24C22.    Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14.    God said to Moses, “That my wrath may blaze up against them.”  God was enraged that his people made a molten calf idol to replace him.  “But Moses implored the Lord, his God,” so that “the Lord repented in the punishment he had threatened to inflict on his people.”  God rejoices that sinners return to him by the power of his salvific grace to help them to become saints, in his image and likeness.

Luke 15:1-32.   “Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus, but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”  The parable that follows explains that the Prodigal Son, the flagrant sinner, was received back by his father despite his sinfulness because of his deep repentance.  The elder son, much like the Pharisees and scribes who had always been faithful, complained grievously that he had always been faithful but his faithfulness had not been properly respected and rewarded by the father, who was extravagantly generous to the sinful son but not to him.  The father “said to him, ‘my son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.’”  We are all sinners whom the Lord, our Father, enables to return to him to live as his sons and daughters.  Let us rejoice that we are loved so dearly and so live in his love for us.

1 Timothy 1:12-17.   Paul, who had been a great persecutor of Christians and was “mercifully treated” as a sinner, says, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”  God works daily to bring back those who are sinful, enabling them to become saints.  “Christ Jesus” displays “his patience as example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.  To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”