Thursday, November 3, 2016

Lost & Found

“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them
would not leave the ninety-nine in the desert
and go after the lost one until he finds it?
And when he does find it,
he sets it on his shoulders with great joy
and, upon his arrival home,
he calls together his friends and neighbors and says to them,
‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’  Luke 15

We rejoice because though we are sinners, we have been sought out and found by Christ Jesus. Indeed Jesus is always searching for us in our lostness. And the lostness of our sinfulness signals our availability for Jesus who is all Mercy. Why then hide or reproach myself endlessly, needlessly? Will I instead allow the Lord Jesus to forgive me and carry me? Holy allowing is essential. After all as Paul reminds us in his Letter to the Philippians,

… whatever gains I had,
these I have come to consider a loss because of Christ.
More than that, I even consider everything as a loss
because of the supreme good of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

We rejoice, for we are “known” and loved beyond our imagining.

Photograph by Brother Brian.