The Divine Mathematics!

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

Is 40:1-11; Mt 18:12-14

Today’s Gospel demonstrates the radical difference that divine calculation is characterized by. 

The parable of the lost sheep constructs an image of Jesus who looks ‘weird and unreasonable.’ Who would leave the ninety-nine sheep that stayed under the command of the shepherd to go in search of the one that went astray?

After all, we have only heard and idealized, ‘A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.’ That is the striking difference that we find in divine calculations. It exposes the poor mathematician in God. The ‘least’ and not the ‘fittest’ are the center of God’s concern. Mercy and compassion are the yardsticks for God’s calculations. 

In sum, Jesus teaches us that sometimes the scales of justice cannot always be evenly weighed, and God’s preferential option for the least, the lost, and the marginalized creates an imbalance that we are called to live with. God’s mercy and forgiveness transcend any type of reasonableness that we glorify.

Today, we also celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, who is the patroness of all the Americas, including the natives, the Mexicans, and the Mexican-Americans. However, devotion to Our Lady transcends physical borders, and therefore she is the mother of all! 

As we celebrate the feast, what we cannot overlook is Mary’s choice to appear to the native Juan Diego in December 1531. Following today’s Gospel theme, in Mary’s apparition, we can see God’s preferential option at work. By appearing to Juan, who represented the varied peoples who suffered under the scourge of the Aztec religion, Our Lady of Guadalupe sends out the message that ‘The role of the powerless is to evangelize the powerful.’ We celebrate the fact that Our Lady empowered the marginalized to be the heralds of the Good News!

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar