In today's Gospel (Luke 15:1-32) the Pharisees and scribes criticize Jesus for welcoming sinners and eating with them. He responds by telling the well-known parable of the lost sheep. 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. Here's part of commentary on the story by St. Peter Chrysologus:
 |
| Christ the Good Shepherd (Exeter Cathedral mosaic) |
Finding something we have lost gives us a fresh joy, and we are happier at having found the lost object then we should have been had we never lost it. This parable, however, is concerned more with divine tenderness and compassion than with human behavior, and it expresses a great truth. Humans are too greedy to forsake things of value for love of anything inferior. That is something only God can do. For God not only brought what was not to into being, but he also went after what was lost while still protecting what he left behind, and found what was lost without losing what he had in safe keeping....
Brothers and sisters, Christ sought us on earth; let us seek him in heaven. He has borne us up to the glory of his divinity; let us bear him in our bodies by holiness. As the Apostle says: Glorify and bear God in your bodies. That person bears God in his body whose bodily activities are free from sin.
No comments:
Post a Comment