Today’s Gospel begins with tax collectors and sinners wanting to hear what Jesus has to say while the Pharisees and Scribes on the other hand are complaining.

It seems they are uncomfortable with the presence of tax collectors and sinners and are unwilling to welcome them. Jesus in response to their complaints tells three very interesting parables about wholeness.

Although the three parables are different they are very similar. The first is about one sheep being lost and the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine unattended and going in search of the one until he finds it. The shepherd is not happy until the one is re-united with the whole. There is great celebration when the “lost” is found.

The second parable is about a thing, a coin that is lost and the pains that the owner goes through to find it. It almost seems ridiculous to go through so much trouble for one coin that cannot experience what it feels to be lost. Important to the owner is having the complete set of coins. None must be lost.

The third parable, the most familiar to us is the story of the father and his two sons, one lost to greed and selfishness and the other to jealousy and resentment. The father can only celebrate in joy when both his sons have come into the house.

This passage reminds me of a family who mortgaged their property to send one of their sons abroad to university. All went well for a few years until the young man failed to communicate with his parents. For years no one heard from or about him. It caused his parents much pain and suffering.

In their heart the home was not complete because one was missing. They constantly searched and prayed for his return. One day a voice on the other side of the phone identified himself as the “lost” son.

No questions were asked; no explanations were requested or given. It was sufficient for the parents; they were overjoyed that they had found their son. There was rejoicing among family members and relatives as they awaited his arrival with his family.

The parables presented by Jesus portray a sense of love and joy that is experienced as a result a feeling included, welcomed and accepted. This was not the agenda of the Pharisees and scribes in the story, they concerned themselves mainly about who should be excluded.

This image brings to my mind St Paul’s teachings on the body and the importance each part plays in the proper functioning of the body.

The same is true in our lives, when people we love are missing or have alienated themselves from family and friends. It may be that we exclude them because of the colour of their skin, or religious preference or economic status or some other prejudice.

They feel lost because they are not at home with the rest of the group. This passage is about welcoming and including others, ensuring none is left on the fringes but are connected to the whole.

Inclusion is often a source of great joy; to be noticed, to be appreciated, to be made to feel welcomed and accepted is like balm to the spirit; it gives life. The opposite results in brokenness and a feeling of being lost.

In a society, where the education system and its politics seem intent on division and exclusion and focusses on our differences, it is wise to heed this important Gospel message. When the shepherd finds the lost sheep “he joyfully takes it on his shoulders” and carries it home and “celebrates with friends and neighbours”.

What a wonderful feeling! The passage teaches that life is about welcoming one another; it is about carrying each other on our shoulder home. Today we may be the carrier, and tomorrow we may be the one carried.

Lord, we thank you for those teachers or parents who go in search of the “lost” child. They use all the resources available to them; they exercise extreme patience, dedication and love. And once the child is found he/she is carried home joyfully on their shoulders and friends and neighbours are invited to celebrate the home coming.

Lord, forgive us for those times when we keep people out of the fold. We do not welcome them because they are poor, because of their race, religion and inadequate educational opportunities. Send us persons like Jesus who will teach us that when we remove discriminations like these we move people from the outside to the inside and so they can experience wholeness from which joy flows. It is a joy that we invite our neighbours and friends to celebrate because “we have found the sheep that was lost”.

Lord, we pray that our Church will continue its mission of seeking those sheep who wander around the hillside lost to addiction, lives of crime, despair, loneliness and greed. Teach her how to shoulder the burdens of the “lost” like the shepherd did so that joy is the end product.

Gospel Meditations for September are by Bernadette Salandy, a former primary school teacher and member of the Movement for a Better World, Ms Salandy is now on the staff of the Metropolitan Tribunal.