A Reflection for the Twenty-fourth Sunday in Odd Time
“And when she does find it,
she calls together her friends and neighbors
and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I actually have found the coin that I lost.’” (Lk 15:9)
In some ways, today’s readings are each the simplest and essentially the most difficult to reflect on. If I were preaching today, I can be tempted to easily arise and reread the Gospel a number of times over. What more is there to say, really? The three parables of Luke 15 have been said to contain a “Gospel inside a Gospel.” The lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son, told in such quick succession, give us a cliffs notes of Jesus’ message: God has an infinite capability for mercy. Centuries later, the plots, characters and pictures should proceed to shock and disorient our logic of forgiveness.
But since simply asking you to reread the Gospel could be viewed as a preacher’s shortcut (and since, as a subscriber, you’ve paid good money for this reflection), I’ll offer one common thread (amongst many) that could be easy to miss in all three parables: celebration.
Do I do know how you can rejoice at all times? Or do I simply move on to the subsequent task, the subsequent item on my to-do list?
After the shepherd finds his lost sheep, “he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,‘Rejoice with me because I actually have found my lost sheep.’” Once the lady finds her lost coin, “she calls together her friends and neighbors and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I actually have found the coin that I lost.’” And there’s in fact the third act of the prodigal son, where the son returns and the daddy instructs his servants to “Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then allow us to have fun with a feast.”
These will not be minor transitional lines. Actually, descriptions of celebration make up nearly half of the word count in the primary two parables. You may even wonder concerning the economics of the celebrations. The party may need cost greater than the found coin was price.
The enjoyment God experiences after finding the lost is a joy that we’re called to mirror as a Christian community. In “The Joy of the Gospel,” Pope Francis writes: “An evangelizing community is stuffed with joy; it knows how you can rejoice at all times. It celebrates every small victory, every step forward within the work of evangelization.”
It knows how you can rejoice at all times. Do I do know how you can rejoice at all times? Do I have fun the wins, big and small? Do I invite my friends to share in my joy? Or do I simply move on to the subsequent task, the subsequent item on my to-do list?
Today’s Gospel is a reminder that taking a break to have fun isn’t something we’d like to feel guilty about. For Christians, it’s essential to constructing the dominion of God.
