LOST AND FOUND

November 4, Thursday

THIRTIETH-FIRST WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME

 

 

      The heart of the Gospel and of Christianity, of the Christian community, of the Church – and therefore of the life of every Christian – lies in living for one another and somehow belonging to others: to God and to our neighbor, in love, mercy, mutual help, forming God’s community and celebrating this in our worship. Even our death, like that of Christ, should benefit others.

      The whole chapter 15 of Luke deals with people who have lost something and find it back: a man finds a lost sheep, a woman a coin, and a father his son. All are extremely happy at the end, except the brother of the lost son. This joy expresses Jesus’ attention for all that is lost, rejected, devaluated in the eyes of people. Like Jesus, we have to keep looking for these people and to rejoice when they come back to God and to people.

 

First Reading: Romans 14:7-12

None of us are permitted to insist on our own way in these matters. It’s God we are answerable to—all the way from life to death and everything in between—not each other. That’s why Jesus lived and died and then lived again: so that he could be our Master across the entire range of life and death, and free us from the petty tyrannies of each other.

So where does that leave you when you criticize a brother? And where does that leave you when you condescend to a sister? I’d say it leaves you looking pretty silly—or worse. Eventually, we’re all going to end up kneeling side by side in the place of judgment, facing God. Your critical and condescending ways aren’t going to improve your position there one bit. Read it for yourself in Scripture:

“As I live and breathe,” God says,
    “every knee will bow before me;
Every tongue will tell the honest truth
    that I and only I am God.”

So tend to your knitting. You’ve got your hands full just taking care of your own life before God.

 

Gospel: Luke 15:1-10

By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.

“Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.

 “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

 

Prayer

Lord our God,
we know that Jesus came for everybody,
yet he wanted to find back
the very one given up by people:
the tax collector, the sinner, the prodigal.
Do not allow us in our zeal for what is right and good
to lose sight of this one person
who was written off by people,
yet who merited the special concern of your Son,
Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

 

Reflection:

The joy of God
The scribes and the Pharisees who witnessed Jesus’ teachings and signs were scandalised and murmured against him. What scandalised them most was the fact that “Jesus ate with tax collectors and sinners, and that he moved with them”. It is unforgivable for the Pharisees to welcome sinners and eat with them. And Jesus responds to this murmuring hypocrisy with the parables which speaks of the “joy and rejoicing.”
The single message of the three ‘lost and found’ parables of Luke, chapter 15 is God’s joy. Jesus wants to make one single point clear to his listeners and to us today: Ours is a God “who does not like to lose what is his, and in order not to lose his own, he goes out and seeks out” the lost.
Our God is a God who searches. For “God cannot abide losing what is his; thus, during his last supper, according to the Gospel of John, we listen to his prayer ‘that none of those whom thou hast given me may be lost’”.
Indeed, God “has a certain weakness of love for those who are furthest away, who are lost. He goes in search of them. Like the shepherd who journeys into the darkness looking for his lost sheep until he finds it” or “like the woman who, when she loses her coin, lights a lamp, sweeps the house and seeks diligently until she finds it”.
“When he finds us, when he has found the lost sheep” he does not ask us: “Why did you get lost? Why did you fall?” Rather, he restores what was lost to its proper place. And when this happens “it is God who rejoices. God rejoices not in the death of the sinner but rather that he be restored to life.
The lost and found parables of Luke has a speciality – they reveal the forgiveness and mercy of God and this forgiveness is without conditions. No questions are asked. A sheep can be lost, coins can be lost… and a son can leave home. They are not under control. The inevitable possibility of loss does not destroy the immense love and mercy of God.
God the Father is not stainless steel. The loss of any one of his children – only one – hurts his heart as a compassionate father. For him, each one of us has as much importance and value as the whole of humanity. No one is excluded. God never despises any of his sons and daughters. Some churches celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation as an occasion of great feast. And that is why the Eucharist is also a great feast where God has his children around his table, reconciled to him and to one another. Let us join the joy of God.

 

Video available on Youtube: The joy of God