Sunday XXIV IN ORDINARY TIME
From the Gospel of Luke ( 15,1-32 )
At that time , approached him all the publicans and sinners to hear . The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: " Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and losing one of them , does not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? Does find it , he lays it on his shoulders happy to be home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying , Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost . So , I tell you , there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance . Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, call together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin . So , I tell you , there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. "
The outrageous joy of God in forgiving of Don Oscar Battle (Diocese of Assisi)
After the stringent demands of following Christ described in the Gospel of last Sunday, is presented to us today the downside : The extraordinary and paradoxical mercy of God who seeks and looks stubborn love and sleepless when each of us is lost . Three parables are placed in ascending sequence : the first has as its protagonist a pastor who is looking for his lost sheep , the second has as its subject a woman searching for a lost jewel , the third party a father who welcomes a son who believed lost. The three stories are part of a broader context that scholars call " the gospel of the marginalized " ( 15-18 cc ) , because it describes the care and attention of Jesus for the most needy in the eyes of God
It was the scandal that Jesus uphold friendship with those who were labeled as sinners and therefore spiritual plague victims from escaping. With our three parables Jesus intends to respond to the objection of the Pharisees and scribes scandalized by its abnormal behavior . He wants to make it clear that behaves this way , because God is so . He is not harsh taskmaster and tax that casts who do not behave well, God is a father mad with love for his children especially for those who are most in need of medical attention because of lost and injured in the heart . None for him is irretrievably lost , all is recoverable. God does not discard the debris and creates no waste to dispose of in landfills.
The first parable is that of a shepherd who tries frantically his sheep which was lost . Jesus introduces her with a request made directly to farmers and shepherds of Galilee who are listening and who know what is true for them an animal. When the evening the pastor withdraws his sheep in the fold to milk , has a sinking heart : one is missing ! Where will you be hunted . Ask the neighbors and colleagues if they had ever seen her around , then, before it gets dark goes looking frantically " until he finds it ." At this point it is overwhelmed with joy , if the charge in the shoulder and lets everyone know that your pet has traced for him so valuable . To God the Father every person is precious as it was unique , as it is to lose you lose everything , retrieve and how to take back everything. And ' the logic of true love. Those of the shepherd appears to us as a party exaggerated and disproportionate , but does not know who loves a lesser extent. God is so , think otherwise is idolatry .
The second parable depicts a woman : Jesus wants to describe God in all the nuances of love male and female. The woman accidentally lost a precious jewel : a silver coin of her necklace of great sentimental value because it handed down from grandmother to granddaughter for several generations as well- familiar. Notify spontaneously his sentence to the next and begins to sweep the house and a few furniture that has to be purged , until its currency does not jump out of some fold of the uneven floor . Then shouting and jumping with joy by inviting friends to party with her. Jesus is not ashamed to present the joy of God with the typical dance of celebration of women , the happiness of the Father who knows him is overwhelming . So much so that the conclusion of the two stories is shocking and scandalous to the ears of the Pharisees , but perhaps also for us that we can not imagine a God like this: " There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need conversion . " It 'just so happens that on the level of feelings and emotions. Every father and mother are overwhelmed by an intense and overwhelming joy for the sudden and unexpected recovery of a child, a joy stronger and more intense than the normal live together every day .
The third parable tells the story of a father with two children. One day the youngest asks his father to help him to emigrate abroad for a future. According to the legislation of the time the eldest son inherited two-thirds of the good father , the child just picked up the crumbs and was forced to live in the house in the employ of his brother. Many were in this condition in the Palestine of Jesus' time and were forced to emigrate to build a fortune of their own. The request of the younger son was quite normal , so the father does not deny its legitimate right .
The son leaves for abroad, perhaps with letters of recommendation to the many Jews who lived then in the Diaspora (it is estimated that they were more than five million ) and forced out of solidarity to help, as now , each of their compatriot . The lack of experience , the novelty of their environment , the desire to have fun playing a trick on the boy, who squanders in a short time the sum that was to be used to start a small business . Becomes poor and instead of asking for help to their compatriots wax work at a pagan who sends it to the fields to feed swine . For a jew this the high moral degradation , because pigs are considered unclean animals .
Extreme humiliation begins the ransom. And ' the climax of the parable describing here , repentance , nostalgia of his home , the return of the young child. On the other hand reveals the range of feelings of a father ready to welcome : the race suited to a little old to go to meet his son as soon as possible , the embrace that smothers extended an apology from the son , the commands excited to servants to return to his son all his dignity and prepare the feast that looks like a wedding banquet . Unheard of that angers the elder who rose in revolt against his father for this . He can not explain , nor can it accept such a generous reception for a failed son who returns home to despair.
The father has to go out once again to this meeting his son indignant , that spits in his face all his discontent and all his disappointment. And ' the spokesman of those scribes and Pharisees who criticize the behavior of Jesus and not know how to understand and accept his behavior so kind and welcoming towards sinners . The parable does not say if the father left the house to meet the eldest son, was able to convince him to take part in the celebration. Jesus deliberately leaves suspended the story to tell all of us which way we are. We accept God that he has revealed to us , or we want our idol tailored our ideas and our passions ?
God the Father revealed by Jesus with the words and behavior is so , we can not change us. We accept it or reject it , there ' somewhere in between.
