24th. Sunday of Year (3)
(Exodus 32:
7-11, 13-14; 1Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10)
In today’s Gospel reading we are told that Our Blessed Lord
was aware – did He just know their hearts or hear some whispered words? – of certain
Pharisees and scribes criticising His attitude toward a number of tax-collectors
and other publicly known sinners who, as distinct from last Sunday’s ‘great
crowds’ just traveling with Jesus, were in fact:
All
drawing near to listen to Him.
We are all aware of the dangers of consorting carelessly
with unprincipled people, and so Jesus did not rebuke them for their thoughts
directly; instead, He spoke to them as to men with understanding and good
judgement:
What man among you having a
hundred sheep and losing one of them would not leave the ninety-nine in the
desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?
Now Jesus was, at that very moment -- according to the
criticisms of the Pharisees and scribes -- giving too much, and too close,
attention to those tax-collectors and sinners, whilst leaving the very
important flock of devout Pharisees and learned scribes out of consideration;
leaving them, as it were, to continue finding their own pasture on the heights
of Israel (the desert in our story) under the watchful eyes of friendly
shepherds (the Law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets).
However, Jesus was not seeking to antagonize the Pharisees
and scribes and so He addressed them directly as possible owners of a
considerable flock, not as mere shepherds who were lowly esteemed for their
religious fidelity. Now, for prudent owners
-- even though one sheep out of a flock of one hundred is numerically little
enough -- nevertheless, one hundred is a perfect number and ninety-nine is not,
and so, one sheep, perhaps not so very important of itself, could still be
missed as part of the flock.
In such a way Jesus’ opening words could have drawn muted
assent from even such critically disposed listeners, and He could reasonably
have hoped further that they might be able, tacitly at least, to continue to identify
with Him when He went on to say:
And when he does find it, he sets
it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home ... says,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep!
Yes, the Pharisees and scribes could appreciate such a little
parable and agree with the sentiments thus far expressed; but there was perhaps
one thought that might trouble them somewhat: ‘Who is this fellow comparing us
– devout and learned as we are – with mere sheep; not perfect, as a flock,
without this one lost sheep?’ And now, Jesus, the Master, showing His
divine wisdom, suddenly changed His earthly ‘pastorale’ into a heavenly apostrophe:
I tell you, in just the same way,
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance.
It was a passing dart that Jesus hoped, indeed, would sting,
but again it was not a face-to-face confrontation, for He went on immediately
to address another parable to them telling of the deep but simple joy of a woman
on finding again her loved-and-lost coin,
with no mention whatsoever, this time, of any righteous people having no need
of repentance.
Let us, now, look a little more closely at the wording of
Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep:
I tell you, in just the same way,
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.
He says, in just the same
way because of the saving Shepherd in both cases: the earthly shepherd had
gone in search of the lost sheep and, on finding it, carried it on his
shoulders back to the flock; and corresponding to that, we have the picture of
another Shepherd, this time a heavenly one, Jesus, and the sinners gathering
round Him to hear His words; sinners who -- despite appearances -- were not, of
themselves, initiating a search for Jesus, but were, even to their own possible
embarrassment, actually being drawn by the Spirit to Jesus.
In just the same way,
and in each case, the lost sheep grazes until the shepherd finds what was lost
There however the parallel stops, for Jesus goes on to
speak in His last four words of a ‘lost sheep’ which actually participates in its own rescue and
return:
there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents.
That is the difference between a lost sheep and a lost
human being, a human being can repent on
being ‘found’ by Jesus, which means, of course, that repentance is the result
of an encounter with Jesus, an appreciation of and response to the divine
beauty, goodness, and truth shining on the human face of Jesus. For only the experience of holiness can
convict someone of their own sinfulness, only beauty can enable another to
appreciate and acknowledge their own ugliness, and only innocence and
simplicity can lead a liar to hate their own duplicity.
Now, the greatest charge against the Pharisees and scribes
complaining against Jesus was precisely the fact that, by constant and carping
criticism, they were their closing their hearts and minds to His patent beauty
and truth, goodness and humility; ‘patent’ I say, because recognized and sought
out -- against themselves and their own immediate interests -- by
tax-collectors and public sinners.
This is a most important lesson for us Catholic Christians
to learn today; for we are now being called to account for our faith in times
when our governments -- the United Kingdom, the United States, and, of course,
France -- are abandoning or have long abandoned their Christian heritage in
favour of self-proclaiming scepticism and rationalism, and are even openly advocating
the arming of rebels in Syria regardless of their sectarian fanaticism and known
enmity towards Christians living where Christians have always lived and first proclaimed
Jesus as Lord.
In our account for our faith it is not Christian dogma that
needs to be quoted, even though that is the backbone of our life and the
substance of our hope; it is not the superiority of basic Christian morality as
taught by the Church -- though that is undoubtedly
the case over the course of history and when sincerely studied and objectively appreciated What is needed above all for an up-to-date
and effective ‘account’ of our Faith is living, personal, witness: witness,
that is, to the joy and peace, strength and inspiration, each of us, as
individual Catholics, finds in our experience
of Jesus Himself, and in the beauty
and strength of His truth in our appreciation of life and the experience
our sufferings.
Toward that end, let us learn from today’s Gospel, and
endeavour -- with those tax-collectors and sinners -- to draw daily ever closer
to Jesus in our appreciation of the fact that the Good News we proclaim is His Good News: Good News embodied in
His Person and in the salvation He brings and offers us; Good News to be lived
in the power of His Spirit for the Father Who sent Him and Who calls us in Him.
Dear People of God, draw ever closer to Jesus by reading
the Scriptures with Him in view, above all read the Gospels which proclaim His
words and recount His deeds; draw close, however, not so much by remembering
words that can be used in arguments but by a whole-hearted appeal to His Spirit,
in the Church and within you personally, for enlightenment and power that you
might fully appreciate and respond to His unique expression of divine love and
eternal truth.
