Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
As I read today’s gospel about the parable of the lost sheep and coin, I couldn’t help but relate to the feelings the shepherd and the woman must have felt when each found the lost sheep or lost coin. I remember vividly the paralyzing feeling I had years ago when I lost my three-year old daughter for several minutes at the 2nd Street Market. I had asked her to throw something away in the garbage can which was directly behind her while I turned to feed a snack to her baby sister. When I turned around she was gone. As each second passed, the panic set in. Hundreds of horrible thoughts ran through my mind. As I wandered around the market for what seemed like an eternity (probably a total of 3 minutes), I finally spotted her carefully throwing away her trash in the only garbage can she remembered, which was about 20 to 30 yards away. Pure joy and relief came over me when I saw her. I ran and hugged her!
Perhaps you can recall a time when you had to find something or someone you had lost. Perhaps it sent you into a frantic and thorough search. In Luke 15: 1-10, Jesus gives us two examples of people searching for what was precious to them and the joy that came when they found it. He used these examples to explain to us how God seeks us, and his joy when our relationship with him is renewed. What I find even more interesting, however, was how Jesus used these two parables to challenge the Pharisees and scribes who were clearly uneasy with Jesus’s friendliness with sinners. Sometimes we can be tempted to pass judgment on sinners. St. Paul offers us a clear message. “For this is why Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living. Why then do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you look down on your brother or sister? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God” (Romans 14: 9-10). The self-righteous Pharisees failed to see their need to repent. Jesus reinforced his point that the restoration of lost sinners is a cause for great rejoicing in heaven. “I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous ones who have no need of repentance” (Luke 15:7).
We can take our example from the woman who left no room untouched looking for her precious coin. The joy she experienced when finding her coin sent her exclaiming her good news to friends and neighbors alike. When we seek forgiveness from our God, and our relationship is restored, this too is cause for rejoicing! God longed for us so much that He offered up His Son as a sacrificial lamb. St. Luke reminds us that we can come to Him endlessly to be cleansed of our sins and brought back into His loving embrace. Let our prayer today be: Lord, give us courage and strength to admit our wrongdoings. Like the one lost sheep, when we do, heaven will celebrate.
-Jessica Gabrielli