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, at this stage 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 -- 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."   Our reading begins with the criticism (or complaint) of the Pharisees and the scribes against Jesus, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."   My study Bible comments that fellowship with sinners defiled pious Jews.  Jesus responds with three parables in this chapter as His answer to this complaint.  The parables that follow (two in today's reading; and another in tomorrow's, which is the parable of the Prodigal or Lost Son) are seen by St. Ambrose of Milan as representing Christ, the Church, and God the Father.  He comments, "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."  In the spiritual interpretation in patristic commentary, these hundred sheep represent all rational creation, says my study Bible.  In this perspective, the one sheep who goes astray is symbolic of human beings, and the ninety-nine represent the angelic realm.   In this understanding, Christ descended from heaven to pursue the one sheep -- humankind -- who had fallen into corruption on earth. 

"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 comments that ten silver coins comprise a single necklace worn by a married woman, a bride, which is an image of the Church (Ephesians 5:32).  The lost coin (in Greek δραχμή, a drachma) carried an image of the king.  Symbolizing humankind, who, although we bear 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.  

The images Jesus gives in the parables we find in today's reading all speak to us of completion.  The necklace of the ten coins is simply not complete without the missing tenth coin.  Without that coin, it's not just a diminished necklace or even a broken one.  The implication is that it is no longer the bridal necklace for a married woman, it's not the necklace proper to who she is.  The same is true of the missing sheep.  Christ's implication is that without that missing sheep, and even having the ninety-nine, the flock is not full, it's not complete -- and God asks always for fullness, completeness, the fullness of God's creation and plan.  It's tells us that fullness is part of God's reality, God's identity.  If something is not full in the sense of completeness, it is not of the nature of God, our Creator.  The fullness of time, in this sense, is something else implied in these parables.  If Christ has come into the world to search for the lost sheep, to reclaim that which has been lost, He has come even as Physician, to heal those who are sick and in need, to create the fullness of the healing of humanity by calling sinners to repentance (see Luke 5:30-32).   All of this implies that the fullness of time is part of the necessary understanding of Christ's mission and what He is doing as the incarnate Jesus in the world.  This is a mission in which the central point is the culmination of the worldly ministry in the Cross and Resurrection, but the fullness of that mission is only seen through the fullness of creation.  What we might understand from this is that we need to understand our Lord as the One who seeks us with a need that is beyond what we can even understand, because if indeed we are so ultimately necessary that He would seek out the one stray and leave the ninety-nine, that the necklace is simply not complete without that missing coin, then each of us has a kind of belonging in God's love that is impossible for us to calculate.  This is because only God really knows what the fullness of God's creation is, and is supposed to be.  Only the Lord knows our purpose and calling in that ultimate fullness of what hope lies in creation, and particularly in the creation of human beings.  What these parables illustrate also is the heart of God, because it is God who seeks us, and who suggests to us that without every one of us, God feels this deep need to call us back, to come and seek and find us, to call us to repentance, to return God's love (for this is really the meaning of repentance).  In fact, perhaps the deepest form of unrequited love, beyond anything that you or I could understand through our own painful experiences, might be the love that God has for us -- so often have prophets been sent, and Christ Himself was sent, to call us back to God.  Here is a parallel mystery, that God loves us so much that God will not be content without our love which must be given freely, not coerced or compelled, for without freedom there is no love.  We have that freedom to stray because of God's love for us, for God wants us from our whole hearts, a returned love freely given.  If we want to understand Christ's suffering to come, let us understand the Cross in this light, "for God so loved the world" that the Son will suffer and die and undergo human death to call us back with His whole heart -- with a love so great it's beyond our knowing.  Jesus tells us that "there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."  The joy of this completeness is rooted in God's love for each one of us.

 

It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found

 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."

* * *

Then He said:  "A certain man had two sons.  And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'  So he divided to them his livelihood.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.  But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.  Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants."'  And he arose and came to his father.  But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.  And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  And they began to be merry.

"Now his older son was in the field.  And as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'  But he was angry and would not go in.  Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.  So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'"

- Luke 15:1-2; Luke 15:11-32

Yesterday, we read that all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Jesus 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."

 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."   We begin with the complaint to which Jesus replied (in yesterday's reading, above) with two parables.  One of them was about the lost sheep that was found; the other the found silver coin that went missing from a woman's necklace.  In both parables, the owner sought what had been lost; having found it, exclaimed, "Rejoice with me."    By tradition, we may see Christ as the shepherd who rejoices over the lost sheep that was found, and the Church as the married woman, the bride, who seeks and finds mankind who bears the image of the King, Christ, returning us to grace.

