Compassion For Sinners

𝐎𝐂𝐓. 𝟑𝟎, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐓𝐇 𝐖𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐈𝐍 𝐎𝐑𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐈: 𝐑𝐨𝐦 𝟖:𝟑𝟏-𝟑𝟗

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟎𝟗:𝟐𝟏-𝟐𝟐, 𝟐𝟔-𝟐𝟕, 𝟑𝟎-𝟑𝟏 “𝐒𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐲”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟑:𝟑𝟏-𝟑𝟓

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝑩𝒍𝒆𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒓𝒅.” (𝒗.35) 

        Friends, this is a revealing and emotional passage at the same time. Revealing because it gives us a picture of the other side of the Pharisees, the part of their lives that feels compassion for what awaits Jesus when he goes to Jerusalem. Emotional because we see in it and we can feel the grief and sorrow that Jesus has for the people of Jerusalem and for those who will reject Him as well.

        At the beginning of this passage, we see some of the Pharisees telling Jesus “leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.” It shows that not all Pharisees are as bad as we think. Majority of these priests may have taken offense at the teachings of Jesus that exposed the duplicity in the practice of their faith but, as this passage will show there are still among the Pharisees who believe that Jesus was right.

        As the Pharisees are godly people, they also probably thought Jesus should be judged by God and not by men and certainly not by Herod whom the Pharisees also despised for collaborating with Rome and for the immoral life that he lived.

        Any mortal would have fled at the sign of threat to his life, but Jesus would not allow such threats to distract him from his mission, and he responds in 𝒗.32 “𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒙, 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆 𝒕𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒓𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝑰 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒉 𝒎𝒚 𝒈𝒐𝒂𝒍.”       

        It shows the boldness of Jesus in calling Herod a fox in public because this was a contemptuous term since the Jews regard the fox as not only the slyest of all animals but insignificant and useless as well. Somehow, Jesus is reminding us in this passage to gather all the courage we can summon to proclaim the Gospel to others. But the question remains is how many of us can defend our Catholic faith? How many of us have the boldness of our Christian brothers to go out and make disciples of all nations?

         For us Catholics I believe the issue is not about boldness or courage, but it is about our lack of knowledge and appreciation of the treasures that lie at the table of Grace of our church. In other words, we have the moral duty to bring this knowledge of the beauty of our Catholic faith to the rest of our church so that like Jesus we too will have the boldness to go against all odds to preserve our faith.

         And for Jesus, he needed to go to Jerusalem not only to fulfill the purpose of his coming but because it is a Holy City that is also the seat of the throne of David. While it was Herod who sat at the throne at the time, we should remember that in Mt 1, the genealogy of Jesus will show that he comes from a long line of ancestors that go back not only to David but even to Abraham fourteen generations in all which means that Jesus also has a stake on Jerusalem.

         Here we can feel the grief and sorrow of Jesus for the people of Jerusalem because of his foreknowledge that he would be betrayed by one of his Apostles, persecuted by the religious and, suffer death on the cross as he exclaims in 𝒗.34 “𝑶 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎, 𝑱𝒆𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒂𝒍𝒆𝒎, 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒌𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖.”           

         There are two contrasts in this Gospel. There was the desire of Jesus to go and proclaim the truth to the people of Jerusalem and, to gather the people and worship the Lord like a hen gathers her chicks. But there was also the persistent rejection of the people of his teachings. This rejection of the Word of God has been going on since the time the Psalmist wrote about this in 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟖𝟏:𝟖-𝟏𝟒 and Jesus laments this fact.

         But isn’t this the same scenario in our contemporary life today? Don’t we find people who attend the Mass, listen to the Gospel and the homily that brings to light the message of the Gospel and yet persist in living their lives that is opposed to the values of Christ? Don’t we at times reject Christ when we insist on doing things our own way in our ministry or apostolates instead of being guided by the Word of God? Worst is when we even interpret the Scriptures to suit our own desires.

         And Jesus provides us with what will happen if we remain stubborn and not heed his Word “𝑳𝒐𝒐𝒌, 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒇𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒐𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆” (𝒗.35) which means that anyone who will remain oblivious to his Word will find himself to be barren of the joy and peace that is enjoyed by those who are in Christ Jesus.

         Even with the foreknowledge of his impending death, Jesus perfectly knew that his death is what will bring victory and salvation not only for the Jews but for the Gentiles alike. At the end of the day, it is God’s Will that we all be saved but salvation is not a free gift.

        Salvation maybe a gift from God but we need to accept the gift and apportion it. This means that we need to do something with the gift. This means that we need to live honorable lives as this is the only we can give honor to the source of our salvation. By the power of the Holy Spirit that we have received, we need to use the gift so that we will all bear fruit.

        𝑯𝒆𝒃 4:12 tells us that “𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑮𝒐𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆. 𝑺𝒉𝒂𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒘𝒐-𝒆𝒅𝒈𝒆 𝒔𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒅, 𝒊𝒕 𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒊𝒗𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒔𝒐𝒖𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒓𝒊𝒕, 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒐𝒘; 𝒊𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒊𝒕𝒖𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕.”

       Like a two-edged sword, the Word of God points to our salvation if we listen to it. And it also leads us to destruction if we reject it. That’s all there is to it. So, what will it be? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 30, 2025)