from it, Ex 20:6; Dt 5:10; 2 S 22:51;
Jr 32:18; Ps 18:50. But this divine hesed calls for creespondinghesed in man
(Ho 6:6), consisting of self-giving, loving trust, abandonment, deep affection,
‘piety’, a love (in short) which is joyful submission to the will of God and an
active charity to fellowmen, Ho 4:2; 6:6. This ideal, expressed in many of the
Psalms, will later be that of the Hasidim, or ‘Hasidaeans’, cf 1 M 2:42+”.
4.
Ho 11:8-9 - Ephraim,
how could I part with you?, Israel, how could I give you up? How could I treat
you like Admah, or deal with you like Zeboiim?k My heart recoils
from it, my whole being trembles at the thoughtl (v. 8). I will not
give rein to my fierce anger, I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God
and not a man: I am the Holy One in your midst
and have no wish to destroy.m Footnote k
says “Admah and
Zeboiim were two of the five towns of the Pentapolis, Gn 10:19; 14:2,8, Dt
29:22; in the Elohistic tradition they presumably take the place of the Sodom
and Gomorrah of the Yahwistic tradition, Is 1:9-10”; Footnote l says “Lit.
‘My heart recoils within me, my bowels are in a ferment’”; and Footnote m says “‘I have no wish to destroy’ corr.; ‘I shall
not come into the town’ Hebr.”
5.
Ps 119:176 - I am wandering like a lost sheep;u come and look for your
servant, No, I have never forgotten your commandments. Footnote u says “The ‘lost sheep’ theme of the prophets, Ezk 34:1+, is here applied to
the individual.”
Verse 2 says: and the Pharisees and scribes complained.
“This man’ the said, ‘welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Parallel text is Lk
19:7 that says: They all complained when they saw what was
happening. “He has gone to stay at a sinner’s house” they said.
Verse 3 says: So he
spoke this parable to them:
Parallel text is Mt
9:10-13 that says: While he was at
dinner in his house, it happened that a number of tax collectors and sinnerse
came to sit at the table with Jesus and his disciples (v. 10). When the
Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your master eat with
tax collectors and sinners?” (v. 11). When he heard this he replied, “It is not
the healthy who need a doctor, but the
sick do (v.12). Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy,
not sacrifice.’f And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous but
sinners.’; Footnote e says “Those
whose moral conduct or disreputable profession, cf. 5:46+, rendered ‘unclean’
and socially outcast”; and Footnote f says “To
the exact performance of the Law’s external
demands God prefers the inward quality of genuine compassion. It is a
favorite theme of the prophets, Am 5:21+.
The
title “Lost Sheep” for verses 4 to 10 has parallel texts in the following
places:
1.
Ezk 34:1
- The word of the LORD came to me…
2.
Mt 18:12-14 - Tell me. Suppose a man had a
hundred sheep and one of them strays; will he not leave the ninety-nine in the
hillside and go in search of the stray? (v. 12). And if he finds it, amen, I
say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray
(v.13)In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one
of these little ones be lost (v.14).
Verse 4 says: ‘What man among you with a hundred sheep, losing one, would not
leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the missing one till he
found it?
Parallel text for this
verse is Ezk 34:4,16 that says: You have failed to
make weak sheep strong, or to cure for the sick ones or bandage the wounded
ones. You have failed have failed to bring back strays or look for the lost. On
the contrary, you ruled them cruelly and violently (v. 4). I shall look for the
lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I
shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them (v.
16).
Verse 5 and 6 says:
And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders. And then,
when he got home, call together his friends and neighbors? Rejoice with me,” he
would say ‘I have found my sheep that was lost.’
Parallel text for
verse 5 is Is 40:11 that says: He is like a
shepherd feeding his flock, gathering lambs in his arms, holding them against
his breast and leading to their rest the mother ewes.
Verse 7, 8 and 9
say: In the same way, I tell you, there
will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over
ninety-nine virtuous men who have no need of repentance. ‘Or again, what woman
with ten drachmas would not, is she lost
one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found
it? And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbors?
Rejoice with me,” she would say ‘I have found the drachma I lost.’
Parallel texts are:
1.
Lk 19:10 - For the Son of Man has come to seek
out and to save what was lost.”
2.
