MORE REJOICE IN HEAVEN BY REPENTANT SINNER THAN HYPOCRITES PURPORTING TO BE HOLY

MORE REJOICE IN HEAVEN BY REPENTANT SINNER THAN HYPOCRITES PURPORTING TO BE HOLY

By Father Felix (African Times Guest Writer)

The gospel of the Lord gives us three

particularly attractive Lukan stories of

forgiveness.

They begin a whole section of the Lukan Gospel

which has been called ‘the Gospel of the

Outcast’ (up to the call of Zacchaeus) because

of the frequency of call to several kinds of

outcasts.

The first two parables form a typical Lukan pair.

First comes the story of the lost sheep, which

comes also in Matthew.

In the chapter on the community Matthew is

stressing the obligation of all to care for each.

Luke, however, puts the whole accent on the joy

in heaven at the return of the sinner. In each

case the joy induces a certain lack of calm

balance. It is scarcely wise of the shepherd to

leave the 99 sheep to predators and thieves

while he goes scouring the rocky ravines.

Then, to the story of the man looking for his

sheep, Luke adds the story of a woman looking

for her lost coin. He is always careful to show

that women have an equal part in the Kingdom

with men. So he deliberately pairs Zechariah

and Mary, Simeon and Anna, Jairus’ daughter

raised to life with the Widow of Naim’s son, and

so on. In this case one can picture the woman

sweeping out the dusty earth floor of the ill-lit

single room (no windows).

The lack of balance is surely that the party for

the neighbours will cost more than the single

coin recovered.

It is worth remarking that in both cases the

initiative comes from the shepherd and

housewife respectively. We do not save

ourselves, and repentance is a favour of God.