The Gospel Eucharistic Reading for Sunday of Proper 19: Year C
“Just so, I tell you, there is joy over finding what was lost.” (Luke 15)
I call Chapter 15 of Luke the “Lost Chapter.” Not because it is missing but because it is about the lost. We have the lost sheep, then the lost coin and then it concludes with the lost son.
Perhaps the most popular way to look at this reading from Luke today is from the perspective of heaven. Heaven celebrates when we repent and rejoin the Ways of God. But we may also look at what it means from our personal point of view.
This chapter also teaches us that sometimes we don’t appreciate and celebrate what we have while we have it. But boy, let it get lost! Whether it’s a sheep, a coin, our glasses, our keys, our job, our money, or even a human relationship, what we have lost is felt deeply and we want it back. What is being celebrated in this Luke reading is the getting back to wholeness. It is celebrating the experience of not having lost anything in the first place. It is celebrating “the way it was.” How about when we first rise from sleep and see that we have our glasses, keys, wallet, and even our health, we say, “Thank You Jesus!”
So therefore, we should treasure all we have even if it’s very little. We, in our prayers, should continually give God thanks for the benefits bestowed upon us and remember it is not ourselves that made manifest our possessions, but God. The greatest riches we have are our relationships with others, family and friends. We need to be thankful for these relationships and celebrate them all the time, not just when, and if, we get them back.
From the perspective of the lost, it is about being re-membered. It is about finding what was lost. Sometimes we must find our lost selves. Sometimes we have to be found by another. Either way, getting our selves back, our community back, our parish back, is absolutely a cause for celebration. “Just so, I tell you, there is joy over finding what was lost.”
As we listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to us, let us live to love and to serve, and to teach others to love and to serve, while pondering anew what the Almighty can do. John
Let us pray: (BCP p. 233)
O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
onewhoponders 