Isaiah 40:1-11
Matthew 18:12-14
In today’s liturgy, we see the image of God Our Shepherd. We are His people the sheep of his flock.He will leave ninety-nine to go and search for the one that is lost. This Good Shepherd spends time and energy to risk finding the one sheep who has gone out alone. He goes to the margins to find the animal, save the dumb creature from multiple threats in the wilderness, including the threat of death, and places it in the protection of the flock
This is what God does and can do for you.God looks for the lost are you lost that you can’t see no more?
The lost sheep is another metaphoric way Jesus tells us how God loves us and how we are to love. Today’s Gospel goes further to tell us about the tender outreach of Jesus to everyone who is lost and scared. (i.e., the Christian community) and the Shepherd. In other words, to imitate the Good Shepherd, we need look no further than our families, parishes, neighborhoods and cities to find people lost, excluded, threatened and scared. Jesus asks us to notice them, seek them out, listened to them, extend a hand, and pay attention…to value them.
Today’s first reading Isaiah addresses the captives returning from Babylonian to Jerusalem. It adds to our understanding of tending to lost sheep: “Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God.” And “Like a shepherd he feeds his flock; in his arms he gathers the lambs, carrying them in his bosom, leading the ewes with care.”God is the shepherd of our lives.
May we allow the words of Jesus, the Good Shepherd to echo in our hearts. Amen.
Fr Joseph Osho