24th Sunday of Ordinary Time - September 11, 2022

My friends, we have a problem.
We believe in a God who in our current understanding is completely unfair!
If by “fair” we mean equal distribution of grace.
Let’s run an example….
How many folks are with us tonight…here and online?....40?
If a person walked in and handed me 4000 dollars
Most of us would say….ok it would be “fair” if everyone here received 100.00 if they were here physically or if they were joining us online.
Yet I could imagine Jesus saying….ok divide up that gift by giving the greatest percentage to the one who is joining you tonight for the first time.  That person may receive 1000.00 and the one who has been here every week, shared every gift they had with the community and been a constant leader…they may end up getting 10.00. 
Would that be fair?
If we are honest, most of us would say….heck no!
Why would you give more money to someone who has never ever been here or rarely….and the rest of us who bust our butts, get 1/10^th of what they get!!!!???
I mean whats up with that?
So what’s up with the whole grace thing?
Why does God rejoice in the one who has decided to come back and seemingly ignore the one who is always there?
Why celebrate the lost sheep or the lost coin, when the other sheep and the other coins are just as important?
You see….here is the problem as I see it today….
No one ever said God was fair…..We did…
There is no where in the Gospels in which Jesus references himself or God as “fair”
Jesus only ever referenced justice, grace and mercy….not fair or fairness….and
Justice is about right relationship, not about equal distribution.
It is lived out in our eucharist…
We do not say…you can only receive if….
We say, to this table…all are welcome…
Those are powerful words we say when we proclaim:
This is the table of our God,
If you have been here often, away for awhile, or are joining us for the first time,
You are invited to receive, for this is the table of radical hospitality,
And to this table all are welcome!
These two gospel stories preceed one of the most popular and most well known Gospel pericopies
The story of the Prodigal Son.
Another reminder…that the God of our belief, is a God of justice not fairness.
So why do we struggle so?
Why do we try to live our best lives and struggle with the realities of life and belief in God???
Why bother…if grace is going to be given in the end…why worry about the middle?
Why…I believe the answer is because of love.
When we realize we are loved,
When we realize we are immeasurably important to our God.
When we realize and understand that we make a difference in this world
When we realize and understand that we are vital, important, and necessary,
Then our response to that love, that impact, and that importance
Is a response of gratitude.
We don’t struggle and strive to live our best lives in order to gain something that we don’t already have.
We struggle and strive to live our best lives, to give grateful witness to the amazing gift of God’s love that we have come to know in our relationship with our God.
In spiritual direction circles and many other circles as well….we often say,
Reliigion is for those folks who are aftrad of hell.
Spirituality if for those of us who have been there.
At dinner on Friday night, with a group of friends,
The question was asked…..
So what is all this about?  What is all this life, ministry and struggle about?
The conclusion was this…..
Its about love, learning to live it and learning to live it out, it is that simple and that profoundly challenging as well.