33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Recently, my son has been into seek & find puzzles – Where’s Waldo and the like. He
also loves spotting the difference between two seemingly identical pictures. Sunday’s
reading from Hebrews reminds me of the spot the difference puzzles – it talks about
sacrifices, comparing those offered in the temple for generations and that which was
offered by Christ. Both were offered to take away sin, but while those offered by human
priests had to occur every year; Jesus offered himself once for the forgiveness of all sin.
Why is that important?
I was talking to someone about a Gospel from the daily Mass a little more than a week
ago. It was the parable of the lost sheep. Each of us can see ourselves as the wayward
lamb that God comes after, but here there can be differences as well. My friend asked
me, “How do you act once you are found? Do you rest on God’s shoulders when He lifts
you up or do you struggle while He carries you?” It made me pause. What would
struggling mean? Certainly not that I didn’t want God to find me or that I didn’t need
finding. But, perhaps, it’s more along the lines of self-reliance. “Don’t carry me, God. I
can walk on my own.” Of course, that ignores the point that relying on my own two legs
is probably what got me lost in the first place.
This week’s reading from Hebrews paints a similar picture. Priests offered sacrifice to
God for thousands of years. Maybe we started to believe that it was our offering that
took away sins instead of Gods accepting. Maybe we thought a little too much of “self-
salvation.” “If I say the Rosary enough times,” “If I go to Mass every day,” “If I read the
Bible long enough,” “If I say my prayers the right way,” thinking we hold our redemption
in our own hands. That’s not to say you shouldn’t do all of those things. Keep praying,
keep reading scripture, keep going to Mass! But realize, and have confidence in, the
fact that God has saved us.
The difference is that we can take the pressure off how hard we focus on praying, how
perfectly we interpret scripture, and how piously we participate during Mass. We can
rest on God’s shoulders because He’s done the heavy lifting. Christ took our sins on
Himself and offered the perfect sacrifice to the Father. Rest in that love. See what kind
of difference it can make.