Thursday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time
(Romans 14:7-12; Luke 15:1-10)
Today’s gospel responds quite well to the first reading. It also prepares for the great follow-up
parable in Luke 15.
St. Paul questions the habit of Christians to characterize
others as bad or good. “Why then,” he
asks, “do you judge your brother or sister?”
In the gospel Jesus likewise challenges his critics for judging others as
hopeless. He tells the scribes and
Pharisees the parable of the lost sheep to demonstrate that public sinners are
not as lost as they may think.
In Luke’s gospel the parables of the lost sheep and the lost
coin precede the epitome of parables, the Prodigal Son. At the end of that parable
the elder son gripes about his younger brother’s conversion. He is like the Pharisees and scribes criticizing
Jesus for his attention to tax collectors and sinners. The father then indicates to his elder son that
he, like his brother, needs conversion. Jesus
similarly indicates to his critics that they need a change of heart.
Too often we, like the Pharisees and scribes, judge certain
kinds of people as hopelessly lost. We would
do much better to see ourselves as lost in our pride and needing the Lord’s
forgiveness and mercy.
