Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
Jesus begins the parable of the lost sheep with a question. He asks who among us would not leave 99 sheep alone in the desert in order to go and find that one lost sheep. I have considered this question carefully, and my answer is, “I would not.” I say this because I know how many sheep I would have if I left 99 alone in the desert in order to go after that one lost sheep. Once I found that sheep and returned to where I left the others, I would have one sheep. The other 99 would have been eaten, stolen, or otherwise scattered while I was out searching. So instead, I would redouble my efforts to keep track of the 99 and write off the one lost sheep. And if that lost sheep ever turned up again, I would eat him in front of the other sheep, so they could understand that wandering off and getting lost was a bad idea.
Fortunately, Jesus is not like this. The reason Jesus is not like this is because, for him, there are no lost sheep. No matter how far off track the sheep has wandered, Jesus always knows where the sheep is and knows how to get the sheep back to the flock. All that is needed is for the lost sheep to begin listening to Jesus, and making its way back to the flock. Jesus never leaves his sheep alone, no matter how lost they become!
And because Jesus is like this, we can afford to be more like him. This is the part I left out of the opening paragraph. Because we can trust that Jesus is always watching over us and our concerns, we can trust and let go, and seek out the one lost sheep. Knowing he is watching out for us and all our sheep!
Reflection by Fr. Aquinas Keusenkothen, OSB
Posted in Articles for Ordinary Time, Daily Reflections