Lk 1:14 - He will be your joy and delight and
many will rejoicei at his birth…Footnote i says “Joy is the keynote of ch. 1-2; 1:28,46,58;
2:10. Cf 10:17,20f; 13:17; 15:7,32; 19:6,17; 24:41,5. Ac 2:46+.”
3.
Ws 12:2 - Little by little, therefore, you
correct those who offend, you admonish and remind them of how they have sinned,
so that they may abstain from evil and trust in you, Lord.
4.
Ezk 18:23 - What! Am I likely to take pleasure
in the death of a wicked man—it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks - not prefer to
see to see him renounce his wickedness and live?
5.
Ezk 33:11 - Say to them, ‘As I live – it is the
Lord Yahweh who speaks – I take pleasure, not
in the death of the wicked man, but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life. Come back, come back from your evil ways. Why
are you so anxious to die, House of Israel?’
Verse 10 says: In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels
of God over one repentant sinner.’
Parallel texts are:
1.
Lk 19:10 - For the Son of
Man has come to seek and to save what was lost.
2.
Ezk 18:23 - Do I find
pleasure in the death of the wicked—oracle of the Lord GOD? Do I not rejoice
when they turn from their evil way and live?
3.
Ezk 33:11 - Say to
them, ‘As I live – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – I take pleasure, not in the death of the wicked man, but in the
turning back of a wicked man who changes his ways to win life. Come back, come
back from your evil ways. Why are you so anxious to die, House of Israel?’
Verse 11, 12 and 13
say: He also said, “A man had two sons, The younger son said to his father,
‘Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.’ So the
father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got
together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered
his money on a life of debauchery.
Parallel texts for
verse 13 are:
1.
Pr 27:3 - Heaviness of stone, and weight of
sand, heavier than both: annoyances from a fool.
2.
Si 9:6 - Do not give your souls to whores,
or you ruin your inheritance.
Verse 14, 15 and 16
say: When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and
now he began to feel the pinch. So he hired himself out to one of the local
inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly
have filled his belly with husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him
anything.
Parallel text for
verse 16 is Pr 27:7 that says: The gorged throat revolts at honey; the
hungry throat finds all bitterness sweet.
Verse 17 says: Then he
came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s paid servants have more
food than they want, but here I am dying of hunger.
Parallel text is Zc
10:9 that says: I have scattered them
among the peoples but from far away they will remember me (they will teach
their sons, and these will return).h Footnote h says “‘have scattered’ corr.: ‘will scatter’ Hebr. ‘will teach’ corr.; ‘will
rear’.”
Verses 18 and 19 say: I
will leave this place and go to my father and say: “Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as you would treat one of your paid servants.’
Parallel text for
verse 18 is Ho 2:9 that says: She will chase after her lovers, and never
catch up with them; she will search for
them and never find them. Then she will say, “I will go backf to my
first husband, I was happier then than I am today.” Footnote f says “The Baals, Canaanite gods of fertility to whom the Israelites offered
the produce of their soil, which they believed came as much from the gods of Canaan
as from Yahweh.”
Verse 20 says: So
he left the place and went back to his father. While he was still a long way
off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him
in his arms and kissed him tenderly.a Footnote a says
“The father’s pity symbolizes divine
mercy; it contrasts with the elder son’s resentment which is like that of the
Pharisees and scribes.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Tb 7:6 - Raguel leaped to his feet, and kissed
him and wept.
2.
Jr 3:12f - So
go, and shout these words toward the North: Come back, disloyal Israel—it is
Yahweh who speaks—I shall frown on youj
no more; since I am merciful-it is Yahweh who speaks - I will not keep my
resentment forever. Footnote j says “‘you’ (sing.) corr.: ‘you’ (plur. ) Hebr.”
3.
Is 49:14-16 - For Zion was saying, “Yahweh has abandoned me, the Lord has forgotten
me’ (v.14). Does a woman forget her baby at her breast, or fail to cherish the
son of her womb? Yet even if these forget, I will neverh forget you
(v. 15). See, I Have branded you upon the palms of my hands, your ramparts are
always under my eyes. Footnote h says “Admirable summing up of the message of Hosea, Jeremiah and the
Deuteronomist, who had already affirmed this unfailing love of Yahweh for Israel,
Cf. 54:8+.
4.
Jr 31:20 - Is Ephraim, then, so dear a son to
me, a child so favored, that after each threat of mine, I must still remember
him, still be deeply moved for him, and
ley my tenderness yearn over him? It is Yahweh who speaks.
