I have this image of the lost sheep here with me today as we hear the parable of the lost sheep in the Gospel today. And he is just not any lost sheep. His name is UNO. You may have seen UNO before, as he is the mascot of our FLOCKNOTE email service that we use. UNO was a member of a big flock of sheep. The shepherd who cared for the sheep loved UNO very much and took care of him, just like he loved all of his sheep. UNO always had enough food and water, he had a warm place to sleep, he felt cared for and loved. There was a fence around the pasture to keep all the sheep safe. But one day UNO got so focused on eating the delicious grass that was before him. He just looked at what was ahead of him. There happened to be a big hole in the fence that escaped the notice of the shepherd. Eating the grass in front of him, UNO did not realize that he had left the pasture through the hole. It was not until UNO was far away from his familiar surrounding that he realized that he was lost. UNO was very scared. Thankfully, the shepherd realized UNO was missing and went on to a mission to find him. He gave UNO a big hug when he found him. UNO was so happy to be back with the shepherd and back with the other sheep, so happy that he cried tears of joy.
We can all get lost in different ways, can’t we? We can get lost in the fun we have in life, lost in our studies or our work, lost on our journey of faith. I think a lot of us got lost during the pandemic in different ways. We have seen a lot of people come back to the faith after what they went through during the pandemic. But we have also seen a lot of people get lost during the pandemic and stop coming to Church. We need to find them and bring them back to the fold. Welcome them back to our community.
The parable of the lost sheep is told today in response to the scribes and Pharisees complaining how Jesus eats with sinners and welcome with them. The scribes and Pharisees thought that the Messiah would be spending his time with righteous religious people like them, not the sinners and the lost. Yet, the scribes and Pharisees did not realize that they were lost themselves, that they were are far from the safety of Christ’s flock as the sinners and tax collectors. The rigid attitude of the scribes and Pharisees kept them from the joy of their faith and kept them from God’s love and mercy. They tried to lord their righteous over others rather than to bring the sinners and outcasts to the faith. We are reminded later in the Gospel of Luke, at the end of the story of Zacchaeus, a tax collector who would have been seen as one of the lost in Jesus’ day, it states: Jesus, “the son of man, has come to seek and save the lost.” Jesus came to bring the lost into safe friendly communion with God.
Often, we see getting lost as bad, but sometimes God can speak to us in profound ways while we are lost, opening us to new things. One day, when I was on the pilgrimage trail in Spain on the Way of St James, hiking with a small group, I took the lead that day early in the morning, leading us down what I thought was the pilgrimage trail. Yet mistakenly, I led us in the exact opposite direction. Finally realizing we were lost, it took us a couple of hours to get back to our starting point and to head off in the right direction. As you can imagine, I was angry at myself for what I had done. Getting lost and going in the wrong direction, I thought this day was going to be a total disaster. Yet, when we looked back on the day, it was one of our favorites. Everything that made that day so special probably would not have happened if we had not gotten lost. This was a Sunday; we were worried that we would be able to find a Mass to attend that day, since the previous day we were told the wrong time for the Saturday vigil Mass and we missed it. This day, because we ended up starting late, we ended up being able to go to Mass at two different historic churches; I was even able to celebrate Mass as a concelebrant priest at one of the churches, arranged by a wonderful group of nuns that we met. Also, we met a farmer who had a shrine to St Rocco along the way; we just happening to meet him when he was at his farm. So, while I was mad at myself for getting our group lost, God had some wonderful surprises in store for us. We never know how God’s grace is going to to interact with the reality of our lives. We need to be open to those moments where God touches our lives; sometimes, that entails the way we experience God when we get lost.
Sometimes, when we get lost, we are able to see things from a new perspective. Sometimes we can get used to our routines & the familiar territories we see each day. Getting lost can help us see God & our lives of faith from a different perspective. Getting lost helps us be open to those wonderful magical moments when God speak to us in new and surprising ways. If we try to keep our lives too rigid and too regimented, then those new spontaneous ways of experiencing God are not going to happen.
So, don’t worry if you find yourself lost every once in while. Use the time you are lost to see God in a different way. Perhaps by getting lost, we will truly be found.
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