Thursday, April 3

The Ninth Station: 

Jesus Falls for a Third Time

“But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly, bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet …’”

-Luke 15:22

Sometimes it may feel as though we’ve fallen one too many times. We can’t possibly get up again. God must be done with us-how can we be forgiven once more? We keep falling, keep failing, and we’re weighed down by shame and guilt. No one can love us enough to enable us to go on.

But God is not done with us; God never tires of forgiving us, of showing us mercy! Failure should not keep us down-think of Timothy from Malawi. How hard did he work and struggle to make life better for his family? What frustrations and obstacles did he face? How hard was it to see his wife and children go hungry? Yet he persisted; he got back up; he seized an opportunity, and now God has opened a new chapter in his life and that of his community.

When it comes to mercy, we have only to ask, as in the story of the Prodigal Son. God does not want us to wallow in guilt.  God says, “Get up, you are forgiven, now be about my work.” As sons and daughters of God, it is our responsibility to accept that forgiveness, accept that new opportunity, and then to be about the business of justice, mercy and peace, the business of building the Kingdom of God.