Verses 21 and 22 say: Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned
against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’b
But the father said to his servants,
‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and
sandals on his feet. Footnote b says “Add. ‘treat me as one of your paid servants’, cf v. 19”.
Parallel text for
verse 22 says:
1.
Ba 5:1-2 - Jerusalem, take off your dress of
sorrow and distress, put on the beauty of the glory of God forever, Wrap the
cloak of the integrity of God around you, put the diadem of the glory of the
Eternal on your head;
2.
Is 49:22 - Thus
speaks the Lord Yahweh: I beckon to the nations and hoist my signal for the
people.k They will bring back your sons in the cloak,l
they will take your daughters on their shoulders. Footnote k says “In 5:26, this signal called in the invader, now it proclaims salvation”;
and Footnote l says “As babes
are tenderly carried.”
Verse 23 and 24 say:
Bring the calf we have been fattening and kill it; we are going to have a
feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead, and has come back to
life; he was lost and is found.” And began to celebrate.
Parallel text fir
verse 24 is Lk 19:10 that says: For the Son of Man has come to seek out and to
save what was lost.”
Verses 25, 26, 27, 28,
29, 30 and 31 say: Now the older son was
out in the field and, on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear
music and dancing. Calling one of the servants, he asked what it was all about.
“Your brother has returned” replied the servant, “and your father has killed
the calf he had fattened because he has
got him back safe and sound.” He was angry and refused to go in, his father
came out to plead with him. He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these
years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders; yet you never
offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But for this
son yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property - he and his
women-you kill the calf we have been fattening.’ The father said, ‘My son, you
are here with me always; everything I have is yours.
Parallel text for
verse 28 is Jon 4:1 that says: Jonah was very indignant at this, he fell into
a rage.
Verse 32 says: But it
was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was
dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.
Parallel texts are:
1.
Lk 1:14 - He
will be your joy and delight and many will rejoicei at his birth.
Footnote i - Joy is the keynote of ch. 1-2; 1:28,46,58; 2:10. Cf
10:17,20f; 13:17; 15:7,32; 19:6,17; 24:41,5. Ac 2:46+.
2.
Ezk 18:23 - What! Am I likely to take pleasure
in the death of a wicked man—it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks - not prefer to
see to see him renounce his wickedness and live?
3.
Ezk 33:11 - Say to them, ‘As I live – it is the
Lord Yahweh who speaks – I take pleasure, not
in the death of the wicked man, but in the turning back of a wicked man
who changes his ways to win life. Come back, come back from your evil ways. Why
are you so anxious to die, House of Israel?’
4.
Lk 19:10 - For the Son of Man has come to seek
out and to save what was lost.”
The First Reading is
taken from Ex 32:7-11, 13-14. The title is “Moses
forewarned by Yahweh” with parallel text in 1 S 28:6 that says: Saul consulted Yahweh, but Yahweh gave him no answer, either by dream
nor oracle or prophet.
Verses 7 and 8 says:
Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, ‘Go down now, because your people whom you brought
out of Egypt have apostatized. They have been quick to leave the way I marked
out for them; they have made themselves a calf of molten metal and have
worshipped it and offered it sacrifice. ‘Here is your god, Israel,’ they have
cried “who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
Parallel text of verse 7 is Jr 31:32 that says: but not a covenant like the one I made with their ancestors on the day
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that
covenant of mine, so I had to show them who was master. It is Yahweh who speaks.
Verse 9 says: Yahweh said to Moses, ‘I can see how
headstrong these people are! Footnote e says “v. 9
absent from the Greek.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ex 33:3 - Go on to the land where milk and honey
flow. I shall not go with you myself - you are a headstrong people – or I will exterminate
you on the way.
2.
Ex 34:9 -
“If I have indeed won your favor, Lord,’ he said, let my Lord come with us, I beg. True
they are a headstrong people but forgive us our faults and our sins, and adopt
us as your heritage.”
3.
Dt 9:13 - Then Yahweh said to me, “I have seen this
people, and what a headstrong people they are!
4.
Is 48:4 - For I know you to be obstinate, your
neck an iron bar, your forehead bronze.a Footnote a says “The hardening of Israel is a familiar theme of the prophets and the
historical books. Israel has ‘stiffened his neck’, Ex 32:9; Dt 9:13+; 2 K
17:14; Jr 7:26+, has made himself blind and deaf, Is 6:9-10+; 42:19-20; 43:8,
by refusing to serve God, by breaking the yoke of the Law, Jr 2:20; 5:5; his
punishment is to bend his neck to the yoke of the foreign nation, Dt 28:48; cf.
