More Than Many Sparrows

A look at the news makes it clear that the world can be a very cruel place.

Those of us here can be thankful for the relative safety and freedom we enjoy.

Not so for those in war torn countries.

They're surrounded by the brutality of soldiers being maimed and killed.

Worse yet, innocent citizens are tortured and killed.

Hostages are taken and killed.

Imagine what it would be like to be one of those innocent citizens.

Constant fear for your own safety, but even more, your family's safety.

Absolutely powerless to resist the forces that threaten you.

But maybe you can tell yourself there's hope.

The bomb may not fall on your house.

The attackers might leave your family alone.

You don't know when the time will come.

You can hope that, somehow, it will never come.

What must it be like to be one of those innocent hostages?

Totally at the mercy of men who have shown that they grant no mercy.

Maybe you can hope for a rescue.

But rescue attempts are not often tried and even less often successful.

Can you still hope when you're kneeling in the sand.

And your captor's leaning over you with his knife?

In a sense, that's the position of the sheep gone astray in today's Gospel.

The lost sheep is defenseless, hopeless—doomed.

Strayed away from the safety of the nurturing community.

Most importantly, strayed away from the protection of the shepherd.

And there are hungry wolves.

Two thousand years ago, that was the state of mankind.

Mankind gone astray—lost and not found.

Powerless and unable to help ourselves.

We were doomed.

The gates of Heaven were closed to us.

We needed someone to give us comfort.

Someone to come in power to rescue and save us.

And he did.

He didn't save us from every sorrow of the world.

He did more than that—he saved us from our exile.

Surely this is the most glorious thing that ever happened for us sheep.

An occasion for our greatest hope and joy and celebration.

And yet, in Jesus' story today he doesn't even mention the joy of the lost sheep at being found.

Instead, he dwells on the joy of the Shepherd at finding the sheep.

And that slant reveals the overwhelmingly-Good-News message for today.

It gives us some idea of our true worth.

Of how highly God values us.

It gives us great cause for enduring hope—for ourselves and for those we love.

When we stray, God himself seeks us out and rejoices at our return.

He does not want even one of us to be lost.

Tuesday, 2nd Week of  Advent

Mt 18:12-14      Read this Scripture @usccb.org