They are calling it the reverse of the curse, but it is true…the Chicago Cubs after 108 years have again won the world series championship. That long “interim” period of “losses,” are now, at least for the present completely covered over by the exuberant elation of Cubs fans and probably some non-Cubs fans. The hopeful has become the “winner,” the “chosen.” The lost has been found.
Instead of cubs, today’s Gospel talks about sheep (Lk 15:1-10), 100 minus one.
“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? And when he does find it, he sets it on his shoulders with great joy and, upon his arrival home, he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 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”
In the classic parable in the Scriptures, Jesus is telling us how God as the Divine Shepherd will leave the other 99 to go find the one missing, as this one is so precious to the Shepherd. There is nothing we are told that indicates this lost sheep is extraordinary or unique in some way that sets it apart from the 99. It is also not clear that the other 99 are not as precious to the Shepherd. The focus is not entirely on the fact that the one sheep is lost, but rather on the extremely loving effort the Shepherd makes to seek out and find this one lost sheep. Jesus is using this imagery, apparently, because his audience understands the value of each and every sheep for the livelihood that sheep were to the Shepherd and His family. So, perhaps it wasn’t so far-fetched for a desperate Shepherd to do everything that could be done to find this lost sheep.
And then the “win!” Jesus tells us that once this sheep is found, there is SHARED rejoicing over the lost sheep. In other words, it’s not just that finding the sheep is for the benefit of the Shepherd, but for all the rest, the other 99 – if we parallel ourselves with the sheep.
We see the same in the other parable in today’s Gospel:
“Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house, searching carefully until she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found the coin that I lost’
In just the same way, I tell you, there will be rejoicing among the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Again we see the theme of being “lost,” and the great Loving God seeking us out, sometimes by seemingly abandoning everything else, sweeping the whole house, just to find that precious one that is lost. And then upon finding, rejoicing with everyone – because that preciousness is not exclusive, but includes all of us. We are all that important to God, and for that reason, though we fail to recognize it, that important to each other.
We count “losses” in our lives in many different ways: jobs, prestige, sports, and then deeper, relationships, and sometimes our very selves. Sometimes we contribute to the another’s experience of loss. We mentally consider others to be “losers,” in terms of mental capacity, race, religion, sex, etc. Unbeknownst to us perhaps, when we do this, we ironically are becoming “lost” ourselves. We either bring each other together by “finding” and embracing each other, or we “lose” each other by creating separatism and segregation.
Paul, in his letter to the Philippians (Phil 3:3-8a ), is telling us something a little different about “loss”:
“…whatever gains I had these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. More than that, I even consider everything as a loss because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
It appears that Paul is giving us another perspective on perhaps what we might call misplaced “gains” or successes. These are ones that may involve ego-building, status-grabbing, all those things that we attach to our identity, which in fact set us apart from everyone else. “I am a good Catholic…I make a lot of money…I live in a nice safe neighborhood.” All of these “identities” are not bad, but if they become our only identification, they will lead to elitism and exclusion. These senses of “identity” are perhaps the “99” righteous sheep in the Gospel. The paradox here though is that it is the 99 that are indeed most lost, precisely in that they don’t realize it.
As Paul tells us, “knowing Christ Jesus” is our only true identity, so much so that everything else is considered a “loss,” or non-essential – all the way from our individual successes to our social and even religious ones. We are the 99 + 1. That’s the “winning” number! We are the lost and found. And God is constantly seeking us out in Christ to bring us back to God and that means to each other – the 100! Our “repentance” is our awareness of the fact that we are lost and our desire to return to the “fold,” i.e., to each other.
No one can truly be lost when Love is around. And love is always around. The most devastating life experiences cannot undermine our ability to be found by God’s compassionate Love, which we are commanded to share. This includes everything – there are no exemptions. There is no curse that cannot be reversed. Love seeks loss to bring it back to its center – God. This is the cause for joy that the angels in heaven are having…Well, that and the Cubs World Series Championship J
Peace
Thomas