Third Saturday of Advent – Luke 15:3-7
So [Jesus] told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
Have you ever experienced losing something or someone that is incredibly important to you? Maybe you’ve had the heart-dropping experience of looking up and realizing that your child has wandered off somewhere in the grocery store, or you’ve called for your beloved pet, and they didn’t come running.
Our response in these moments of panic, of course, is to drop everything we’re doing and go searching until we’ve found what we’ve lost.
In today’s reading, Jesus likens this experience to the way that God searches for us when we feel lost, alone, and beaten down. Just as the shepherd in the story leaves all that he has and goes searching for his beloved sheep, so God puts everything on the line to search us and, finding us, rejoices.
The Advent message for us today is that when we are lost, God searches for us, no matter where we are, and doesn’t stop until we have been found.
- Have you ever lost something that was precious to you?
- What would you do to get back what you lost?
- What thoughts or feelings surface when you consider that God is searching for you?