[ Today's Readings ]
God is looking for us. He is searching relentlessly for us. He is not content to see us lost and wandering. Jesus himself says that he came to seek and save the lost.
We might not think ourselves worth finding. We might think we are just one sheep from a fold of ninety-nine. We might think that at best we are just one coin in ten. But our being lost is more of a concern to him than the ninety-nine sheep that are still accounted for and the nine coins he still has. They are in their proper place and they will be fine. His heart goes out to the lost.
To some degree we know we are lost. We know that we aren't as close to Jesus as we could be and that we don't always live in his will. But to some degree we think we're found already. And there is some truth to this. But like the older brother we don't fully appreciate what we have.
He said to him,
‘My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.
Let us return to the Father. We may not squander everything on dissipation in a foreign country. But we squander much of our inheritance right here at home. Sometimes we even give up so much of it that we feel we are dying of hunger.
The Father is ready to welcome us back. He is ready to throw a great feast just to celebrate our more complete and fully appreciative arrival in his house. He does more even than a fattened calf. He gives us his very Son, the lamb of God, for our feast.
When we realize what we are given we become generous. When we realize the mercy we are shown we desire to show mercy to others.
But for that reason I was mercifully treated,
so that in me, as the foremost,
Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example
for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.
To the king of ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only God,
honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
No wonder that God has a heart for the lost. When he finds them they are ready not only to receive the love he shows them but to share it with others. They will stand in the breach for their people.
But Moses implored the LORD, his God, saying,
“Why, O LORD, should your wrath blaze up against your own people,
whom you brought out of the land of Egypt
with such great power and with so strong a hand?
We all need to be found to some degree. The LORD is searching for us even right now in this very moment. Let us open our hearts to him so that he can renew the joy of his salvation in us. Let thanksgiving for this gift overflow in our hearts so that we can share it with all others who wander apart from the love of the Father.
A clean heart create for me, O God,
and a steadfast spirit renew within me.
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