Jr 27:8,11; 28; 30:8; Is 9:3; 10:27. But Yahweh, true to himself, has not
rejected his people, vv. 9-11, and the light of his salvation will pierce the
eyes of the blind who have rebelled, 42:7, 16,18; 43:8f.”
5.
Zc 7:11 - But they would not pay attention;
they turned a petulant shoulder; they
stopped their ears rather than hear.
Verse 10 says: Leave me,
now, my wrath shall blaze out against them and devour them; of you, however, I
will make a great nation.’
Parallel texts are:
1.
Gn 12:2 - I
will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name so famous
that it will be used asb a blessing. Footnote b says “‘that
it will be used as’ corr.; ‘and may you be’ Hebr.”
2.
Nb 14:12 - I will strike them with pestilence
and disown them. And of you I shall make a new nation, greater and mightier
than they are.
The title for v. 11, “The prayer of Mosesf,”
has footnote f that says: “Moses is shown as the great mediator: at the time of the plagues, 8:4;
9:28; 10:17; on behalf of his sister Miriam, Nb 12:13,and especially on behalf
of the people on their desert journey, 32:11-14, 30-32; Nb 11:2; 14:13-19;
16:22; 21:7; Dt 9:25-29. This function of his is recalled by Jr 15:1; Ps 99:6;
106:23; Si 45:3. Cf 2 M 15:14+. His intercession foreshadows that of Christ.
Verse 11 says: But Moses
pleaded with Yahweh his God. ‘Yahweh’ he said ‘why should your wrath blaze out
against this people of yours whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with arm
outstretched and mighty hand?
Parallel texts are:
1. Ex
34:9 - “If I have indeed won your favor,
Lord,’ he said, let my Lord come with us, I beg. True they are a headstrong
people but forgive us our faults and our sins, and adopt us as your heritage.”
2.
Dt 9:26-29 - And I pleaded with Yahweh. My Lord Yahweh, I said, do not destroy your
people, your heritage whom in your greatness you have redeemed, whom you have
brought out of Egypt with your mighty hand (v. 26).Remember your servants,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; take no notice of this people’s stubbornness, their
wickedness, and their sin (v. 27),so that it may not be said in the land from
which you brought us, “Yahweh was not able to bring them to the land he
promised them. It was because he hated them that he brought them out to die in
the wilderness (v. 28).” But they are your people and your heritage whom you
brought out by your great power and with your outstretched arm (v. 29).
3.
Jos 7:6f - Joshua tore their garments and
prostrated himself before the ark of Yahweh till nightfall, the elders of
Israel did as he did; and all poured dust on their heads.
4.
Ps 106:23 - He talked of putting an end to them
and would have done, if Moses his chosen had not stood in the breach,
confronting him, and deflecting his destructive anger.
5.
Ws 18:22 - He conquered the bitter plague, not by physical strength, not by force
of arms; but by wordq he prevailed over the Punisher, by recalling
the oaths made to the Fathers, and the covenants. Footnote q says “I. e. prayer”.
6.
Jm 5:16 - So confess your sins to one another,
and pray for one another, and this will cure you;e the heartfelt
prayer of a good man works very powerfully. Footnotee says “This mutual confession and prayer for each
other instead of being only recommendations to the sick, v. 15, are here urged
on all Christians. Nothing special however may be deduced about sacramental
confessions.”
Verse 13 says: Remember Abraham, Isaac and Jacob your
servants to whom by your own self you swore and made this promise: I will make
your offspring as many as the stars of heaven, and all this land which I
promised I will give to your descendants, and I shall be their heritage
forever.
Parallel texts are:
1. Gn
15:5 - Then taking him outside he said: Look up to heaven and count the stars
if you can. Such will your descendants,’ he told him.
2.
Gn 22:16-17 - ‘I swear by my own self -it is
Yahweh who speaks -because you have done this, because you have not refused me
your son, your only son (v. 16),I will shower blessings on you, I will make
your descendants as many as the stars of heaven and the grains of sand on the
seashore. Your descendants shall gain possession of the gatesd of
their enemies (v. 17). Footnote d says “I.e. their towns, as the Greek understands, cf. 24:60”.
