One of the most frustrating things I experience from time to time is losing things or more specifically, misplacing them and not being able to remember where I was when I last saw them. Car keys are the worst, especially when I am already running behind schedule and need to drive halfway across the state for an important meeting. To add insult to injury, when I’m turning my house upside down to find one thing, I usually end up finding three other items I’d been looking for weeks ago. Finally at my whit’s end, I’ll send up a prayer to Saint Anthony and all of a sudden, I get an urge to walk over to the coat closet to check a jacket I rarely wear or look under a pile of papers on my desk and there they are! The sense of joy and thanksgiving rushes over me and out the door I dash – almost! Now, where is my cell phone?
Heavenly Treasure
In today’s gospel reading from Saint Luke, we find Jesus educating the Pharisees and scribes on the true value of things lost and found. As a matter of fact, it is the theme of the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of Saint Luke. Today Jesus compares the joy of a shepherd finding his lost sheep to the joy He is experiencing in finding repentant sinners. He is instructing the Pharisees and scribes while at the same time through this gospel teaching us what is the most valuable thing to God. The pattern is repeated three times throughout this chapter – Luke 15:1-8 (the lost sheep), Luke 15:8-10 (the lost coin), and Luke 15:11-32 (the lost son). Think of these three stories in light of what we know grammatically as superlatives – the degrees of comparison fast, faster, fastest. What our Lord is teaching here is the contrast between the joy the earthly heart enjoys from finding lost symbols of earthly wealth compared to the joy the heavenly heart rejoices in when finding the symbol of heavenly treasure – a repentant sinner.
On a deeper level, when we take the three stories of chapter fifteen together, it is clear the Lord through Saint Luke is driving home a central message – rejoice in the finding of repentant sinners (who in turn have found or regained their faith) more than you rejoice in the accumulation of earthly wealth because the person is the treasure of heaven. The scribes and Pharisees could relate to the finding of the lost sheep because sheep and other livestock were an indicator of personal wealth; the same could be said for the finding of the lost coin because coins act as both a store of value and a medium of exchange which allowed the widow to provide for her needs; yet all of these were sacrificed by the father for his son. The shepherd, widow, and father represented our Lord who celebrates the great treasure found while the Pharisees and scribes represented both sons in the parable of the “Lost Son” and us sinners who have a heart aimed toward earthly treasure many times. Yet in the end, the father is the greatest because he sees the great value of his wayward son returned home and with a contrite heart.
I pray we be more the beacon of light for sinners seeking their way home to the Lord starting with the sinner in the mirror. I encourage us all to regularly examine ourselves and celebrate the great sacrament of Reconciliation. All praise be to GOD!
