Parable of The Lost Sheep

BEADS OF JOY 08-09-16

“Parable of The Lost Sheep”

©2016 James Dacey, Jr. OFS

My Friends,

Today’s Gospel:
Matthew 18:1-5, 10, 12-14 (Parable of The Lost Sheep)

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?" And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. "Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me;

"See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven.

What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.”

Reflection:
Today’s gospel begins with the question and ambition of “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven?” Jesus’ response is not only brilliant, but simply only a response that can only come from Heaven. Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven.” Why like a child? In the past I researched this, I mean like thirty years ago. This is really a great passage. See back then, children had no rights, no privileges of their own, they simply did what they were told without question. Children completely and totally depended on their mom and dad to take care of them; hence their obedience to obey them is something they did naturally and without question. Our faith and love for God must be the same “without question”.

Once we have that unquestionable love for God that is obedient and loyal to Him alone, totally and completely dependent upon Him; that is what I believe Jesus is talking about here. We must empty our hearts of all our pride and all of our selfishness in order to be able to really love Jesus the way He wants us to. See a child is content to be taken care of by their parents. We must be totally content with our dependence in Almighty God alone. Then we will be like children.

Now moving onto the parable also in today’s gospel.  This wonderful little parable shows us how Jesus does not rejoice over the loss of anyone. He desires to literally save all of us, no matter how lost we may be. We must always pray for one another no matter how much sometimes we may not like someone; all judgment must be left in God’s hands not ours. We must simply love and pray for one another’s salvation and unity of fellowship back to the fold. Every one of us is a child of God. We must remember Jesus Christ died for every one of us. So let us rejoice over the chance to pray for everyone in the hopes that God’s mercy and love changes their lives and they too love Jesus like we do. That is what we should do, that is the right thing to do. I believe that is what Jesus wants us to do.

LOVE YOU GUYS !!!!

Your brother in Christ Jesus 
And His Most Blessed Mother,
Jim (The Rosary Man) Dacey Jr OFS