27 July 2025

27 July 2025 - 17th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Transcript

Reading:  

Luke 11:11

Write:  

What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish?

Reflect:   

What is that catchphrase? “Sorry, not sorry.” There is no way I can avoid the lines from Genesis that our readings start off with. It is an absolute truth that God will not tolerate sin forever. It is an important point for each of us to remember – especially when we consider our own failings. The origin of this phrase is lost in history, but there is a truth in it: “there but for the grace of God go I.”

We may look at someone else’s sin and see “that” (whatever that sin is) as something that is so far against our own approach to life that we are ready to absolutely condemn it. But every one of us have blind spots of sin in ourselves. That does not mean we excuse any sin. It means we must be brutal – without losing the compassion of God – in our approach to any and all sin, especially in ourselves. Look at what Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery: “neither do I condemn you, but go and sin no more.” I’m afraid that last part is far too often ignored today.

God is very ready to forgive, and even to go beyond forgiveness to granting grace. The last line of the first reading says it all: "For the sake of those ten, I will not destroy it." We know what comes next. The angels that are sent to the city convince Lot and his family to leave. So it appears that only four were saved from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah – and even then there were only three, because Lot’s wife turned around to look at what she was losing – and the cost was her life.

Let’s look at the Gospel’s conclusion. I would call it a counterpoint. Let’s turn it around. If your son says he wants to play with the rattlesnake, are you going to let him? Or if your daughter says she wants a scorpion as a pet, and then wants to pet it, will you let her?

Apply:   

God tries in many ways to protect us from ourselves. Our world today has things so mixed up that it calls bad good and good bad. It is not virtuous, but selfishness. It is not love – true love – but lust. Many people convince themselves that it is otherwise. And our society wants to support any chance they can of all of this stuff. Weare called bigots for trying to call people back to the natural order. We are somehow labeled as being those against “true and proper love,” but just look at the way in which they treated the church during the scandals of the last… how many decades. People seem to want it both ways. 

Well, that’s not really fair. The people that are so strongly against the scandals of the church are most likely not the ones who would be in support of our society having gone the way of Sodom and Gomorrah. But those who are traveling down that road want to silence those who find that kind of behavior abhorrent.

I will not make an apology for taking this strong of a stand. “Sorry, not sorry.” But at the same time, all of us must be compassionate toward those who are caught in these kinds of problems. It does not matter which kind of immorality someone is caught in. It may be of a sexual nature. It may be of drugs or alcohol. It may be gambling. How long of a list do you want?

Again, I return to something I have said before: about what “holy” means. Especially in relationship to God, it means to be “other” – we are called to be different than the rest of the world. What is it Paul tells us in Colossians today? “You were buried with [Christ] in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.”

We are not to be conformed to this world but to have our minds transformed by the spirit of God. It does not mean we shut off our compassion for those who are still stuck in some kind of sin. But compassion does not mean giving people license to live as they wish. But we are called to tell them the truth and to try to draw them into the truth and the freedom that is the gospel. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life! That is what Paul says next in our reading from Colossians: “And even when you were dead in transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he brought you to life along with him…”

Lastly, I have to wonder how long it will be that God will tolerate the level of immorality in our society. I think it is because Christians are praying that God has not come down with fire and brimstone as he did on Sodom and Gomorrah. I think we are holding back the wrath of God by our prayers. But… That means that he is holding back his wrath so that we can bring more people into his kingdom. We need to pray for our society – our country – our church. There are movements within the church that want to legitimize all of these kinds of things that God chooses to condemn. And, yes, he does condemn the actions – not the people – but the actions. How much longer will God allow us to ask for a snake instead of a fish or a scorpion instead of an egg? How much longer will He let us ask for the wrong things? At some point He is bound to say, “if you wish to live that way… you will pay the consequences.”

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