Lost-and-found parables
Published Sep 11, 2022 12:05 am
REFLECTIONS TODAY
Luke 15:1-10
Many public buildings have a corner called “Lost and Found.” It is a place where things that people have lost are stored and from which the owners may retrieve them. On occasions when people are packed together — i.e., during a visit to the cemetery on All Souls’ Day, or Christmas shopping — there is a “Lost and Found” place where lost children are kept until they are recovered by their parent or guardian. Luke has three lost-and-found parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, representing animals, material possessions, and human beings. The first two parables are featured in today’s Gospel (short form). These parables are aimed by Luke at the Pharisees and scribes who complain that Jesus is welcoming sinners and eating with them. They illustrate Jesus’ particular concern for the lost and God’s love for the repentant sinner.
When a sheep goes astray, the shepherd will go looking for it. Sheep are always valuable commodities no matter what the size of the flock is. The other 99 are not being abandoned or put at risk, because for a flock of a hundred, ordinarily there is more than one shepherd. As one sheep is so precious that it is unthinkable to let it go astray, so it is unthinkable that any brother or sister be left to wander off. For it is the will of the heavenly Father that none of the “little ones” be lost.
The coin in the parable is a drachma, which is a Greek silver coin. Like the lost sheep, the woman considers it as something valuable. She spares no effort in locating it. First, she lights a lamp, so she can see clearly. Next, she is not content of simply glancing here and there; she uses a broom or some utensils to sweep the floor so she can reach the places which otherwise might be inaccessible to her. And great is her joy when she finds the coin.
Commenting on these parables of mercy, Pope Francis writes, “In these parables, God is always presented as full of joy, especially when he pardons. In them we find the core of the Gospel and of our faith, because mercy is presented as a force that overcomes everything, filling the heart with love and bringing consolation through pardon” (Misericordiae Vultus, 9).
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.
Luke 15:1-10
Many public buildings have a corner called “Lost and Found.” It is a place where things that people have lost are stored and from which the owners may retrieve them. On occasions when people are packed together — i.e., during a visit to the cemetery on All Souls’ Day, or Christmas shopping — there is a “Lost and Found” place where lost children are kept until they are recovered by their parent or guardian. Luke has three lost-and-found parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son, representing animals, material possessions, and human beings. The first two parables are featured in today’s Gospel (short form). These parables are aimed by Luke at the Pharisees and scribes who complain that Jesus is welcoming sinners and eating with them. They illustrate Jesus’ particular concern for the lost and God’s love for the repentant sinner.
When a sheep goes astray, the shepherd will go looking for it. Sheep are always valuable commodities no matter what the size of the flock is. The other 99 are not being abandoned or put at risk, because for a flock of a hundred, ordinarily there is more than one shepherd. As one sheep is so precious that it is unthinkable to let it go astray, so it is unthinkable that any brother or sister be left to wander off. For it is the will of the heavenly Father that none of the “little ones” be lost.
The coin in the parable is a drachma, which is a Greek silver coin. Like the lost sheep, the woman considers it as something valuable. She spares no effort in locating it. First, she lights a lamp, so she can see clearly. Next, she is not content of simply glancing here and there; she uses a broom or some utensils to sweep the floor so she can reach the places which otherwise might be inaccessible to her. And great is her joy when she finds the coin.
Commenting on these parables of mercy, Pope Francis writes, “In these parables, God is always presented as full of joy, especially when he pardons. In them we find the core of the Gospel and of our faith, because mercy is presented as a force that overcomes everything, filling the heart with love and bringing consolation through pardon” (Misericordiae Vultus, 9).
Source: “365 Days with the Lord 2022,” St. Pauls, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 632-895-9701; Fax 632-895-7328; E-mail: [email protected]; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.