Go back and face it

He knew he could not go back. What he had done was too stupid and too hurtful.

He knew he could not go back. What he had done was too evil.

He knew he could not go back. The wrongs were too great and the anger was terrifying.

Today’s readings involve terrible sins that any reasonable person would think are irrecoverable: there is no turning back, the bridges are burned, the doors are closed.

In the first reading (Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14), the children of Israel have rejected God and embraced idolatry. In the second reading (1 Timothy 1:12-17), Paul is painfully aware of his sinful life in which he murderously persecuted believers in Christ. Finally, in the Gospel (Luke 15:1-32), we hear of a young man who has emotionally kicked his family in the teeth and then ran his own life into the grimy ground.

Today’s readings also remind us that God’s power of forgiveness is greater than any evil we may have done, if only we turn back to him.

No matter what we have done or how long we have done it, may we have the humility to accept the Lord’s grace of repentance, so that we may also receive God’s forgiveness, saying,

I shall get up and go to my Father.