I sit on the beach as I read today’s Gospel. I hear my sister call for her youngest as she scans the shoreline, finding her building sandcastles not too far away. My mind then journeys back to a beach trip over 40 years ago when this same sister was just three years old and had wandered off. I remember the panicked feeling as we began looking for her, and then the joyful relief when she was later found. That joy was but a taste of the great joy we hear Jesus tell us that Heaven will have over one repentant sinner.
As familiar as this parable of the lost sheep is, today I’m struck by the words “complained,” “welcomed,” and “rejoice with me.”
The Pharisees and scribes complained because Jesus welcomed sinners who drew near to Him. They can’t make sense of the merciful and forgiving love that Jesus was offering. So Jesus tells a story to help them and us to understand.
Who can hear this story and not envision that wayward sheep either deciding to wander off, or getting confused and lost? The shepherd’s love is so great that he doesn’t just sit and wait for the lost one to return. And he doesn’t just walk away with the 99 who stayed. Instead, he leaves the 99 sheep who are in relative safety to go after the lost one.
How often are we that lost one? How often do we love someone who is that lost one? How often are we like the Pharisees, quick to sit in judgment, complaining about the lost one?
Read the rest here.
