Reflection based on Luke 15-3-7

Here we are on the eve of the eve of Chinese New Year.  We could be busy at home preparing for the coming festivities or in Chinatown buying last minute goodies. 

Yet here we.  To prayerfully ask God to hear our petitions. To happily thank God for answering our needs. Here we are in devotion because our belief in Jesus draws us to his Sacred Heart – the ‘source of all consolation’ and from ‘whose fullness we have all received.’

However we might ourselves focusing now and again on another gathering to come. For those celebrating Chinese New Year, on tomorrow night’s gathering of family. For others needing some R&R this long weekend, on an evening’s gathering of friends over a meal or drinks. What’s on your mind as you think about these gatherings?

Every Chinese New Year Eve when my siblings and I were children, great grandma and grandma would get us to lay out the plates and bowls, forks and spoons, and yes, the chopsticks, on three tables for the extended family coming for the Reunion Dinner. As we did, they would share stories of the family, of the past year’s successes and losses, of how we cared as family and those who were hurting or suffering. They particularly reminded us to set a place for those who had kept away because of family quarrels, felt estranged or had done wrong. “Remember,” said great grandma, “it’s reunion dinner and everybody should have a place at the table.”

Tonight Jesus teaches us that even the one lost sheep is worth seeking out and bringing back to the fold. Bringing back in fact to his own, to his home.  And when the shepherd does this, everyone should rejoice. Yes, rejoice because the one who was lost is found, the one who was dead is now alive. 

Isn’t this what every Reunion Dinner and every gathering of friends can indeed be? Not just a gathering of the same old same old people but the added joy of welcoming back those black sheep in our families or long forgotten friends. Back to sitting at the tables we gather around to eat and feast as family and friends. When we do this, we express more than welcome and hospitality. To them, we express forgiveness and healing, reconciliation and acceptance. More simply, we express genuine love – in deeds, not words. 

Some might say, “this is too idealistic to be true.” Others, “It’s too difficult to make real.” I wonder if excuses like these cheapen the Christian call to live like Jesus, that is, to live with greater love. Jesus does this as the good shepherd. He chooses to do more than tend to his ninety-nine sheep in safety. He risks his life to save the one lost sheep. This is how much the lost ones matter to him. His kind of shepherding is characterised by closeness with, compassion for and tenderness to others. The lost sheep experience and delight in this goodness when the shepherd seeks them out. 

I believe the black sheep in our families and long lost friends yearn very much to have this experience too. Especially at festive times, they hope to have a place at our tables. Tonight, Jesus’s story of the good shepherd shows us how we can gather them home – by risking our safety. The safety to be right, self-righteous and self-preserving in order to reach out and bring them back. Only then will our gatherings be truly reunions. I can only imagine the wondrous rejoicing everyone will have, and especially, God, if we do as Jesus shepherds with his big heartedness.  Indeed, how else should we act when we bear the name ‘Christian,’ that is, like Christ?

Don’t we want to hear these words of Jesus as we begin this new year?  In today’s gospel, the thief who asked to be with Jesus in his kingdom did; he heard these words. They must have so greatly consoled him. 

Whenever we start something new, we want encouragement more than consolation. Whether it is going to school for the first time, beginning a new job in a new workplace, or starting out on a new phase in life like marriage,  we want to hear: “All will be fine,” “Good Luck” “All the best!,” even “Yes, you can.”

Jesus offers us more than words. He offers us better. He gives us his promise. This is why what we hear tonight must matter as we enter this new year.

We may excited about a fresh start that began on 1 January. We may look ahead resolutely now that we have written our new year’s resolutions. We may even be confident of the goals we want to achieve in the coming months. However, if we are honest, each of us has some fear, anxiety and concern as look ahead. We do because we don’t really know what the future holds. Only God knows.

We hear Jesus’s promise. They are the words of a dying man. In fact, they are of a God who chooses to die for us. This is our Christian belief. Yes, no greater love can there be than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.

Here is Jesus thinking of another in need even in his final hours, in his immense pain and suffering, with all his dignity stripped away and ridiculed as a criminal. 

This must surprise yet assure us. Jesus thinking of us. He answers us when we ask. He turns to us in our need. He does not give up on us. Isn’t this why we are here again at this Friday devotion? Here, more so, because we are beginning this new year. Here, really because Jesus is our hope.

Isn’t He our reason for offering our lighted candles?  They express our hope that He will be with us on the journey through this year. Lit, each one of these candles is our simple, humble act of entrusting ourselves into the bigheartedness of Jesus’s Sacred Heart, the fervent intercession of Mary who ponders our petitions in her heart and the prayer of Joseph who listens to God and provides for Jesus and Mary, and us too. 

Tonight, Jesus’s promise that the thief will be with him is the light we need. It dispels and overcomes the darkness of death. It lights up the dawn. More important is Jesus, God’s light onto our paths ahead. He leads us onward and leads us home to God. We need not just hope. We can believe. All because Jesus declares, “Indeed, I promise you today you will be with me.”