Jesus commissioned his twelve disciples and sent them to go find the lost sheep of Israel. He did this to demonstrate that as the good shepherd, no lost sheep should be left behind. But why did he refer to the Israelites as lost sheep?
Jesus used these words because, as the people of God, the Israelites of Old see themselves as the elect, a privileged people who will never be lost. This attitude makes many of them feel that they have exclusive ownership of God. Their actions are approved by God as salutary and so they cannot be damned. This exaggerated self-impression made the people contemptuous as they consider themselves already saved by virtue of their identity as people of Israel, even when their actions are blasphemous.
A sense of entitlement makes one feel justified in doing evil. An example of this entitlement is the brothers of Joseph, who sold him into slavery. They felt justified in doing so because they considered him an unwanted person who deserved to be gotten rid of. But God has other plans. He is the one who determines who is lost and who is saved. That is why he turned the table around and made the one considered by people to be lost, the saviour.
Be good to people you meet in their vulnerability. They may save you in your time of adversity.
Ripples
I remember the story of a priest friend who was sent to work in a foreign land. As a new arrival in the country, he had an appointment with the Immigration Office for his registration and resident permit. But he got a call that morning from someone who needed his letter of recommendation for the children’s admission into a catholic school. He decided to rush to the Immigration Office where he was badly treated by the workers, and when he tried to tell them he has a meeting with a parishioner, one of the staff insulted him and decided to delay his registration. But he hurriedly got back afterwards to write the letters for this parishioner. He was astounded to open the door and see that this parishioner was the very person that insulted him earlier that day. Of course, this person regretted his actions and would wish it never happened, but he learned a big lesson about how closely knit our experiences are and how quickly they crisscross.
Life is like a ripple that touches every part of a river. Our actions flow like a cycle that touches another and comes back to us. The people you condemn as lost today may be your saving grace tomorrow. The brothers of Joseph experienced this first-hand. In their sense of entitlement, they condemned Joseph, but they never knew that this arrogant and prideful attitude is the beginning of being lost. That is why Jesus chose simple men to be his lieutenants, who will through their lives bring the people of God back to the awareness of the truth about God which manifests more when our actions create ripples of goodwill that draw people close to God.
[Readings: Gn 41:55-57; 42:5-7a, 17-24a; 33:2-3, 10-11, 18-19; Mt 10:1-7]