Then He said:  "A certain man had two sons.  And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.'  So he divided to them his livelihood.  And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living."  In Greek, the word for the portion of goods requested by the son is ousia, which literally means "essence."  My study bible says that this indicates human beings receiving free will and a rational mind from God.  As did Adam in Eden, the younger son uses these possessions to rebel against his father.  The far country represents life in exile from God.

"But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.  Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.  And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything."   That this man would find himself in a place where his job was to feed swine is an indication of how far he has sunk down.  For a Jew this is nearly the lowest rung possible in life.  Certainly the image would not be lost on the Pharisees and scribes to whom Jesus is speaking!

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!  I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.  Make me like one of your hired servants."'  And he arose and came to his father."  That this young man came to himself is the text teaching us about true self:  being immersed in sin is straying far away from the true person we are (Romans 7:17-20).  My study bible says that this prodigal realizes his hopeless condition.  The bread symbolizes Christ, who is known through the Scriptures and the Eucharist.

"But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.  And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'"  In Jewish culture  it was considered unseemly for an old man to run.  And yet, this father does not passively stand by awaiting the return of his son.  He not only ran to him but fell on his neck and kissed him, in the fullness of an open display of emotion.  This is a kind of self-humiliation for the sake of the lost.  My study bible says it indicates the way in which our Father, through Christ's sacrifice, actively seeks those who stray.

"And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.'  But the father said to his servants, 'Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet."  My study bible says that the significance of the robe is righteousness granted by baptism (Isaiah 61:10), the signet ring is family identity (Haggai 2:23), and the sandals refer to walking according to the gospel (Ephesians 6:15).  

"And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'  And they began to be merry."  My study bible explains that fatted calf is more closely translated as "wheat-fed bull calf," or even more literally "a bull-calf formed from wheat."  That means this is a male calf that was raised on wheat in preparation for use as a religious offering, and why this is so significant.   The fullness of reconciliation of the prodigal son isn't complete without the sacrifice of this calf; it's an illustration that a person's reconciliation to God isn't by his or her repentance alone, but by Christ offering Himself on the Cross.  This festive dining on an animal offering that is "formed from wheat" gives us a reference to our sharing in the eucharistic bread.    The father's actions are another way of commanding all, "Rejoice with me!"

"Now his older son was in the field.  And as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing.  So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.  And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf.'  But he was angry and would not go in."  The resentment of the older son is meant to illustrate the hard-heartedness of the Pharisees to whom Christ is telling the parable.  My study bible cites Cyril of Alexandria, who writes that God requires His followers to rejoice when the most blamable man is called to repentance.

"Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.  So he answered and said to his father, 'Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.  But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.'  And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.  It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.'"  The older son fails to recognize his own sins.  This leads to his self-righteous and merciless attitude.  The younger son's contrition stands out by comparison.  Ambrose of Milan writes, "The one who seems to himself to be righteous, who does not see the beam in his own eye, becomes angry when forgiveness is granted to one who confesses his sin and begs for mercy."  The elder son also expresses a kind of blind ingratitude when he says, "You never gave me a young goat."  The father has already given him all he has.

What does it mean to be ungrateful?  Clearly the older son, in his resentment, doesn't see what he has and what has always been on offer to him.  I think that often when we have so much, it's such a common human foible to take it all for granted, and only look to what we think we don't have.  This happens, often, with wealth.  It's been observed that in our society, it's easy to get caught up in the demands of upward mobility.  Crossing a threshold of a certain amount of income one thought would be desirable leaves many people with the feeling that if they only had a bit more, things would be better -- and this pattern just continues to repeat itself through time and more income.  It's easy to overlook what we have.  How does this apply to God's love for us?  Rejoice with me is the theme of the three parables Christ has given to these Pharisees and scribes.  He has come opening doors for those who are sinners, who have been excluded from the wedding feast.  Repentance is the key, and teaches us that God is always ready to celebrate our return.  Not only is God ready, but the command goes out that the rest of us should rejoice with God, as do the angels ("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," from yesterday's reading).   Is there some way in which resentment is playing a role in your life?  "Entitlement" is a common word we hear today, and I think we can definitely apply it to the Pharisees and scribes in the Gospels, as their behavior bears out this kind of assumption and even resentment of Christ.  Mark's Gospel tells us that Pilate knew that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy (Mark 15:10).  There's an underlying hint that Christ understands these people much better than they know themselves in the envy and resentment of the older son.  The irony is that not only does his sense of entitlement keep him from being happy for his father, but it locks him out of the feast, the celebration of the whole household in reconciliation.  It keeps him from understanding that all of it already belongs to him.  The older son would be the favored heir anyway, by tradition.  Entitlement of this sort ironically works as a plank in our own eye that effectively keeps us, hinders us, from realizing all that we truly have.  It keeps us from understanding the great wealth of our blessings that are already present to us.  Let us learn to practice gratitude if only for the sake of our clear sight, our own happiness, and the joy we can share in with others.