God is with us, even when we sin.

We’ve just celebrated the solemnity of the Ascension last Thursday, where Jesus, 40 days after his resurrection, ascends to heaven to take his place at the right of his heavenly Father. Jesus has left this earth, and now, we wait for the coming of the advocate that he’s been talking about during the last few Sundays in our gospel. And it is this same advocate that the Church has been praying for in these last few days, especially in our liturgies. This advocate is none other than the Holy Spirit. 

This week, Jesus leaves this world, and the gospel for the Ascension tell us that when Jesus does so, the disciples fall before him, even though some of them hesitated, and Jesus gives them this promise, that he will be with them always. 

It’s no doubt that the disciples to whom Jesus made this promise were just like you and I. The disciples were saints in the end, but they were also sinners. Peter, the rock on which Jesus built his Church and to whom Jesus gave the keys to the kingdom denied Jesus. He failed to stand up for Jesus. On the other hand, Thomas doubted that Jesus had truly risen. If Jesus had not come to him to allow him to put his hands into the wounds caused by the crucifixion, Thomas would have rejected the grace of the resurrection. And lest we forget, all of them abandoned Jesus when his hour of suffering came! Not one of them stood at the foot of the cross, except for that one unnamed disciple in John’s gospel, whom we know as he disciple whom Jesus loved. 

However, dear friend, the good news is that God did not abandon the disciples, even when they let him down. He was with them. And he is still with us, the disciples of today. 

From the beginning of time, God has never abandoned the human race, even when we sinned. When Adam and Eve sinned, the Lord went looking for them, but they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God. Yet, he continued to be with them, and to be with the rest of humanity. From Noah who got drunk after leaving the ark, to Moses who broke the tablet with the Ten Commandments out of rage, to David who committed adultery, God was with them! He did not abandon them, nor did he abandon the human race. 

In the Fifth Eucharistic Prayer, our priest prays the words “You are indeed Holy, O God, who love the human race, and who always walk with us on the journey of life”. Right from the beginning of time, we see how much our God wants to be with us. 

And to show how much he wants to be with us humans, even when we sin, he sends his son, fully Human and fully divine. And when Jesus is on earth, he does just that. In his life on earth, we see Jesus getting criticized by the Pharisees for welcoming sinners and eating with them. We also see Jesus being alone with the adulterous woman, and not condemning her. And we also see Jesus say to Zacchaeus, the short and dishonest tax collector that he must stay with him. 

Jesus wants to stays with you and I too, you and I who by no doubt, are sinners. We all have sins that we struggle with. I certainly do. But as much as he wants to stay with us sinners, he also equips us to deal with our sins. He gives us the Holy Spirit. The spirit who comes to us at Pentecost, which we celebrate this coming Sunday, and gives us the fruits of Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-control. And most of all, God wants to be with us when we sin and reconcile with us through the sacrament of reconciliation. 

God knocks on the door of our hearts. Will we open the door to him and allow him to be with us, even when we sin? When we fall into sin, will we turn to him in prayer instead of running further away from him?