The lost sheep
1Meanwhile tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what he had to say. 2But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So Jesus told them this parable:
4 ① “Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and seek out the lost one till he finds it? 5And finding it, will he not joyfully carry it home on his shoulders? 6Then he will call his friends and neighbors together and say: ‘Celebrate with me for I have found my lost sheep.’ 7I tell you, just so, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine upright who do not need to repent. 8What woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, will not light a lamp and sweep the house in a thorough search till she finds the lost coin? 9And finding it, she will call her friends and neighbors and say: ‘Celebrate with me for I have found the silver coin I lost!’ 10I tell you, in the same way there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.”
The prodigal son
11 ② Jesus continued, “There was a man with two sons. 12The younger said to his father: ‘Give me my share of the estate.’ So the father divided his property between them.
13Some days later, the younger son gathered all his belongings and started off for a distant land where he squandered his wealth in loose living. 14Having spent everything, he was hard pressed when a severe famine broke out in that land. 15So he hired himself out to a well-to-do citizen of that place and was sent to work on a pig farm. 16So famished was he that he longed to fill his stomach even with the food given to the pigs, but no one offered him anything.
17Finally coming to his senses, he said: ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will get up and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against God and before you. 19I no longer deserve to be called your son. Treat me then as one of your hired servants.’ With that thought in mind he set off for his father’s house.
20He was still a long way off when his father caught sight of him. His father was so deeply moved with compassion that he ran out to meet him, threw his arms around his neck and kissed him. 21The son said: ‘Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son…’
22But the father turned to his servants: ‘Quick! Bring out the finest robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Take the fattened calf and kill it. We shall celebrate and have a feast, 24for this son of mine was dead and has come back to life. He was lost and is found.’ And the celebration began.
25Meanwhile, the elder son had been working in the fields. As he returned and was near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. 26He called one of the servants and asked what it was all about. 27The servant answered: ‘Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father is so happy about it that he has ordered this celebration and killed the fattened calf.’
28The elder son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and pleaded with him. 29The indignant son said: ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years. Never have I disobeyed your orders. Yet you have never given me even a young goat to celebrate with my friends. 30Then when this son of yours returns after squandering your property with loose women, you kill the fattened calf for him.’ 31The father said: ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But this brother of yours was dead, and has come back to life. He was lost and is found. And for that we had to rejoice and be glad.’”
- Lk 15,4 THE BLACK SHEEP Why do the Pharisees complain? Because they are scrupulously concerned about ritual purity. In this perspective - present in the Old Testament - in a relationship between two people, the one who is unclean will contaminate the other. Since sinners by definition never think of purifying themselves of the hundred and one impurities of daily life, Jesus could then be considered a teacher ready to become impure at any moment. So it is that Jesus will speak of God's mercy that has not swept away sinners from his presence. Then again, is not there something more human in the indignation of good people: let everyone see the difference between us and the rest! Once more Jesus battles against the old idea of merits that have been gained and therefore worthy of God's reward. Happy the one sheep Jesus went after, leaving the ninety-nine! Poor righteous ones who do not need God's forgiveness! In large cities today, the church seems to be left with only one sheep. Why does she not get out, namely, let go of her income, privileges or devotions of a commercial style, to go out looking for the ninety-nine who got lost? To leave the comfortable circle of believers who have no problems, to look beyond our renewed rituals, and to be ready to be criticized just as Jesus was criticized, is the challenge today. Who lights the lamp, sweeps the house and searches except God himself? Out of respect for God, the Jews of Jesus' time preferred not to name him, and they used expressions such as the angels or heaven. Lk 15,11 ORIGINAL SIN THE PRODIGAL FATHER There are three characters in this parable: the father, representing God; the older son, the Pharisee. Who is the younger son? Is he the sinner or perhaps Man? The Man wants freedom and thinks, many times, that God takes it away from him. He begins by leaving the Father, whose love he does not understand and whose presence has become a burden to him. After having wasted the heritage whose value he does not appreciate, he loses his honor and becomes the slave of others and of shameful actions (pigs were unclean animals to the Jews). The son returns. Having become aware of his slavery, he convinces himself that God has a better destiny in mind for him, and he begins on the road back to his home. Upon returning, he discovers that the Father is very different from the idea that he had formed of him: the father is waiting for him and runs to meet him; he restores his dignity, erasing the memory of the lost inheritance. There is a celebration of the feast to which Jesus referred so many times. At last we understand that God is Father. He did not put us on earth to collect merits and rewards but to discover that we are his children. We are born sinners: from the start of our lives we are led by our feelings and the bad example of the society in which we have been raised. There is still more: as long as God does not take the initiative and reveal himself to us, we cannot think of freedom other than in terms of becoming independent of him. God is not surprised by our wickedness since, in creating us free, he accepted the risk that we might fall. God is with all of us in our experience of good and evil, until he can call us his sons and daughters, thanks to his only Son, Jesus. Note this marvelous phrase: I have sinned against God and before you. Sin goes against Heaven, that is, against God who it truth and holiness. But God is also the Father concerned for his son; the son has sinned before the one who draws good from evil. Such is our God and Father, the one who creates us day after day, without our being aware of it, while we go on our way; the one who seeks sinners whom he can fill with his treasures. The older son, the one who obeys, though with a closed heart, understands none of this. He has served with the hope of being rewarded, or at least, the hope of being seen as superior to others; and he is incapable to welcome sinners or to participate in the feast of Christ, because, in fact, he does not know how to love.