From the Gospel of Luke ( 15,1-32 )
At that time , approached him all the publicans and sinners to hear . The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." So he told them this parable: " Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and losing one of them , does not leave the ninety-nine in the desert and go after the lost one until he finds it? Does find it , he lays it on his shoulders happy to be home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying , Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost . So , I tell you , there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need of repentance . Or what woman having ten coins and losing one would not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, call together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost coin . So , I tell you , there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents. "
The outrageous joy of God in forgiving of Don Oscar Battle (Diocese of Assisi)
After the stringent demands of following Christ described in the Gospel of last Sunday, is presented to us today the downside : The extraordinary and paradoxical mercy of God who seeks and looks stubborn love and sleepless when each of us is lost . Three parables are placed in ascending sequence : the first has as its protagonist a pastor who is looking for his lost sheep , the second has as its subject a woman searching for a lost jewel , the third party a father who welcomes a son who believed lost. The three stories are part of a broader context that scholars call " the gospel of the marginalized " ( 15-18 cc ) , because it describes the care and attention of Jesus for the most needy in the eyes of God
It was the scandal that Jesus uphold friendship with those who were labeled as sinners and therefore spiritual plague victims from escaping. With our three parables Jesus intends to respond to the objection of the Pharisees and scribes scandalized by its abnormal behavior . He wants to make it clear that behaves this way , because God is so . He is not harsh taskmaster and tax that casts who do not behave well, God is a father mad with love for his children especially for those who are most in need of medical attention because of lost and injured in the heart . None for him is irretrievably lost , all is recoverable. God does not discard the debris and creates no waste to dispose of in landfills.
The first parable is that of a shepherd who tries frantically his sheep which was lost . Jesus introduces her with a request made directly to farmers and shepherds of Galilee who are listening and who know what is true for them an animal. When the evening the pastor withdraws his sheep in the fold to milk , has a sinking heart : one is missing ! Where will you be hunted . Ask the neighbors and colleagues if they had ever seen her around , then, before it gets dark goes looking frantically " until he finds it ." At this point it is overwhelmed with joy , if the charge in the shoulder and lets everyone know that your pet has traced for him so valuable . To God the Father every person is precious as it was unique , as it is to lose you lose everything , retrieve and how to take back everything. And ' the logic of true love. Those of the shepherd appears to us as a party exaggerated and disproportionate , but does not know who loves a lesser extent. God is so , think otherwise is idolatry .
The second parable depicts a woman : Jesus wants to describe God in all the nuances of love male and female. The woman accidentally lost a precious jewel : a silver coin of her necklace of great sentimental value because it handed down from grandmother to granddaughter for several generations as well- familiar. Notify spontaneously his sentence to the next and begins to sweep the house and a few furniture that has to be purged , until its currency does not jump out of some fold of the uneven floor . Then shouting and jumping with joy by inviting friends to party with her. Jesus is not ashamed to present the joy of God with the typical dance of celebration of women , the happiness of the Father who knows him is overwhelming . So much so that the conclusion of the two stories is shocking and scandalous to the ears of the Pharisees , but perhaps also for us that we can not imagine a God like this: " There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need conversion . " It 'just so happens that on the level of feelings and emotions. Every father and mother are overwhelmed by an intense and overwhelming joy for the sudden and unexpected recovery of a child, a joy stronger and more intense than the normal live together every day .
The third parable tells the story of a father with two children. One day the youngest asks his father to help him to emigrate abroad for a future. According to the legislation of the time the eldest son inherited two-thirds of the good father , the child just picked up the crumbs and was forced to live in the house in the employ of his brother. Many were in this condition in the Palestine of Jesus' time and were forced to emigrate to build a fortune of their own. The request of the younger son was quite normal , so the father does not deny its legitimate right .
The son leaves for abroad, perhaps with letters of recommendation to the many Jews who lived then in the Diaspora (it is estimated that they were more than five million ) and forced out of solidarity to help, as now , each of their compatriot . The lack of experience , the novelty of their environment , the desire to have fun playing a trick on the boy, who squanders in a short time the sum that was to be used to start a small business . Becomes poor and instead of asking for help to their compatriots wax work at a pagan who sends it to the fields to feed swine . For a jew this the high moral degradation , because pigs are considered unclean animals .
Extreme humiliation begins the ransom. And ' the climax of the parable describing here , repentance , nostalgia of his home , the return of the young child. On the other hand reveals the range of feelings of a father ready to welcome : the race suited to a little old to go to meet his son as soon as possible , the embrace that smothers extended an apology from the son , the commands excited to servants to return to his son all his dignity and prepare the feast that looks like a wedding banquet . Unheard of that angers the elder who rose in revolt against his father for this . He can not explain , nor can it accept such a generous reception for a failed son who returns home to despair.
The father has to go out once again to this meeting his son indignant , that spits in his face all his discontent and all his disappointment. And ' the spokesman of those scribes and Pharisees who criticize the behavior of Jesus and not know how to understand and accept his behavior so kind and welcoming towards sinners . The parable does not say if the father left the house to meet the eldest son, was able to convince him to take part in the celebration. Jesus deliberately leaves suspended the story to tell all of us which way we are. We accept God that he has revealed to us , or we want our idol tailored our ideas and our passions ?
God the Father revealed by Jesus with the words and behavior is so , we can not change us. We accept it or reject it , there ' somewhere in between.
Casa Emmaus
Suore Francescane Missionarie di Assisi
Via San Francesco, 17 - Assisi (PG)
Tel. (+39) 075 812 435 / 815 119
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