Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time C. July 25, 2004. Our Lady of Grace 7:30, 11;30, 6pm. Genesis 18:20-32. Colossians 2: 12-24. Luke 11: 1-13.

David was the greatest king of Israel. He was not a perfect man. He committed the sin of adultery and then tried to cover over his sin by having the woman’s husband murdered. In spite of his weakness and his sinfulness David loved God deeply. The psalms that we sing after the first reading each Sunday come from the heart and the prayer of King David. The Messiah was to be David’s son – therefore Jesus is known as the Son of David. For a lot of complicated family reason’s David’s third son Absalom rebelled against his father and tried the take the kingdom from David by force. As the battle raged on in David’s kingdom, David gave explicit orders that his son Absalom should not be hurt even though he was the leader of the rebel army. A soldier who couldn’t believe that David could possibly be serious about not hurting the leader of the rebel army just because he was his son, killed young Absalom and sent news to King David that the war was over and that the King had won. When the messenger arrived with the good news of King David’s victory, the King had only one question, “Is all well with the young man Absalom?” The messenger said, “May all the enemies of the king and all who seek to harm the king be like that young man.”

Then an almost unbelievable thing happened. Instead of rejoicing at his victory over his enemies, King David shuddered. He went to his room and burst into tears. He kept saying, “Oh, my son Absalom, My son. My son Absalom. If only I had died instead of you! “The victory of that day was turned into mourning because the king was mourning so intensely over the death of his ruthless and rebellious son.

The love of a parent for a child is beyond words or explanation. I have sat with parents as they see their child suffer or as they lose a child in death. The love of a parent for a child makes most sense to another parent. The love of a parent for a child is the love that makes the universe go around. Jesus said to his disciples, “When you pray say: Father, hallowed be you name…” Jesus said, "What father among you would hand his son (or daughter) a snake when the child asks for a fish?" If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit (the best of all gifts)” to those who ask him?”

While God is our creator, that is not how we usually address God. Nor do we usually use abstract and intellectual words like all-powerful, all-mighty, or all knowing God. While they are all true they just don’t say enough about our relationship with God. Even the word “God” limps when we understand what Jesus taught us about our relationship with God. In an attempt to avoid making God a male, in the human sense of gender, some has insisted on addressing God with abstract terms like “Creator.” The problem is that Creator doesn’t convey the same meaning as father or mother. Jesus told us to address God as father because God is the very best of all father’s to us. Down through the ages we have seen the feminine face of divine grace in Mary, whom we need and want to acknowledge as our heavenly mother. We want to be embraced by the mothering love of God. While Mary is not God, she does help us understand that the divine being who made the universe is more than our creator. God is our father. While Jesus did not teach us to call God our mother and so we don’t usually do so, it would be closer to the meaning of the teaching of Jesus to see God as our mother than simply as our creator. In God’s eyes we are not things that God created. We are beloved children and God is our Father.

A well known passage from the prophet Isaiah (49:15) compares God’s love to the faithful love of a mother. “Can a mother forget her baby or a woman the child within her womb? Even if she should forget, even if she should forget, I will never forget my own.” (Sung) There are parents who are distant from their children and even seriously abuse them. Some people find it difficult to use father language in talking about God because their father or their mother has not been a loving person in their lives. These exceptions serve to underline the fact that the covenant love between a parent and a child is one of the profound wonders of God’s creation. The faithfulness of a parent to a child both when the child is good and when things is not good is one of the wonders of the world.

The first word of the prayer that Jesus teaches us in today’s gospel is by far the most important word in the prayer. Jesus says, “When you pray say ‘Father…’ We often pray the prayer so fast that we don’t listen to the words. Jesus tells us to call God ‘Father’. If God is in fact our good and loving father, what can possibly separate us from peace and joy and eternal life? If a sinful man like King David could grieve over the death of his rebellious son – a son who sought to take the kingdom and life away from his father, how much more will God who is truly our Father do good things for us, even when we are sinful, rebellious and seek to destroy God’s life in the world. The covenant love between a parent and a child is powerful even among parents we would regard as evil. The covenant love between God who is our Father and each one and all of us is the most precious and powerful gift we have in this life. Jesus says “When you pray say Father.”

Whenever we are in trouble and find it difficult to sleep or eat, or pull our lives together, there is only one word we need to say “Father – Our Father” and we can be sure that things will work out well in the end, for the God of the universe has chosen to be “Our Father.” For the covenant of love that God has made with us in telling to call him Father, we give God thanks and praise.