Sent to the Lost Sheep

Jesus summoned his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits with power to cast them out and to cure all kinds of diseases and sickness. Jesus called his disciples to continue his mission, rooted in the transformative and unifying qualities of the Gospel. He gave them authority, not to rule but to distribute from the storehouse of grace, freely like God. Dear friends, we have this great opportunity to follow Jesus on his way. Discipleship is not achieving a status, but embracing a journey walking close to Jesus. Jesus teaches, heals, feeds, and in doing so, he shows the essential qualities that define the taste of the Gospel and the nature of our ministry.

This Sunday, we learned that peace to be the guiding light for the Gospel that we are sent to preach. The Gospel is Good News, and its primary fruit is peace. Yesterday, we heard that we are meant to offer a blessing. As disciples, we are not just recipients of blessings, but are called to be a sign of God’s time of favour. Today we are told to seek for the lost and cherish the bond of unity. When he came to ‘his own,’ his own did not have any boundary. He reached out to all. The lost sheep or the scattered children of Israel were already dispersed to far places. So, ‘the lost’ for them was the harassed and dejected, and the sheep without a shepherd. It is to them the Good News was given, that the kingdom of God is close at hand. It had to begin at home, a ministry of peace, blessing, unity and seeking out the lost. It is the first ministry, a call to a compassionate search for those alienated from God and community. It is an authority shaped in the life-giving love of God, an authority for people, and for their salvation. The authenticity of our authority is validated by how closely our actions resemble those of Jesus. It is not the authority of the leaders alone; it is of all the disciples.

Joseph had the authority to distribute grain from his store. As disciples, we have the authority to distribute from the store of blessings opening the spiritual granaries of heaven for a world that is hungry and thirsty.

The Gospel often challenges societal norms and personal comfort zones. Some make profit out of conflict, so preaching peace might invite their resistance, we may be termed as siding with those whom they condemn to be evil. Similarly, seeking the lost also may put stigma over us because those who are sought do not come under a holy frame of religion or society. It is easy to turn to a mode of judgement and condemnation instead of a truly contemplative mode rooted in compassion and charity.

We often wish change in ‘the other.’ They may change their ways, they may return to the Lord, they may avoid sins. These rushing to the ‘pagan territories’ may bypass our own primary responsibilities of seeking the lost, the rejected and the lonely or of challenging the systems that have created den of robbers. When eyes are blind with biases and prejudices over the pagan others, our enthusiasm, though honest, may lead to frustration, conflict, or ineffective ministry. It also relates to a lack of understanding of the Missio Dei (the Mission of God), where God is already at work in all cultures. The comfort zones can also define this saying “don't go to pagan territory” as to limit the store of graces to an insulated Christian community. This exclusion fails to embrace the universal call of the Gospel.

Our discipleship is a mirroring the very life and character of Jesus. This initial focus on ‘the lost sheep of Israel’ serves not as a limitation, but as a lesson in mission: that true transformation begins at home, within our own communities and hearts, embracing the harassed, the dejected, and those without a shepherd – the real lost sheep of our time, regardless of their societal or religious frame.

Time of blessings

Harvest is about good crops, and it is for the benefit of the farmer. Farmer watches over the field; sun, rain, ... everything matters. It is a cry, a struggle. 'Labourers for the harvest' is for the good of what is sown; for those who are dejected, harassed and are like sheep without a shepherd. Gospel is life for them, not a deceiving dream or an exploiting promise for those who struggle. 

At times human life is left to be a lone fight with God and people.  Many may be angry with God and may have cursed God. There is no one to relate to. There they beg for a blessing, a moment to live. Harvest of joy is to be extended to the field of these hearts that knew the abandonment. this blessing is not just greeting God's help, but ensuring our support for them.

Often we pronounce condemnation and curse or interpret the misfortunes to be because of curses from God. Curse is strange to the nature of God. Jesus announced the year of God's favour; its a time of blessing. Blessing must shape the nature of our observations, discernment, decisions, and directions.

Greet: Peace be with you

 Christian living is after the language of the Gospel. Every ministry of the Gospel is shaped essentially by peace. Peace is not relaxation or a tensionless state nor is it an absence of violence or conflict. Peace is a docility to life i.e. it is lifegiving. So, the Gospel is lived, preached, and introduced in peace that is lifegiving.

Greeting of peace is not just a customary greeting. It is a sincere desire that life be experienced by everyone. But, how can we offer peace or life if we ourselves have not experienced it? Peace can be experienced only when we take all our life’s realities to the tenderness and the freedom of the love of God. Its personalising of the freedom of the Gospel – kindness, mercy, love, forgiveness, care, freedom from fear and guilt, confidence to face truth and stand for truth, willingness to forgive, love, and serve, spontaneity of the children of God in daily life, prayer, and relationships – being consoled, comforted, nourished, and strengthened. Isiah expresses this tenderness and freedom similar to a child’s experience of love at its mother’s breast, being fed, or playing on her lap. While we often emphasise on the ‘power’ ‘victory’ factors of the Gospel pointing to the miracle workers and healers we neglect this personalisation process which really needs to touch our hearts. We have mistaken seeing grace as a problem solving energy, it is tenderness of life we need greatly.

Once we have known the peace having consoled and strengthened by God, we are gradually transformed into Gospel men and women. The gospel is the covenantal mark that we bear on our life. These signs essentially carry peace within. Anything that is taken in the name of the Gospel but devoid of peace is not of faith, nor of the church nor of tradition. They may speak of the nobility of tradition, language, true faith, and so on, yet causes conflicts and power-consolidations; they are ideologies not the Gospel.

