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Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."
So He spoke this parable to them, saying: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!' Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
- Luke 15:1-10
Yesterday, we read that at this point in Jesus' ministry, great multitudes went with Him. And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish'? Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." My study bible says that fellowship with sinners defiled pious Jews. Jesus gives three parables in this chapter as an answer to this criticism by the Pharisees and scribes. In today's reading, we find two of them (the third will be in tomorrow's reading). In today's reading, says my study bible, the man in the first parable is traditionally seen as representing Christ, and the woman in the second represents the Church. Tomorrow's reading will include the parable of the Prodigal Son, and, in that reading, the father is seen as representing God the Father. My study bible quotes Ambrose of Milan: "Christ carries the sinner, the Church seeks and intercedes, and the Father receives."
So He spoke this parable to them, saying: "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance." My study bible tells us that in the Fathers' spiritual interpretation, the hundred sheep represent all rational creation. That one sheep that goes astray symbolizes mankind -- human beings -- while the ninety-nine are the angelic realm. Christ has come incarnate into this world, leaving the heavenly, in order to save that which was lost.
"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!' Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." A married woman, suggests my study bible, would wear a necklace of ten silver coins, and a bride is the image of the Church (see Ephesians 5:32). This lost coin (drachma, in the Greek) which would carry the image of the king, symbolizes mankind, who, although bearing the image of God, has fallen from grace. "Through the Church," my study bible says, "Christ enlightens the world, sweeps away sin, and finds His lost creation."
Regardless of how we may look at these parables (i.e. would an ancient shepherd really leave ninety-nine sheep alone in the wilderness to pursue one lost sheep?) there is one thing that is really very clear in Christ's beautiful and brilliant storytelling: we all understand what it is to lose something, even some small part of what we have, and to search for it and find it again. We all understand the great and almost inexplicable joy in that something was lost to us -- no matter how small a piece of what it is that we treasure in life or that is important to us -- and it has been returned somehow. This applies to old friendships, even lost family relationships, and so many other things we might think of as special to us or precious in some sense. We know what joy that is to recover something we thought was lost to us, especially after making a careful search when the odds were against us. I've had this experience recently, in which an old colleague from long ago suddenly found me via the internet. I had searched, but not found, but suddenly my old friend became active via social media. She was like the lost sheep that I'd had to give up on, who suddenly was found again. It was a feeling of great joy. Christ loves us in ways that we can't understand, and we can imagine that the joy in heaven that comes from beings quite pure in heart is something ecstatic, even beyond our own comprehension somehow. If we, who know love in our own imperfect ways, can experience joy at finding what we thought was lost, we can get just a glimpse of this joy in heaven that Christ here is speaking about. He's giving us a heavenly point of view in these parables. He's teaching about the Kingdom of God, and He's teaching us about God and God's love for us. And this gives us a great revelation about the nature of the Kingdom into which we enter; it's one of tremendous love, where that love encompasses a complete rehabilitation of relationships. The joy experienced from salvation isn't just our own joy, it's the joy of God, it's the joy of heaven, it's the joy of all the angels. So when we understand that this joy awaits us, that so many beings -- an infinite and incalculable number -- await our presence "with them," how can this not affect us in some way? It seems to me also tied to prayer, in which our prayers are heard in this place where so many rejoice at our presence, with them. In the communion of saints, after all, there is a kind of timeless place, unbound by restrictions of space, in which we meet and know one another, in which communication is direct and all are present to one another. This makes us think again about the love and joy in which we can participate, which we can feel and experience, which awaits us in this realm of the Kingdom. This is the reality that Christ has brought into the world, for us to join into and be "found again. This is the place that intersects within our world, that is in our world but not "of it" (see John 17:15-16, Romans 12:2). It is this place of tremendously inconceivable, beyond-our-understanding, infinite love and joy that Christ invites us in to experience, to come to know, to be a part of. This is the mystery of the Kingdom, opened to us so that we can catch even a glimpse of that which embraces and loves us. Shall we not participate?
