30th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Cycle C (2025)

You may recall that last Sunday, we heard the parable of a persistent widow who eventually was given justice. Jesus continues, speaking in parables, comparing and contrasting a pious pharisee and a tax collector.

I remind us that Pharisees were very strict in their observance of the religious practices, while tax collectors were generally disliked because they were fellow Jews, who worked for the Roman government and often did so in ways that were dishonest.

Jesus tells us in this parable that both went to the temple area to pray, and then says something that likely surprised his listeners: that the tax collector went home justified, or right with God, while the Pharisee didn’t.

Why? Is it because God’s commandments aren’t all that important? No. It’s because the greatest of all sins, the one sin that will infallibly send any of us to hell, is impenitence, the refusal to repent and ask God for forgiveness of your sins. God is love and is willing to forgive all sins. But there is one unforgivable sin, one sin that God literally cannot forgive. It’s not that he will not forgive it but that he cannot. That sin is the refusal to repent.^[1]

But God can do all things, so how can I say that God “cannot” forgive this sin? Let us understand that mercy is a gift. A gift cannot be forced upon someone. It can be laid at your feet, but it must be freely accepted and thus received.

But what would motivate anyone not to accept the gift of God’s forgiveness? Pride. I will identify two ways that pride can keep us from receiving God’s mercy. The first is a lack of humility, a lack of seeing ourselves in truth. When we lack humility, we fail to realize our need for God’s mercy. The second is the sin of presumption. It is presumption of God’s mercy at work in the moments in ways that we sin, knowing that we are sinning, while banking on the fact that he is so merciful, that we can be forgiven afterwards.

If you think you are not sick, you will not go to the doctor. Jesus is the doctor to the soul, and we are all spiritually sick, and he will heal all who come to him, who sincerely repent, but he cannot heal us if we do not come and repent and ask. Jesus also said, “Everyone who asks, receives” (Luke 11:10). But those who do not ask, do not receive. Ask for what? Don’t ask God for justice; ask him for mercy. Because you will get what you ask for.^[2]

^[1] Kreeft, Peter. Food for the Soul: Reflections on the Mass Readings (Cycle C) (Food for the Soul Series Book 3). Word On Fire. Kindle Edition.

^[2] Ibid.