3. Gn
35:11-12 - God said to him, ‘I am El Shaddai. Be fruitful and multiply. A
nation, indeed, a group of nations shall
descend from you. Even kings shall be numbered among your descendants (v. 11).
‘I will give you this land, the land I gave to Abraham and to Isaac; and I will
give this land to your descendants after you (v. 12).
Verse 14 says: So Yahweh
relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
Parallel text is Ps
78:38 that says: Compassionately, however, he forgave their guilt instead of
killing them, repeatedly repressing his anger instead of rousing his full wrath.
The Second Reading is
from 1 Tm 1:12-17. Verses 12 and 13 say: I
thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, and who judged me
faithful enough to call me into his service. Even though I used to be a
blasphemer and did all I could to injure and discredit the faith. Mercy,
however, was shown me, because until I became a believer I had been acting in
ignorance;
Parallel texts are:
1.
Ac 8:3 - Saul then worked for the total
destruction of the Church; he went from house to house arresting both men and
women and sending them to prison.
2.
Ac 3:17 -
Now I know, brothers, that neither you nor your leaders had any idea what you
were really doing;k Footnote k says “Apparently an allusion to Lk 23:24; cf. Ac
7:60.”
3.
Jn 16:2 - They will expel you from the
synagogues, and indeed the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will
think he is doing a holy duty to God.
4.
1 Co 15:10…but by the grace of God that is what
I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. On the contrary, I,
or rather the grace of God that is with
me, have worked harder than any of the others.
Verses 14 and 15 says: and
the grace of our Lord fill me with faith and with the love that is in Christ
Jesus. Here is a saying that you can rely oni and nobody should
doubt: That Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I myself am the
greatest of them. Footnote i says “Lit. ‘faithful is the
word (or saying): this is one of the characteristic phrases of the Pastoral
Letters, cf. 3:1; 4:9; 2 Tm 2:11; Tt 3:8.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
1 Co 3:1 - Brothers, I myself was unable not
speak to you as people of the Spirit: I treated you as sensual men, still infants in Christ.
2.
1 Co 4:9
- But instead it seems to me, God has
put us apostles at the end of his parade, with men sentenced to death; it is
true - we have been put on show in front of the whole universe, angels as well
as men.
3.
Mt 9:13 - Go
and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice.’f
And indeed I did not come to call
the virtuous but sinners. Footnote f says “To the exact performance
of the Law’s external demands God
prefers the inward quality of genuine compassion. It is a favorite theme of the
prophets, Am 5:21+.”
4.
Tt 3:8 - This is the doctrine you can rely on. I
want you to be quite uncompromising in
teaching all this, so that those who now believe in God may keep
their minds constantly occupied in doing
good works. All this is good, and will do nothing but good to everybody.
5.
2 P 3:15 - Think of our Lord’s patience as your
opportunity to be saved: our brother Paul, who is so dear to us, told you this
when he wrote to you with the wisdom that is his special gift.
Verse 16 says: and if mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ
meant to make me the greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all
the other people who would later have to trust in him to come to eternal life
Parallel texts are:
1.
1 Co 15:9 - I am the least of the apostles, in
fact, since I persecuted the church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle.
2.
2 Th 3:7 - You know how you are supposed to
imitate us;b now we were not idle when we were with you. Footnote b
says “By imitating Paul , 1 Co 4:16; Ga
4:12; Ph 3:17, Christians will be imitating Christ, 1 Th 1:6; Ph 2:5; cf Mt
16:24; 1 P 2:21; 1 Jn 2:6; who is the one that Paul is imitating, 1 Co 11:1.
Christians must also imitate God, Ep 5:1 (cf. Mt 5:48), and they must imitate
each other, 1 Th 1:7; 2:14; Heb 6:12. Behind this community of life is the idea
of a model of doctrine, Rm 6:17, that has been received by tradition, v. 6: 1
Co 11:2+; 1 Th 2:13++. The leaders who transmit the doctrine must
themselves be ‘models’ v. 9; Ph 3:17; 1
Tm 1:16; 4:12; Tt 2:7; 1 P 5:3; whose
faith and life are to be imitated, Heb 13:7.”
Verse
17 says: To the eternal King, the undying,j
invisible and only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. Footnote j says “Lit. ‘incorruptible’ or ‘imperishable’; var.
