As the Gentiles are defeated and pushed out of the city
Judas and his people see the profanation and degradation of the temple. Their first reaction is to mourn, to tear
their clothing, sprinkle themselves with ashes and fall face down on the ground
and cry out to heaven at the sound of the trumpets, the shofars. Afterwards,
they got up and got to work restoring things as they should be. The work
included removing that which was profaned by the Gentiles with their illicit
sacrifices and starting all over on the altar of burnt offering. They put everything to rights and worshipped
and celebrated for eight days and then directed that this feast be celebrated
every year for eight days at this time. The
feast of Hannukah, or dedication, was born.
The work Jesus calls us to in both these short passages is
the work of reconciliation and restoration.
The parable of the Lost Sheep follows the reading from yesterday that
ended with admonitions regarding sin and temptation. The lost sheep is the one who has gone astray
and the work we are called to do is the work of finding and restoring that lost
sheep to the fold where it belongs. Love
and compassion are the motivators for the one who owns the sheep, not anger and
judgment. A shepherd sometimes has to
break the leg of the sheep, hobbling it so it cannot walk on its own for a time
as a means of restoring the sheep. During
its convalescence the shepherd carries that one everywhere so that it bonds
with the shepherd and will no longer stray, with the potential for leading
others astray as well. The final part of
today’s reading is about church discipline, when brothers sin against
brothers. We are called to confront such
sin directly, unlike what we are to do when non-brothers sin against us as
Jesus spoke of in Matthew 5. The purpose
of confrontation is reconciliation and restoration. Dealing with sin, either with God or with one
another, begins with confession and repentance but the purpose is that sin
might be forgiven and the relationship restored. Love is the motivation.
The announcement is made that Jesus is coming soon to judge
the living and the dead according to their deeds. We have somehow gotten the idea that only
faith is judged and necessary for salvation.
Faith that does not lead to repentance and amendment of life, justification
without sanctification, is not salvific.
Faith leads us somewhere, it leads us to new life and it leads us to
love and serve. Faith that saves is the
faith that calls us to the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Faith is a call to action not to
passivity. What we believe is to be seen
in our lives, not only in our hearts and minds.
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