The light of the gospel has a struggle to shine where we are most vulnerable, our homes and our communities. Greeting of peace that the life of ours and of God may find a place in their life fruitfully is the door that we knock that in turn we ourselves may be received into the light of the Gospel.

Ascension

“He was lifted up while they looked on, and a cloud took him from their sight.” Jesus ascended to the Father. It’s a mystery. Mystery is not a hidden secret, but a truth that we long to enter. The divine mysteries, we watch closely in symbols, and see clearly in faith. We contemplate, celebrate and participate in them. We had the Easter Candle brightly shining. It has melted down and has disappeared. We received its light, and that light is now within us. The Risen Christ lived among us and he has given his light to us. Christ is in us, and we are in Christ. So, the ascension of Jesus is not a distancing from us, but it is a continuing and constant presence. Christ’s ascension is not a separation into a heavenly realm, it is a gathering of us all into a Christ realm; being united in the Holy Spirit, doing the will of the Father in the reality of our lives.

“Lifting up his hands, he blessed them.” According to Jewish customs, raising hands to bless was a priestly gesture. One who sacrificed himself, one who emptied himself taking the form of a servant, is raised as the eternal priest and mediator. The Jewish blessing had these words: “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his face upon you and grant you peace.” (Numbers 6:22-27).

Peace was the gift of the Risen Christ. His presence re-created them, his glory shone on them, and clouds of mystery come once again. The disciples were full of joy. This joy has a reason. In the opening prayer we have a phrase, “…where the head has entered, the whole body may follow in hope.” Christ is the ‘head’ of the Church, which is his ‘body’ (Ephesians 1:22-23, Colossians 1:18). His ascension signifies that the entire humanity, united in Christ, shares in the beauty of God. It guides us in courage and hope in the face of daily struggles, suffering, and uncertainties. We can participate in this beauty only in communion with God and the entire humanity that is Christ’s body.

Just as different parts of the body depend on each other, members of Christ’s body are called to support, encourage, and love one another, recognizing their mutual need. Genuine unity in Christ comes not from any enforced conformity or superficial agreements, but from a shared relationship to Christ. Christ’s love was sacrificial, unconditional, and inclusive, and our ascension into a Christ-realm can be only by the same love and communion. We understand, experience, and complete the truth of Christ only by sincerity, compassion, mercy, and kindness.

“He will return as you have seen him being taken away...” The return is not about the presence, he is ever present; it is about the revelation of the glory of the Son of Man. His constant living with us is recognised and realised in becoming mutually-compassionate-being in Christ. His humanity seeks consolation, justice, and mercy. His wounds were alive when he blessed them. Evacuated and displaced, wandering, abandoned, objectised and used humanity our extended self in Christ looks for a further descension into a Christ-self. Though the progresses today make rapid changes, inequality, poverty, exploitation and so on are pains that Christ continues to suffer. Reinforced social structures that nurture alienation, isolation and separatedness, very often covered in religious narratives, stand as original sin that prevents our being one body in Christ to enter into the glory of God. Our Gospel-response is our following of the path of ascension.

He returns to his glory, the beauty of the logos, the Word. It is worth contemplating this beauty of Christ before incarnation and after ascension; gathering, nurturing, sustaining presence in the entire creation, history, and culture. Being one in Christ calls us to honour and serve the glorified and wounded body of Christ in creation.

Unfortunately, instead of being united in Christ, our ideological and devotional worlds have created strange and conventional Christs for us. These worlds maintain spiritual pride and elitism claiming to have superior spiritual knowledge, insight, or favour from God. This is a deceptive holiness that breeds division rather than Christ-like love. These days there are many ‘true Christians’ who only knows that there are so many things kept hidden from you. These people who make false prophecies and sensationalism claiming special divine revelations ultimately lead to fear, exclusivity, or condemnation of others. True holiness points to Christ and His unifying love, not to sensational claims that elevate individuals or create panic. Now also, while doctrine and moral principles are important, an overemphasis on rigid interpretations or definitions, presented as the only path to God, can become a source of judgment and exclusion. This ‘holy’ strictness can mask a lack of love and compassion, which Jesus desired as the sign of his disciples. Sadly, faith is often exploited by individuals seeking personal power, influence, or material gain. They may use religious language and symbols to manipulate the faithful, fostering dependence and division from those outside their circle. Identifying too radically with a theological camp, or religious heroic-leader to the point of viewing others with suspicion, hostility, or as ‘lesser’ believers, is a divisive element.



St Paul wrote to the Colossians, “Seek the things of above” (Colossians 3:1-3). It is not disengaging from the world, but rather viewing and interacting with the world from the perspective of God’s nature – goodness, love, truth, and holiness. Seeking the things of above is to open every way of realising these values in our lives. The matter of above is right and left and among us. We have seen him, he was lifted up, we have seen him in the flesh, we have him in Spirit, and we continue to be him in mutually completing the body. If we are sincere, the mystery we participate will take us to full knowledge of him.

The disciples asked him, “Lord, has the time come? Are you going to restore the kingdom?” We are fascinated by the end of the world predictions and the clear signs identified. Rather than a matter of excitement, it is a revelation that adds responsibility. “You will receive the power of the Holy Spirit, and then you will be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.” Let us sincerely pray that we as the body may follow what the head has done; mutually completing the body, and thus experiencing the glory that Christ has entered. So, the time of the restoration of the kingdom is now, a permanent now in Christ, the time of God’s favour, the time to make active commitment to realise the beatitudes of the kingdom.

“May he enlighten the eyes of your mind so that you can see what hope his call holds for you, what rich glories he has promised the saints will inherit, and how infinitely great is the power that he has exercised for us believers.”