The author of the first letter to Timothy (Paul perhaps or one of his disciples in the common custom of the time of pseudonymous authorship) knows in the depth of his being the mercy and love of God. He admits to having been “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence,” the foremost of sinners but recognizes that the grace of God has transformed him into God’s faithful servant. Throughout the centuries, over and over, those we have recognized as Saints have acknowledged that same experience, realizing just how far they have gone astray from the way of love, seeing themselves to be the foremost of sinners in their day. From our vantage point, we can wonder at their humility, such models of being “poor in spirit.” (Mt.5:3) It’s as though the closer they get to the Holy One, the light of God’s love makes clear for them the shadows they see in their hearts.

The same is true for each of us. The deeper our relationship with God grows, the more our eyes are opened to see all the ways we fail to be love in this place here and now, all the times we fail to answer the call to serve as God’s hands and feet and voice in the circumstances of our lives. As our hearts are convicted by such failures, by all the ways we have wandered from God’s way of generous self-giving love, we may become disheartened, perhaps feel hopeless about our situation. We are at a loss about how to remedy our mess.

The good news is that God’s hesed (mercy, loving kindness) doesn’t leave us in such a state. As the shepherd searching for his lost sheep in today’s gospel, as Francis Thompson’s “The Hound of God” testifies, God comes to find us wherever we may be and, with joy and delight, enfolds us with grace transforming us into the imago dei, the model of generous self-giving love we were created to be. “To the King of the Ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”