- Lk 15,4 THE BLACK SHEEP Why do the Pharisees complain? Because they are scrupulously concerned about ritual purity. In this perspective - present in the Old Testament - in a relationship between two people, the one who is unclean will contaminate the other. Since sinners by definition never think of purifying themselves of the hundred and one impurities of daily life, Jesus could then be considered a teacher ready to become impure at any moment. So it is that Jesus will speak of God's mercy that has not swept away sinners from his presence. Then again, is not there something more human in the indignation of good people: let everyone see the difference between us and the rest! Once more Jesus battles against the old idea of merits that have been gained and therefore worthy of God's reward. Happy the one sheep Jesus went after, leaving the ninety-nine! Poor righteous ones who do not need God's forgiveness! In large cities today, the church seems to be left with only one sheep. Why does she not get out, namely, let go of her income, privileges or devotions of a commercial style, to go out looking for the ninety-nine who got lost? To leave the comfortable circle of believers who have no problems, to look beyond our renewed rituals, and to be ready to be criticized just as Jesus was criticized, is the challenge today. Who lights the lamp, sweeps the house and searches except God himself? Out of respect for God, the Jews of Jesus' time preferred not to name him, and they used expressions such as the angels or heaven. Lk 15,11 ORIGINAL SIN THE PRODIGAL FATHER There are three characters in this parable: the father, representing God; the older son, the Pharisee. Who is the younger son? Is he the sinner or perhaps Man? The Man wants freedom and thinks, many times, that God takes it away from him. He begins by leaving the Father, whose love he does not understand and whose presence has become a burden to him. After having wasted the heritage whose value he does not appreciate, he loses his honor and becomes the slave of others and of shameful actions (pigs were unclean animals to the Jews). The son returns. Having become aware of his slavery, he convinces himself that God has a better destiny in mind for him, and he begins on the road back to his home. Upon returning, he discovers that the Father is very different from the idea that he had formed of him: the father is waiting for him and runs to meet him; he restores his dignity, erasing the memory of the lost inheritance. There is a celebration of the feast to which Jesus referred so many times. At last we understand that God is Father. He did not put us on earth to collect merits and rewards but to discover that we are his children. We are born sinners: from the start of our lives we are led by our feelings and the bad example of the society in which we have been raised. There is still more: as long as God does not take the initiative and reveal himself to us, we cannot think of freedom other than in terms of becoming independent of him. God is not surprised by our wickedness since, in creating us free, he accepted the risk that we might fall. God is with all of us in our experience of good and evil, until he can call us his sons and daughters, thanks to his only Son, Jesus. Note this marvelous phrase: I have sinned against God and before you. Sin goes against Heaven, that is, against God who it truth and holiness. But God is also the Father concerned for his son; the son has sinned before the one who draws good from evil. Such is our God and Father, the one who creates us day after day, without our being aware of it, while we go on our way; the one who seeks sinners whom he can fill with his treasures. The older son, the one who obeys, though with a closed heart, understands none of this. He has served with the hope of being rewarded, or at least, the hope of being seen as superior to others; and he is incapable to welcome sinners or to participate in the feast of Christ, because, in fact, he does not know how to love.
