![]() Today’s Gospel is illustrated by an oil painting by American artist N.C. The Good Shepherd and the Lost Sheep are long constants in the tradition of Christian sacred art, going back even to the catacombs. That incompletion is not addressed by lopping off the missing member, but restoring it. The Body of Christ is incomplete, not what it should be. Jesus already teaches us that sin not only affects the sinner but also the community, the flock. Jesus, of course, applies this image to the sinner who wanders from the communion of the Church. He does so with joy, a joy shared with fellow shepherds that the flock is now again whole. He puts it on his shoulders and brings it home safely. He does not drive it in front of himself. The shepherd rejoices in finding the wandering sheep. And the flock is incomplete until the 100th sheep is back with it. I’m not sure how many moderns would not have written off the errant one in 100, nor thought there was any moral problem in forcing their will on that one’s conscientious objections. Anybody who doubts need only consider the pure headcount approach to triaging healthcare resource or imposing obligations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ours is a utilitarian, not a personalist era. I must confess that I am not sure Jesus’s question would garner the same response today it would have in his times. “What man among you having 100 sheep and losing one of them would not leave 99 in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it?” They are “his” sheep, which is what distinguishes him from the hired hand. Because ancient Israel valued a continuity of familial/clan identity, the wandering shepherd sometimes elicited the same prejudices of dishonest unrootedness that Roma (Gypsies) did in Europe. Contrary to modern mythology, shepherds in Jesus’ day did not always enjoy a positive reputation. The man is the shepherd, a nomad following his flocks in quest for pasturage. The woman is a housewife, searching her house for misplaced household funds. The two “lost” items featured in Luke 15:1-10 focus on what was in ancient Israel would have typically been a man’s world and a woman’s world. ![]() If you want to explore the Parable of the Prodigal Son, see here. The long form encompasses the entire chapter, adding the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The short form includes only the first two parables in Luke 15, about the Lost Sheep and the Lost Drachma. The Gospel itself comes in two versions: a short and a long form. The key theme of this Sunday’s Gospel is the recovery of the repentant sinner. ![]()
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