TWENTY-FOURTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

If the gospel means "good news," then chapter 15 in Luke with its three parables-the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son-takes us to the very heart of the gospel The specific occasion that gives great unity to this grouping as a whole is that Jesus is defending his actions toward sinners against the accusations of his enemies. The parables are addressed to the scribes and Pharisees who "murmured, saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them'" (Luke 15:2).

In all the parables that Jesus tells in this Sunday’s Gospel (Luke 15:1-32), people end up rejoicing because something lost is found – a sheep, a coin, a son. Jesus is using three practical situations to illustrate God's way of relating to human beings. They give us an image of God "in human clothes." Jesus is saying this is how God acts! These are his reactions; this is his weakness! We need to take God as he is; we need to excuse God for his weakness because he finds joy in it.

 We might conclude that it is a sinner’s decision to repent that causes heavenly rejoicing.  But if we look carefully we see they do not focus primarily on a sinner’s act of repentance.

In the parable of the lost sheep, there is no act of repentance. The straying sheep does not realize it broke a rule and disobeyed its shepherd. In fact, we might conclude if anyone broke a rule it was the shepherd. He did not keep both eyes on all the sheep, all the time.

In the parable of the lost coin, the same thing holds true. The coin is an inanimate object incapable of regret and repentance. If the coin could think, it would wonder why the woman dropped it or put it in a place she could not later remember.

 It is not the straying sheep, the lost coin, that give a reason for rejoicing, but rather the shepherd, the woman. The shepherd searches out the animal that was lost. The woman finds the coin.  Those parables tell us that repentance and rejoicing happen not because of what we do, but because of what God does for us. As Saint Paul tells us, “But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

We are not the ones who find our way back to God. God finds us and touches us with his mercy and love. What we call repentance happens when we have the sense to take the loving, forgiving, merciful hand that God stretches out to us.

The angels of heaven rejoice not because of what we do, but because of what God in his mercy continues to do for us.

In the parable of the lost sheep the tendencies of sheep to wander off to “greener grass” leads to its separation from the flock and its shepherd.  As it is with humans we stray and wander away from our Creator’s guidance and direction thinking we can do it on our own or that it’s by our own strength and wisdom we are able to navigate this journey.

 The shepherd knows that if the sheep are separated from the flock and the shepherd both parties aren’t whole and can’t operate as they are meant too.
As it is when we are separated from right relationship with God, we aren’t operating in our true, full purpose. That is why God seeks us to be in right relationship and delights in restoration. This seeking is not just for the lost, but for every child of God wherever we find ourselves.

What can we deduce for our lives from this reading of the parables? This, above all: God really loves us; whatever has to do with us, what happens to us, does not leave him indifferent but echoes in his heart to the point of causing him anxiety, hope, sorrow, and joy.  

Second, we can deduce that we are precious to him as individuals, not as a group of people or just as numbers. The fact that he focuses on a single sheep and puts it before all the rest of the flock functions to emphasize precisely the point that God knows us by name; each of us is a son or a daughter who is unique and unrepeatable for him. God knows how to count only to one, and that "one" is each person! This is what every good father or mother does. If a mother has five children, she does not divide her love into five parts to portion out a little bit for each child; she loves each child with all the love she has. 

The parables of mercy contain a message for all of us.  No matter how difficult it gets as we partner with Christ to bring others back to the sheepfold, the most important thing we can do is keep loving them unconditionally. Hopefully, they will see in us the love that Jesus is offering to them.