Finding the Lost Ones!

Thursday, November 7, 2024

Phil 3:3-8; Lk 15:1-10

Today’s Gospel highlights the boundless and inclusive love of God for all. 

The very first verse of the Gospel describes that the tax collectors and sinners, who remained outside the bounds of God’s love, drew near to Jesus, thus symbolizing their repentance and conversion.

Whereas the so-called God’s people begin to complain about Jesus, apparently for befriending the tax collectors and sinners by dining with them. 

Jesus comes reflecting God’s mercy that breaks through all human restrictions to welcome and embrace the ‘lost’ ones. 

The parables of the lost sheep and lost coin are only examples of God’s mercy that abandons the ninety-nine sheep to save just one and turns the house upside down to recover a paltry sum. 

The ‘lost’ people’s trust in Jesus is rewarded by their acceptance, while the chosen people’s resentment prevents them from expressing communion with Jesus or those who surround him.

Jesus rewrites the narrative and shows that no one is outside the limits of God’s mercy. 

Jesus demonstrated that inclusion, welcome, and acceptance are God’s way of loving those in the margins. 

We are proclaiming a false God and practicing a false religion if we believe in anything contrary to what Jesus showed us to be the face of God. 

Let us pray that our lives may bear witness to the inclusive, equal, and just love of God.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar