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Gospel: Luke 15: 1-10
The tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying,
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So Jesus addressed this parable to them.
“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’
I tell you, in just the same way
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous people
who have no need of repentance.
“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one
would not light a lamp and sweep the house,
searching carefully until she finds it?
And when she does find it,
she calls together her friends and neighbors
and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost.’
In just the same way, I tell you,
there will be rejoicing among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.”
The Gospel of the Lord.
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Jesus can never be outdone in humility.
Unlike most in this world, he always sought the place of least importance. He was born in a stable amongst animals, he spent his infancy as a refugee, he ate and drank with sinners, and he died willingly on a cross, a form of torture reserved only for the worst of criminals.
His humble heart is revealed again in today’s Gospel parable. “What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine and go after the lost until he finds it?” he asks.
In ancient Palestine, shepherds were lumped into the same low-class band of characters as tax collectors. They were considered to be ritually unclean and thieves because they often wandered onto other people’s land.
Yet this is the image Jesus gives us of God – a humble herder of animals, who will risk his own life to save one of his creatures.
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Often we associate the lost sheep as being the “black sheep,” the outsider, the untouchable person in society, who is not one of “us.”
However, this is not an accurate read of the parable.
This sheep is considered to be part of the flock, one of the one hundred. There is no indication that it was the sheep’s fault it got separated; the focus is on the shepherd who risks everything to find it.
What, then, was the Lord saying to the religious leaders of his day?
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By creating hundreds of strict, nearly impossible, rules for ordinary believers to follow, the scribes and Pharisees made religion – and, ultimately access to God – untenable. They were the ones who caused people of good will to become separated from the flock.
Jesus was urging them to seek the lost and to bring them back.
Similarly, in what ways do believers today push people away from God? How might we bring them back?
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Humility.
Today may we live like the God who has, “loved us and given himself for us.”
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Image credits: (1) Be Humble and Proudly, New York Times (2) North Texas Catholic (3) Amino Ads