Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents

 

 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 Christ's 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 -- least, 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 met 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 sale 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."  Regarding today's entire reading (and two more verses that follow), my study bible comments that fellowship with sinners defiled pious Jews.  Christ begins three parables which will follow in this chapter, which are His answer to the Pharisees and scribes.  The protagonists in each of those parables (the man, the woman, and the father in verses 4-32 represent Christ, the Church, and God the Father.   There is a quotation here by St. 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."   The Patristic spiritual interpretation of this parable tells us that the hundred sheep represent all rational creation.  The one sheep who goes astray is a symbol of humankind.  The ninety-nine, a powerful number, represent the angelic realm.  Christ descended from the spiritual realm to find the one sheep, humankind, and to save us.

"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."  My study bible tells us that ten silver coins comprise a single necklace worn by a married woman, a bride, and this is an image of the Church (Ephesians 5:32).   The lost coin (in the original Greek, a drachma), carried an image of the king.  This image of the king symbolizes humankind, who, although bearing the image of Christ, fell from grace.  Through the Church, Christ enlightens the world, sweeps away sin, and finds God's lost creation.  

In tomorrow's reading Jesus will give us the famous parable, which appears only in Luke, of the Prodigal Son.  This will complete the trilogy of parables Jesus gives to teach us about God's efforts to save even one sinner, so that each one may find reunion with God's love.  But let us examine today's parables, and see what Christ is saying to us.  The stray sheep for which the shepherd leaves the other ninety-nine and goes in search to save it distinctly puts us in mind of the story of the demoniac named Legion.  (See this reading for his story.)   In that passage, we read that Jesus made the disciples set sail through a terrible storm on the Sea of Galilee, to come to a deserted place in which there was a man who lived only among the tombs, and was not in his right mind.  He was inhabited by a legion of demons, and lived among those who did not care about his healing at all, but in the unfolding of the story it was understand that he deeply desired the healing of Christ, and was so grateful he wanted to come with Jesus and the disciples back with them.  But he was sent out by Christ to be a kind of early evangelist to his own community about the great things God had done for him.  In that story, Jesus set sail through treacherous dangers seemingly just to find and heal that one man.  And so, this story of the ninety-nine sheep left behind (and for an every day shepherd, left to danger!) to pursue the one that was lost, illustrates this same point.  God is not an "every day" shepherd, but a divine Shepherd, and so we have an illustration of the power of love through which God will act to save even one of us for whom God has hope of restoration of communion and loving relationship.  What we should come to understand is that God's "efforts" at love are not our human efforts, and exceed extraordinarily beyond the level of passion we are capable of understanding about love on human terms.  God does not weigh or measure effort for us, but rather will seek by any extraordinary means, especially those of which we cannot even conceive, to retrieve us and save us and return us to God's love and communion.  This is what we must take that is expressed in these stories.  Who cannot relate to seeking that one object that completes a set when it goes missing, and making all kinds of effort -- that seemingly outweigh the value of the lost object -- in order to retrieve it?  This nature we share with our Lord, that love seeks out its own that has been lost, and will make great effort to find it.  If we are to take these parables in context of one another, we can understand that God has "efforts" to make that are possible to God, which go way beyond what is possible for us.  If you or I would go as far as the women to sweep up the floor and look everywhere to find a lost coin to a set, think of the efforts God can put out -- especially through God's invisible forces of angels -- for one of us who might be brought back into this communion of love.  Let us understand, then, from Christ's parables the extraordinary possibilities in God's love for us, and the incalculable efforts made for each one as we all upon God.  There are all sorts of efforts, possibilities, and powers we don't know, can't see, and cannot estimate at work in God's love for us.  Call on God in prayer, and ask for God's help in restoration of that love and care at all times, and through all circumstances.  God's efforts and God's love are far greater than we can calculate, beyond the scope of our understanding of love, and in power unyielding to any limitations.