Who Seeks Whom?

Fr. Rudy Horst, SVD

Sabbath devotional reading

November 4, 2010

 

When I ask my students what sin is, I usually receive standard answers: Sin offends God. We make God angry. We make God turn away from us because He is offended (or angry or disappointed).

 

So I ask them, what do you do when you sin? Their answers: We have to turn back to God and confess our sins. We have to repent and make up for our sins. We have to please God that He may accept us again.

 

Let me shock you: All of these answers are WRONG! Unfortunately, this is still taught in religion or catechism classes. God is not like a parent or teacher or king or president who turns His back on those who offend Him and waits until the offender comes crawling before Him, begging for forgiveness.

 

Look at today’s Gospel! (Luke 15:1-10) Did the lost sheep return and beg the shepherd to take it back into his flock? No, it was the shepherd who searched for the lost sheep “till he found it.” 

 

In the story of the woman who loses a coin, does the coin miraculously materialize or lead the woman to its “hiding place”? No, the woman searches tirelessly until she finds the coin. In both stories, the shepherd and woman stand for God who goes out to search for what was lost. It is not God who turns His back on the offender; it is the sinners who turn their back on God. But He does not rest until He finds them and gently turns them around so the sinners again face God and see Him loving them in such an incredible way that the sinner cannot but break down and whisper, “Lord, I am really sorry. Please forgive me.”

 

Now you may ask: Are we not offending God with our sins? Again, the answer is: No. The great St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, “We offend God only inasmuch as we act against our own good.” This means that we do not offend God with our sins; we offend God only when we harm ourselves or another human being, who are both created in His “image and likeness.” His love for us never changes, whatever sin we may commit. If that’s not Good News, I don’t know what could be better news.