(Vulg) ‘immortal’.”
Parallel texts are:
1.
1 Tm 6:16 - Who
alone is immortal, whose home is in inaccessible light, whom no man has seen
and no man is able to see: to him be honor and everlasting power. Amen.
2.
Tb 13:6 - If
you return back to him with all your heart and your soul, behaving honestly
towards him, then he will return to you, and will hide his face from you no
longer. Consider how well he has treated you; loudly give him thanks. Bless the
Lord of justice and extol the King of the ages.
3.
Ps 145:13 - Your
sovereignty is an eternal sovereignty, your empire lasts for age to age. Always
true to his promises, Yahweh shows love in all he does. Footnote
c
says “The Nun verse is omitted in Hebr.
but preserved in the versions”.
4.
Rm 16:27 - He
alone is wisdom.m Give glory therefore to him through Jesus Christ
for ever and ever. Amen.n Footnote
m says “Cf 11:33-36; 1
Co 1:24; 2:7; Ep 3:10; Col 2:3; 10:7; 17:5,7”; Footnote n says “Cf Ga 1:5; Ep 3:21; Ph 4:20; 1 Tm 1:17;
6:16; 2 Tm 4:18; Heb 13:21; 1 P 4:11; 2 P 3:18; Jude 25; Rv 1:6.”
5.
Col 1:15 - Christ
is the head of all creatione He is the image of the unseen God, and
the firstborn of all creation. Footnote e says “In this poem Paul introduces two ways in
which can claim to be the ‘head’ of everything that exists:1. He is the head of
creation, of all that exists naturally, vv. 15-17; 2. He is head of the new
creation and all that exists supernaturally through having been saved, vv.
18-20. The subject of the poem is the pre-existent Christ, but considered only
in so far as he is manifest in the unique historic person that is the Son of
God made man, cf. Ph 2:5+. It is as the incarnate God that Jesus is the ‘image
of God’, i.e. his human nature was the visible manifestation of God who is
invisible, cf. Rm 8:29+, and it is as such, in this concrete human nature, and
as part of creation, that Jesus is called the ‘first born of creation’ - not in
the temporal sense of having been born first, but in the sense of having been
given the first place of honor.”
For the poor and
miserable people, “pain is the condiment of life.”
The three parables in the gospel, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son are all about God’s mercy and compassion.
These parables were narrated by Jesus Christ as his answer to the complaint of
the scribes and Pharisees about his going with the tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus Christ compared himself to the merciful and compassionate God who
rejoices over the return of lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. He also
compared the scribes and Pharisees to the elder brother of the Prodigal Son who
envied his younger brother’s fortune of being welcomed back by the father and
restored to his usual position in the household despite the unforgivable sin he
committed against the family. The merciful
and compassionate father is compared to the God of heaven in Jesus’ parable on the
Prodigal Son.
Mercy, as defined by Wikipedia, the free online
encyclopedia, is the same as “leniency or compassion.”
The same source says: “Mercy (Middle English,
from Anglo-French merci, from Medieval Latin merced, merces, from Latin, "price paid, wages", from merc-, merxi"merchandise")
is a broad term that refers to benevolence, forgiveness and kindness in a
variety of ethical, religious, social and legal contexts. In the social and
legal context, mercy may refer both to compassionate behavior on the part of
those in power (e.g. mercy shown by a judge toward a convict), or on the part
of a humanitarian third party, e.g., a mission of mercy aiming to treat war
victims”.
The following are the scriptures that contain the word “mercy”:
1.
Mt 9:13 -
Go and learn the meaning of the words: What I want is mercy, not sacrifice.’f
And indeed I did not come to call the virtuous but sinners.
Footnote f says “To the exact performance of the Law’s
external demands God prefers the inward
quality of genuine compassion. It is a favorite theme of the prophets, Am 5:21+.
2.
1 Tm 1:13 - Mercy,
however, was shown me, because until I became a believer I had been acting in
ignorance…
3.
1 Tm 1:16 - and if
mercy has been shown to me, it is because Jesus Christ meant to make me the
greatest evidence of his inexhaustible patience for all the other people who
would later have to trust in him to come to eternal life
Esoterically, the elder son in the parable of the prodigal
son is also compared to the angels in heaven who protested and complained to
God over the creation of humankind, so that these angels were punished and eventually
lost their heavenly ranks.
