09/11/2022 - Sunday Morning Liturgy

Father Johnny Tuttle invites us to look with fresh eyes at the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin, as well as the famed parable of the Prodigal Son, which was not part of the day's assigned reading. Rather than simple rhetorical devices, when Jesus asks who would not behave as the shepherd or the woman in the two parables, he is drawing attention to how absurd their behavior is. In either situation, it would make far more sense to cut one's losses and move on. However, Jesus is instead illustrating the benevolence of God which denies rationality and stretches to infinity. Just as the lost sheep or lost coin is precious in the stories, so too is Jesus, the one who has strayed far from the gates of Heaven, precious to God, and by the goodness of God and through Jesus' sacrifice, we, too, are seen by God as irreplaceable and invaluable.