Twenty Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time – Year C
September 14, 2025 – 10:30 AM
Saint Cecilia Catholic Community
Rev. David Justin Lynch
Exodus 32:7-11,13-14 | Psalm 51:3-4:13-14,17,19
I Timothy 1:12-17 | Luke 15:1-3:11-32
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.
Night after night, Deacon Sharon and I watch television crime shows where the families of murder victims refuse to forgive offenders and want to see them severely punished. We seldom see the families of the suspect and the victims reconcile with one another. The victim’s families equate justice with punishment. While that way of thinking may give them emotional satisfaction, it does not resurrect the murder victims.
What the lack of forgiveness and reconciliation does show, however, is that we live in a truly broken world. We saw that this past week in Utah, where conservative activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated because the shooter didn’t like his opinions.
All of us have experienced brokenness—our own sins, the wounds others have inflicted, and the overall pain of a world that so often has gone astray. Unfortunately, pain and brokenness are part of human existence.
The pain and brokenness that caused that horrific murder in Utah have existed, always and everywhere, since the beginning of history, and it will be that way forever. While we cannot escape pain and brokenness altogether, some relief from it may be possible in a world made by a God who loves and shows mercy towards and wants to reconcile with all of humanity.
In our first reading, we hear of the Israelites worshiping a golden calf. They turned their backs on the living God who had just set them free from slavery in Egypt. In the psalm, we pray the words of King David crying out for a clean heart. In the second reading, Saint Paul shares how God’s mercy transformed him from a persecutor into an apostle. And in the Gospel, Jesus gives us three unforgettable parables about a shepherd, a woman, and a father who will stop at nothing to reclaim what was lost. These readings speak to one central truth: God’s mercy is greater than our sin.
The scene from Exodus is dramatic. It describes how the Israelites, just rescued from slavery, are now worshiping a golden calf. They’ve exchanged the living God for a lifeless idol. Idolatry is the worst of sins because it places other things before God. And, it’s not just an ancient sin. We, too, create our “golden calves” today. We live in a world that worships money and power, not God.
God’s initial response to idolatry is righteous anger. He tells Moses that God will destroy the people and start over. But Moses steps into the breach. He intercedes, pleading with God to remember His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And, as the reading tells us, “The Lord relented.”
What does that mean? This language of “relenting” shows us, in human terms, how mercy works. When we change the direction of our lives and pray, we experience God’s unchanging love in a new way. We see that God’s justice and mercy do not conflict; they meet together in the heart of a loving Father.
In the second reading, Saint Paul gives his personal testimony when he says, “I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant, but I have been mercifully treated.” Paul isn’t hiding his past. Instead, he proclaims it as a sign of God’s glory. “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners,” he says, “and of these I am the foremost.” This is the heart of the Gospel message of salvation through Jesus.
Salvation is not about being perfect. It’s about allowing God’s grace to transform us. Paul’s life shows that no one is beyond redemption. If God could take a man who once hunted Christians and turn him into the Church’s greatest missionary, what can God do with us?
The church is not a community of the already perfect. We are a hospital for sinners. Our role is to invite others into the experience of mercy that we ourselves have received. When people look at us, they should see in our daily behavior living proof that God’s grace is real. Nowhere is that more true than in stories about what is lost and then found.
Today’s Gospel features three “lost-and-found” parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. Jesus tells these stories in response to the Pharisees and scribes who criticize him because He eats with sinners. These parables are his answer to them because they reveal the very heart of God.
First, we hear about the Lost Sheep: The shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to find the one that is lost. From a business standpoint, this seems reckless. But in God’s eyes, everyone is equally important. God’s love is personal. God doesn’t just love humanity as an abstract concept. God loves you, individually, so much that God will go to the ends of the earth to bring you home. This story illustrates the joy of heaven over one sinner who goes astray. That by itself shows that God is merciful and expects us to do likewise.
Second, we have the Lost Coin: A woman sweeps her house diligently to find one coin. When she finds it, she experiences the mercy of a God that cares for her and reacts by throwing a party.
Third, we come to the Prodigal Son. The younger son represents the obvious sinner: he demands his inheritance, squanders it, and ends up destitute. When he “comes to his senses,” he rehearses a speech to beg for a servant’s place. But on his way home, his father runs to him, embraces him, and restores him as his own son. That is what God does for us.
The older son represents self-righteousness. He has stayed home, obeyed the rules, and now resents his father’s generosity. He cannot rejoice because his heart is closed. He is like the “church people” we all know who act like gatekeepers, deciding who is worthy of God’s love. But, I ask, “How is anyone privileged to decide what God should do?”
It turns out we are often the pot calling the kettle black. Like Israel with the golden calf, like King David, like Saint Paul, like the younger son, we all have turned away from God in some way. Sin is real and destructive. God’s response is not to destroy us but to save us. God seeks out the lost, forgives the penitent, and rejoices in our return. Just as Moses interceded, and Paul witnessed, so we are called to pray for others and to bring them the good news of mercy. The psalm’s cry for a clean heart finds its answer in the sacraments of baptism, reconciliation, healing, and the Eucharist, where we are welcomed home and transformed.
Christians should see mercy and reconciliation not as a soft alternative to justice but as the fullest expression of God’s justice. That’s because justice on human terms gives each their due, but God’s mercy goes further. Mercy restores broken relationships. Mercy heals wounds. Mercy opens the door to new life. As Pope Francis wrote in Misericordiae Vultus, “Mercy is the beating heart of the Gospel.”
So, how do we live this out?
First, examine your hearts: Are there “golden calves” we need to set aside, like attachments to power, money, or ego?
Second, extend mercy and reconciliation to others: Is there someone we need to forgive? Is there someone who was once part of our lives from whom we are estranged? Or is there someone in your life you are demonizing as evil because their opinion differs from yours? God challenges us not to be like the older son, clinging to resentment, but to share in the father’s joy. While I know it’s hard to accept, for Christians, forgiveness and reconciliation go together.
Third, welcome the marginalized. The critics of Jesus didn’t like that he ate with sinners. Churches are famous for avoiding or excluding people. For example, some churches operate a whole system of excommunication or disfellowshipping machinery to kick people out the door. No church should operate like that. Saint Cecilia Catholic Community will always make a home where everyone can encounter God’s love. That includes everyone, regardless of their political views.
Every service we celebrate here is a living image of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. We come here as sinners, some more obviously wounded than others, but all in need of grace. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit run to meet us in the Eucharist. As we approach the altar today, let us remember the words of St. Paul: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” That means He came for you and for me. May we rejoice in His mercy, receive it deeply, and share it generously, so that heaven and earth may echo with the Father’s words: “Rejoice with me, for what was lost has been found.”
Amen.