Podcast: Play in new window
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS | More
Reading
Luke 15.1-10
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.’
Reflection
Our everyday language is peppered with phrases of despair. We speak of there ‘being no hope’. We say that there are things ‘we can never forgive’. We cast others in the role of ‘the loser and the no-hoper’ without pausing to consider circumstance and the possibility of a rosier future. These and many other such phrases shape the way in which we journey through this life. The kingdom of heaven adopts a very different attitude.
There is great hope for us all in the final words of today’s reading: there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. In our world, there has grown up an almost instinctive attitude which encourages us to see the ‘worst’ in both situations and people. Our news media fuels this negativity by focusing our attention on all that discourages and undermines our sense of optimism. It would appear that nothing ever happens which leaves us looking forward to things becoming brighter and more hopeful. The kingdom of heaven adopts a very different attitude.
In the kingdom of heaven there is an unfailing optimism that sinners, those who are distanced from God, will repent, that is turn around, and come back into a closer relationship with our forgiving and loving heavenly Father. And, as we read in today’s passage from scripture: there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
In the two short parables we read today, there is a constant reminder that there is always the opportunity for repentance and rehabilitation. Such repentance and rehabilitation does take dogged determination, of course. But, the effort is always rewarded with both forgiveness and rejoicing, even among the angels of God.
Let us pray that we might set aside the negativity of our present age and look forward in a spirit of joyous optimism. Let us pray that we might see the good, rather than the bad, in both people and situations. Let us pray that we might be blessed with the determination that will keep us faithful as we journey through the pilgrimage of earthly life.