The setting is a dinner party. It must have been a large one. Jesus and some of his disciples are there. So are Pharisees, scribes, and some well known sinners. This host has put together quite a mix! Such mixes often make for good conversation. This is the case tonight.
Jesus begins the evening with perhaps the most interesting people–the ones who don’t quite belong–the sinners. Maybe Matthew was with him and met up with some old tax collector friends. He introduces Jesus, and Jesus begins conversation.
Or maybe Jesus intended to heal a particular relationship with the Father of someone who has been standing on the edge of crowds in the marketplace. He has bee-lined to that person.
We don’t know exactly the scene, but we do know from today’s Gospel that Jesus is sitting with the sinners. And some of the scribes and Pharisees (perhaps they want Jesus to sit with them) don’t like it.
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them,” they say.
Oh.
What is Jesus Doing?
Perhaps the people Jesus is working on converting are the more righteous in the crowd.
For he begins to tell three stories. Today we have the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin. If it weren’t for the Feast of St. John Lateran tomorrow, we would have the story of the Prodigal Son then.
In all three stories the message is the same: God sees. God seeks. God finds. God is concerned about everyone. He is concerned about the person who knows he’s lost…and the one who resents God’s interest in the one who’s lost.
God sees the hearts and needs of each and every person. The sinner. The saint. The host of the party. The maids who serve the meal. The sinners who think they’re saints. The saints who sees their sins.
What is Jesus telling us about God?
God wants to find the sheep who wander away. He will seek such sheep. He knows sheep are in great danger if they are alone. They can get “cast.” When a sheep is “cast,” it lies down and somehow gets on its back, feet up in the air. It can’t right itself. The shepherd must turn it over so feet touch the ground. A cast sheep can die in a short period of time.
Or predators can find it. The shepherd must use his rod to fight them off. Or perhaps a sheep is giving birth and needs help…or gentle guidance getting back to the flock afterwards.
Sometimes people stay in the fold, but disappear in the scene. They are like lost coins. They remain “pure gold,” valuable and valued, but they are hidden. They are not away–but they are not present. Jesus presents the story of the the lost coin. It is IN THE HOUSE. Somewhere. Where? It must be found. The house gets a thorough cleaning to find it.
Or relationships are lost. Like the Prodigal Son whose story is later in Luke 15.
Lost sheep. Lost coin. Lost son.
Lost.
So God sees. God seeks. God finds.
Which are you most like today: lost sheep? lost coin? lost relationship? Pharisee or sinner? Host or dinner party guest? Disciple or person on the edge?
No matter which, God sees. God seeks. God finds.
On a Personal Note
God saw. God sought. God found–me.
It was about 5 pm on September 21. Almost everything was ready for a dinner party with my family that night at my house. My grandson and I had worked all summer to paint the interior of my house. I had paused that morning with satisfaction. It was looking good!
A storm broke loose with lots of thunder and lightning. Suddenly there was a great flash and crack of lightning at the same time as a great clap of thunder and an pounding BOOM. I was standing in the kitchen and felt the lightning in my feet. The electricity in the house immediately went off. “That struck someplace close by” I told my grandson and his friend as I went in the living room to check on them.
Yes, it sure did.
We postponed dinner to Sunday, since we did not know when the electricity would come back on. My son came to pick up the kids. I had him check the basement and all around the house because that lightning had sounded and felt so close. I could feel the tingle in my feet still.
I said my evening prayers, called the electric company to report the outage, since I noticed the houses across the street had lights, and then decided to go get something to eat.
I had not been gone more than 30 minutes when the police called to tell me my house was on fire. Later three people, including the man who worked for the electric company, told me they had seen a ball of fire shoot out of my house right after the power came back on.
I was close by, but by the time I got home the house was a total loss. I have been told that that is what happens sometimes if lightning strikes an older home. The wires are fried, and the fire happens when electricity is restored.
God sees. God seeks. God finds.
Did God intend to hit my house with lightning, or did he simply know that it was going to be hit and put in some protective factors? I don’t know.
I know God took care of me. He took care of my family. If we hadn’t postponed the dinner party, we would have all been there when the ball of fire happened. My four year old grandson might have been in the room where the fire started, because that was the room where toys were. As it was, no one was home. No one was hurt.
The house was a complete loss, but we were able to go in the next day and pull out a few things. People came to help. People in my parish have been absolutely wonderful. They took me in, fed me, clothed me, thanked God for safety with me, gave me everything I needed until insurance could come through.
Then God found me a new house. It is smaller, twenty years younger, but handy for son to drop off grandsons still for me to feed and take to school. In fact, my older grandson can walk to school from my house! Moreover, it was an estate–of people I knew–so the heirs let me move in early and sold me the furniture in the house.
And it is a house that is even better suited to do what I was fixing my house up to do: be a place where I can live in the Benedictine way that I have been learning as an oblate of St. Meinrad Monastery.
God sees. God seeks. God finds.
God is good all the time!
I have missed writing. I have missed you, my international community of friends. I much appreciate Laura and John’s substituting for me. I read and appreciate the expressions of concern and prayers you have offered. They have helped much, because I have been aware of God’s presence and care every step of the way. I appreciated Laura sharing the outline of the story, so you could know that I and my family have been ok. Yes, this is difficult, but…
God sees. God seeks. God finds.
God loves.
It’s why he sees, seeks, and finds.
