Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!

 

 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 now great multitudes went with Jesus.  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 explains that for pious Jews, fellowship with sinners was defiling to them.  Tax collectors were Jews who worked for the Roman occupiers among the Jewish community, frequently extorting extra income for themselves. Jesus replies with three parables; in today's reading, we are given two of them in the verses that follow.

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."  In patristic literature, there is a spiritual interpretation given for this parable, in which the hundred sheep represent all rational creation.  The one sheep who goes astray symbolizes humankind, while the ninety-nine (a symbolic number)  represent the angelic realm.  The man, of course, is Christ, who in His Incarnation descended from heaven to pursue the one sheep -- human beings -- who had fallen into corruption on earth.  In another interpretation, Christ, unlike earthly shepherds, sees such value in one sheep that He will leave the others at risk in order to save it.  In that understanding, the ninety-nine sheep represent the righteous who remain faithful to God. 

"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 explains that ten silver coins comprise a single necklace worn by a married woman; that is, a bride, which is an image of the Church (Ephesians 5:32).  The lost coin (called a drachma in the Greek), which carried the image of the king, is a symbol of humankind, who, through bearing the image of God, fell from grace.  Through the Church, my study Bible says, Christ enlightens the world, sweeps away sin, and finds His lost creation.  

If we read today's reading with the images in mind from the teachings of Jesus in yesterday's reading, we juxtapose the tremendous efforts Christ makes to save human beings together with His teachings on the demands of discipleship.  If we do that, we're compelled to view the demands of becoming one of Christ's disciples as revealing the extraordinary importance to God of this salvation mission by Christ.  In that sense, it is worthy of every sacrifice -- and this includes, of course, not only the sacrifices asked in discipleship, but even the sacrifice which Christ Himself will make on the Cross.  Think of the Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, fully God, consenting to become fully human and live through the experience of what it is to bear God's holiness into this world, and suffer the responses of corruption carried out against Him.  We keep in mind St. Paul's admonition that "we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12).  In so doing, we come to understand the great challenge given to Christ to become a human being and enter into our world.  The message of His own willingness to sacrifice must be seen as another tremendous indication of the central importance of this saving mission in the sight of God, and for the entirety of creation.  These parables in today's reading (and the parable of the Prodigal Son, which we will read in tomorrow's lectionary reading), emphasize the overwhelming sense of importance for Christ's mission, and convey to us even more deeply the love of God that would seek out that which is lost to God.  These parables seem to suggest to us that, for God, His creation is not complete unless all of His creation is with God, saved in this sense. If the man with the one hundred sheep is Christ, and if the woman represents the Church, then the One who will not stop seeking until all is found is God, and we might even be able to understand God's intense and unyielding love as that which desires us even more deeply than we know our own desire can be.  For these parables tell us of extraordinary action to seek, and deep unsatisfaction until that which is lost is found.  In the Old Testament, we read the words God has spoken proclaiming that God is a jealous God (Exodus 20:4-6; Deuteronomy 5:8-10).  Let us understand, moreover, that the word translated as "jealous" can also mean "zealous."  Either case gives us unambiguously the kind of love that God feels for us, and that God will not rest unless every means has been tried to bring us, God's beloved, back to God.  It's important to understand from the text, however, that the means back to home, to God's embrace, is repentance.  Let us take courage with this knowledge in that, no matter what we think we see around us in the world, and the disappointments of those who have let us down, God's love knows no boundaries to bring all back to God's place of love.   In John's Gospel, Jesus tells the disciples, "Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me" (John 16:32).  And so this is the fullness of God's love for us, for God is always with us, always seeking to bring us back who were lost, always searching to find those of us who are lost but never abandoned.