LOST – FOUND – FORGIVEN
Exodus 32:7-11, 13-14; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-32
An ocean liner was headed to the middle east. Nine hundred miles out to sea, the crew sighted a sail on the horizon. As the liner drew closer, they saw that the boat had run up a distress signal; the small vessel was lost. For nearly an hour the liner circled the little boat and gave its crew its correct position. There was a great deal of interest in the proceeding among the passengers of the liner. A boy of about twelve was on the deck watching all that was happening. He remarked aloud to himself: “It’s a big ocean to be lost in.”
It is a big universe to be lost in, too. And we do get lost! We make mistakes, we break relationships with God, others, self, and creation. We deserve the wrath of God.
That is what the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ time maintained. But what we get is a search and rescue operation, and God’s caring and forgiving love!
Through the three lost-and-found parables—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son(s)—Jesus emphasizes that God is like shepherd who cares for all his sheep and diligently searches for one lost sheep; like a poor widow who treasures all her coins and relentlessly searches for that one lost coin; and above all, is a Father who cares for his children and yearns to have them close to him but respects their freedom and waits patiently for their return. The point of the parables is that God’s mercy comes after us, finds us, and rejoices when it finds us.
God’s forgiveness is the thrust of the other readings too. In the first reading, though Israel’s sin of worshipping a molten calf calls for God’s wrath, he relents and forgives her. In the second reading, Paul acknowledges that God has mercifully treated him who “was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and arrogant” and this mercy is an example of God’s patience.
The readings communicate the good news that no matter how lost we are, God searches for us, waits patiently and eagerly for us to “come to our senses” and return home; he delights when he finds us and forgives us. We are the object of God’s relentless and untiring search; we are the recipients of the gaze of that love which we picture on the face of the father in the parable.
Do I believe that God loves me with an immeasurable love, that I need never despair even when I am hopelessly lost?
When I am lost, will I allow God (and his search party!) to find me? Will I return home trusting in his caring and forgiving love?
May I realise that I will never fall into the “lost forever” category and that the Father never tires me.
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