Heaven’s joy over a repentant sinner

Thursday, November 03, 20163 1st Week in
Ordinary Time
First Reading:
Phil 3: 3-8a
Gospel Reading: Lk 15:1-10

Tax collectors and sinners were seeking the company of Jesus, all of them eager to hear what he had to say. But the Pharisees and the scribes frowned at this, muttering. “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus told them this parable:

“Who among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and seek out the lost one till he finds it? And finding it, will he not joyfully carry it home on his shoulders? Then he will call his friends and neighbors together and say: ‘Celebrate with me for I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you, just so, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over ninety-nine upright who do not need to repent.

“What woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one, will not light a lamp and sweep the house in a thorough search till she finds the lost coin? And finding it, she will call her friends and neighbors and say: ‘Celebrate with me for I have found the silver coin I lost!’ I tell you, in the same way there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.”

D@iGITAL-EXPERIENCE
(Daily Gospel in the Assimilated Life Experience)

The Pharisees tried to pull down Jesus’ rising public image by assailing his association with sinners and social undesirables. But Jesus took this occasion as one golden opportunity to clarify that he did not come for the righteous but for sinners. The parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin left no room for ambiguity in his message.

Today God still seeks out sinners. But sinners must not be complacent. In verse 10 of today’s Gospel reading the Lord clarified that the kind of sinners he runs after are the repentant. It is bad logic to remain sinners just so God would keep running after us. In the parable of the wedding banquet the king invited the poor and the lame. But when he noticed that one of those who had come to the banquet was improperly dressed for the occasion, he ordered him thrown out of the banquet hall into the darkness to wail and grind his teeth. While God invites sinners to his kingdom he expects those who honor the invitation to shape up. The very act of honoring the invitation commits the sinner to new life in the Spirit.

Salvation then is a meeting of a God actively reaching out to lost creatures, and sinners who are willing to repent. God has done his part. Salvation is now a matter of repentance.- Rev. Fr. Dan Domingo P. delos Angeles, Jr., DM. Email: [email protected]. Website: www.frdan.org.turning away from sin. Grant this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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