The opening of today’s Gospel says that tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus. In a natural religiosity based on rigid rules and external purity, Jesus’ practices were scandalous. He constantly contaminated himself by actively associating with the worse people, the biggest most public sinners in town. In that way of thinking, one should never associate with such people and much less stay at their homes or eat meals with them.
Hearing their objections and the gossip, Jesus tells the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. One lost lamb from a flock of one hundred should just be abandoned. That works out to only a 1% loss – not bad from a business point of view. One small coin should just be abandoned. It is not even worth the effort and time spent looking for it. Who would spend a whole day looking for one penny?
Yet Jesus shows us that God is crazy in love with each of us. God is constantly looking for us. He sent Jesus to look for us and reunite us with him. This goes beyond our human expectations and hopes. The repentance of one sinner is motive for great joy.
Communion with God through purity and righteousness should produce in us a sense of compassion and joy and a desire to share that compassion and joy. In Israel, ritual purity and communion with God produced a sense of superiority and a rejection of everyone else – an overall sense of judgement towards others. This actually negated Israel’s primary call to be a sign of God’s presence in the world.
The Church is a collection of ex-sinners in the process of conversion thanks to God’s mercy. Today’s parable calls us to share that joy and mercy.
There will be rejoicing among the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.
Image: https://oceanviewbc.org/sermons/luke-151-10/