Trinity III- Luke 15:1-10

 The Gospel from Luke 15:1-10 contains two brief parables: the lost sheep and the lost coin.   A shepherd who loses one sheep out of a hundred and a housewife who loses one coin out of ten make great efforts to recover what has been lost. And when they do recover the lost sheep or coin, they rejoice greatly. These parables illustrate the divine attitude toward sinners. God cares for every soul, no matter how insignificant that person might seem. He searches for the lost, and He and all of heaven rejoice over every soul recovered.

These parables apply to us. We all belong to God, but at different times or in different ways, we get lost. Yet, each of us has great value to God, and He keeps seeking us. He offers us His amazing grace in Word and Sacrament; He takes the initiative even when we are unaware. If we have already been found by Him, we should be grateful to Him and live accordingly. If we are still wandering like lost sheep, we should be aware of God's desire to find us and accept His mercy.  We should always be aware of the divine grace that seeks us, and we should respond in humble gratitude. We should also acknowledge that the same divine grace is seeking the people around us.

Trinity III- Luke 15: 1-10

The Gospel for the Third Sunday after Trinity is Luke 15:1-10, and it contains two brief parables- about the lost sheep and about the lost coin. The context makes it clear that our Lord is talking about sinners lost to God. Some extreme approaches to this theme have left a bad aftertaste, and nowadays, even sincere Christians may hesitate to speak of people lost in sin. 

Yet, Scripture in general, and our Lord Jesus Christ, in particular, are not hesitant to speak of lost people and the condition of being lost. Indeed, according to Holy Scripture, all human beings have been lost, and apart from divine grace, all remain lost. As the daily general confession in the Book of Common Prayer says, "we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep" (based on Isaiah 53:6 and 1 Peter 2:25). So at some moments in time, all human beings are lost, and all need to be found by Christ and His Church.

Seeking the lost has two important applications in our lives. First, each of us as Christians should acknowledge that in differing ways and at different times, we have all been lost and that we have tendencies to get lost repeatedly. So we all depend upon divine mercy, grace, and persistence in seeking us out-- in the past, in the present, and in each new day. 

God seeks us in many ways such as through subtle promptings of the Holy Spirit, conscience, life events, general reading, and encounters with other people, but chiefly He seeks us through Word and Sacrament. Thus, we should be aware that God is always seeking us, and we need to be open to being found by Him.

Secondly, in addition to being sought by God, as members of the Body of Christ, we Christians are called to participate in the Lord's work of seeking and finding the lost. We are not to approach this calling with the wrong attitude. We are not to pretend to be some perfect paragons of virtue. Rather, we are to be humble. As sinners ourselves, we have benefited from the mercy and grace of God. We rejoice in divine mercy and grace, and we want to share that good news with others. We want each lost person to be found and to know the joy of returning to God. 

So let us be open to God’s work in our lives and to our participation in Christ’s work in the world. May each of us be found by God, and may each of us do our small part to help others be found by God!

Epiphany Journey- Matthew 2

Epiphany is one of the oldest Christian observances along with Good Friday, Easter and Pentecost. The word “epiphany” means “appearance” or “manifestation.” The day and the season are associated with several manifestations of Jesus Christ. In particular, in the Western Church tradition, we think of the manifestation of the Christ Child to the Gentile Wise Men in St. Matthew 2.

There are several ways to approach this account, but this year, I have been thinking about the story of the Magi as a journey of hope, faith, and love of God. It shows a faithful response to the Savior of the world, and there are three broad aspects to the journey of the Wise Men: 1) seeking a Savior, 2) learning the message of Scripture, and 3) meeting, worshiping, and serving Christ.

These aspects of their journey can also be applied to our journeys or pilgrimages of faith. First, like the Magi, most Christians are Gentiles who seek the Jewish Savior. God reaches out to us and gives us signs in creation that can help lead us. Our world is still filled with struggles between light and darkness, good and evil. And like the Magi, we still long to see goodness. Such a longing, such a hope, can start us on the way to see Jesus.

Secondly, although our natural human hopes can point us in the right general direction, we need more specific guidance. Like the Wise Men, we must also learn about God’s plans from the Bible. The Savior is not a philosophical abstraction. He fulfills the message of the Hebrew prophets. He is the personal Incarnation of God’s eternal Word. He is the One who comes as the babe of Bethlehem, grows in wisdom and stature, and later is crucified and rises from the dead at Jerusalem.

Thirdly, like the Wise Men, we must come into Jesus’s presence in humble adoration and faith. We rejoice to find Him and worship Him. We offer Him our best, knowing that He offers us more than we can ever give Him.  We refuse to cooperate with evil forces that oppose Him. We seek to do His will in this world, and we follow our way in life, continuing to praise Him.

Sometimes, our journeys for Christ may seem long or difficult. Just as the Magi faced hardships, trials, and threats from evil along the way, so do we. But like them, we have faith that every encounter with Christ- in Scripture, in daily experience, in the Sacraments- makes the journey worthwhile.