24th Sunday of Ordinary Time (C)

 Twenty-fourth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C) [Lk 15:1-32]

11.09.2022

The Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Prodigal Son

Readings: (1) Ex 32:7-11.13-14 (2) 1 Tim 1:12-17

[Note: For today’s reflections we are taking only the shorter version of today’s gospel reading (Lk 15:1-10), since the parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk 15:11-32) will be taken up for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, Year C.]

1.  Theme in brief

God’s joy in forgiving a repentant sinner

2.  Focus Statement

Our God is a God who ceaselessly seeks after and forgives sinners – however insignificant they may be – out of his boundless compassion, and rejoices over their repentance.

3.  Explanation of the text

All the three parables of today’s gospel speak of God’s joy over the repentance and return of a lost sinner. Jesus gives these parables in answer to the grumbling by scribes and Pharisees at his association and table-fellowship with the sinners and tax-collectors (15:2). Through these parables he demonstrates the main reason for his association with them: he wants to project God’s own compassionate love which goes seeking after a sinner until he/she is found.

The first parable of the Lost Sheep begins with the words: “Which one of you…..does not…. go after the one that is lost…. “(15:3). Actually, the opposite is true. Not many of us will like to put the ninety-nine at such a great risk of getting attacked by the wild animals (in places where such animals are rampant) in order to save one strayed sheep. Unless there is a neighbour to keep an eye on the ninety-nine, normal thing a shepherd would do is to save the ninety-nine and forget about the one that is lost. Secondly, which shepherd would really throw a party over the finding of a single lost sheep? Or which woman would bear the expense of a party for finding a single lost coin? It is clear that the parable emphasizes the gratuitous and boundless love of God towards lost sinners. Even if human shepherds may not go, God goes in search of one lost sheep (sinner) out of his boundless love, and he has sent his Son (Jesus) precisely for this mission – to seek out and save the lost (cf. Lk 19:10).

These parables emphasize greatly the extravagant joy with which God welcomes sinners and rejoices over their return. This text brings out the contrast between the grumbling of the Pharisees and scribes and the great joy in heaven as well as on earth when the lost ones are found. We find the words “rejoicing” and “joy” repeated five times in verses 5 -7 and 9-10.  There is more joy in heaven over the change of heart (repentance) of one sinner than over ninety-nine righteous persons (15:10). Here Jesus hints at the scribes and Pharisees – since they object to his association with sinners – who are self-righteous and think that they need no repentance. The point is, God goes in search of sinners and brings them back with love so as to have the joy of forgiving them. The more He forgives the more He rejoices.

The second parable of the Lost Coin is a ’feminine’ parable where God is unusually compared to a woman. True to her feminine trait she goes for minute details as she meticulously seeks after a small sum that is lost – one silver coin out of ten she possessed.  She turns her house upside down by lighting up its darkened areas and sweeping it, thinking that it may tinkle in the rubbish. When she finds it, she cannot contain her joy, but shares it with others. Both the shepherd and the woman invite their friends and neighbours to rejoice over finding one lost sheep and one coin (15:6, 9). The point is clear that God’s mercy towards the lost sinners is as ‘foolish’ as that shepherd who abandons the ninety-nine sheep to save one, and that woman who (to give a modern comparison) throws a party in which she spends a good sum for a single coin. Even an insignificant sinner (as little as a coin) is precious in God’s eyes.

The shepherd and the woman in these parables project the image of a God who actively seeks out each and every individual who is lost. This is the reason why there is an emphasis on the “one” lost sheep out of the ninety-nine and one lost coin out of the ten. God’s finding and rejoicing is also connected to the “one” sinner who repents (15:7; 10). These parables picture God's desire to find sinners and bring them back to the path of love. When a sinner repents and turns back to God, there is so much joy in heaven, as if heaven throws a party.

4.  Application to life 

Harbouring resentment and grudges against those who have wronged us is very much in our human nature. Due to this, we picture God also to be like us – just waiting to be vindictive for the sins we commit against him. From today’s parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin told by Jesus we get totally a different picture of God. He is like the loving parent who has lost the only child and who becomes restless until the child is found. Jesus, through these parables challenges the concept of God, which the Pharisees in his time and many others in our own times have about God. Far from drawing the picture of a revengeful and punishing God (who avenges unrighteousness), Jesus shows in his action as well as in these parables God’s true nature of seeking out the lost sinners, finding, forgiving and rejoicing over their repentance and return. Let us consider the speciality and sharpness of these parables:

First of all, these parables highlight God’s boundless compassion – as such not for sinners in general, but for each and every individual sinner. The shepherd and the woman go after one lost sheep and coin. This shows how much care, concern and compassion God has for each of us whenever we sin. These parables demonstrate the height and depth of his liberating and saving love for the lost. He loves each one of us, as if we were the only objects of his love. He is a God who suffers the loss of one single and insignificant sheep or coin like us. All those who have gone astray, separated from him and totally lost are VIPs for God.

Secondly, we come to know from these parables that God continually takes the initiative to call us to repentance, offers us mercy and forgiveness. He loves us first before we love him and one another (1 Jn 4:19). His initiative in seeking out sinners springs forth from his great compassion for sinners. St. Paul says that “God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8). Left to ourselves, we would have been totally lost. This initiative costs God so much that he allows his Son to become a servant to the point of giving (sacrificing) his life as a ransom for many (Mk 10:45), and dying a disgraceful death on the cross.

Thirdly, we come to know from these parables that our God is a God who actively seeks after those have wandered far away from his presence on account of their sins or have broken off their relationship with him. More than we long for him, he longs for us and wants to bring us back. As sinners we are lost until God finds us. Whenever we break off our relationship with him by our sins we should think how diligently he must be looking for us or seeking after us. God’s rule or Kingdom comes very close to us only when we understand that we are lost. We can be found only when we have the sense of being lost. To be chained to the fetters of sin and evil habits is to be lost and to go astray from the Father’s love. From theses parables we understand that God is not satisfied with waiting for his rebellious children until they return to him after finding a dead-end. Instead, he goes out in search of them out of his abundant love until he finds them just like the shepherd and the woman in today’s stories relentlessly search for the lost sheep and the coin until at last they are found. If we are saved, it is not because we sought after God first, but because God is seeking after us until we were found. It is he who goes after sinners like us as meticulously as that woman (in today’s story) searched for a single lost coin. He is a God who continues to love those who have abandoned him, gone astray in total lovelessness and debasement and who do not care for him the least bit. It is precisely for this – to seek out and save the lost (Lk 19:10) – he sent his Son Jesus.

Fourthly, how greatly God rejoices when sinners come back to him with a repentant heart. He rejoices in forgiving us. We may have so many experiences of being lost and found by our Good Shepherd in the past. If we are lost, it’s not because God lost us. It’s because our sin has caused us to lose him. Even if we stray in future again and again, it is a matter of great joy in our heart to know that we have SOMEONE who is unceasingly looking for us and is waiting to lay us on his shoulders and ‘throw a party’ for us out of his joy. The icon (image) of Jesus laying his lost sheep on his shoulders (15:5) in so many religious pictures is ever in front of our eyes, reminding his care, compassion and concern for the lost ones like us and his joy in accepting us in his loving embrace when we return to him. This kind of love gives us the feeling of how hard-hearted and self-righteous we become (like the scribes and the Pharisees) when we refuse his love and go astray again and again. In a way, we become like a kill-joy when we deprive God of the joy of forgiving us.

Finally, this passage reminds us of our own mission of becoming a shepherd looking out for the lost seep and a woman diligently searching for a lost coin.  Each one of us who has experienced being lost and found, has to show the same concern for others who are lost as the shepherd feels for the lost sheep. There is no dearth of lost, confused, disillusioned and aimless people in our world, even around us. We also have so many unloved, uncared for and neglected people in our society. As disciples of Christ, As disciples of Christ, seeking after the lost "sheep" and "coins" should be our priority also, just as it was our Master’s. We have an obligation to search for the straying sheep, and bring them into the fold, for greater rejoicing.

Sometimes, instead of showing God’s great compassion and concern for the lost ones, and rejoicing over their return, heart of hearts we want to see them destroyed and eliminated, just like the Pharisees. Instead of seeking after them with the intention of saving them, we sometimes avoid them. Today it is fitting to reflect and see whether the reform and improvement of our neighbours give us more sadness and sorrow than joy. If God rejoices over repentant sinners so greatly, should we not? As humans, normally, we rejoice over getting a good result in exams, a new job, a new vehicle, a good profit in business, etc. But do we also rejoice in a similar way when a sinner changes his/ her ways and becomes a better person? Since it does not come to us naturally, motivated by attitude of God towards repentant sinners, we need to practice it out of choice.

If Jesus came to seek out and save sinners, should we not consider it our mission also, as his disciples? The Lord makes us his instruments to bring back the lost one to him. Even if we do not succeed always in this mission, we are called to be faithful to it. After the model of Christ, we too can become ‘shepherds’ to the lost ‘sheep’ in various ways:  a father can become a shepherd by spending time with his children to guide and direct them; a mother by nursing, caring and supporting a sick/ disobedient/ mischievous child; a teacher by locating and helping dull students; a leader of a committee/ council/ organization by going to visit those who do not come for meetings…

5.  Response to God's Word

Do we have a keen sense of being lost now and then, or are we like the self-righteous Pharisees? Do we feel that God is continuously looking for us and waiting to see our return? Do we feel that around us there are people who are lost and need a return to their Father’s house? Today how can we become a shepherd to the lost, disillusioned and neglected people? Does reform and improvement of our neighbours bring more sadness and sorrow to us than joy? Do we rejoice more over the going astray of sinners than over their return? Do we share the joy of our neighbours when they change their ways and improve their conduct? Like God, do we experience joy in forgiving somebody who has hurt or harmed us? Or, if ever we forgive, we do it grudgingly?

6.  A Prayer

What thanks can we render you, O merciful God, for your boundless compassion! You are a God who goes out in search of sinners like us out of your boundless love and mercy until we are found. You continually call us to repentance and offer us mercy and forgiveness. In the past whenever we were lost, you came in search of us. Even if we stray in future again and again, we know that we have SOMEONE who is unceasingly looking for us and is waiting to lay us on his shoulders. May this thought melt our hearts in such a way that we consider going astray from you as the greatest act of ingratitude and betrayal. May this experience lead us to realize the need of radiating this love to those who are lost, disillusioned, unloved and uncared for around us. Amen.