TGBC: sheep and dimes
The Good Book Club, Week 5
Sunday, Feb 11. Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.”
Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
THOUGHTS FOR SUNDAY. Two parables here, both about the enormous value with which God treasures the lost, metaphorically whether it’s a sheep who has gone astray or a coin that insensibly was dropped, left behind, or fell through the crack. It’s not as though the lost one has great intrinsic value of its own, that doesn’t matter: it’s that we are so extravagantly loved and treasured by God that we're worth leaving everything else to go find us. This is about you, and Lent is the Time.
Ye who do truly and humbly repent you of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life, following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in his holy ways: draw near with faith, and take this Holy Sacrament to your comfort, and make your humble confession to almighty God ...
As to the first parable, the folly of leaving ninety-nine sheep to the wiles of predators while going off to search for the lost is not a factor in this story , so don’t wander off down that path of distraction; it’s all about saving the one who is lost.