Where Are You? - A Reflection on Matthew 18:1-5,10-14


At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.

“Take care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a shepherd has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should be lost.

There is an extraordinary truth contained in today’s passage that we often miss. It is that God searches for us. We often believe that we have to go looking for God, and while this is undoubtedly true, it should give us a sense of immense encouragement that God is also looking for us. And were it not for this fact, many of us who are looking for him might be permanently lost. Consider the sheep that got lost in today’s story. For whatever reason he wandered away from the flock and couldn’t find his way back home, but the shepherd went looking for him. And found him!

This has been the truth about God from the beginning of time. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating the forbidden fruit, Scripture says “they heard the sound of God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and hid themselves from his presence among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” (see Genesis 3:8-9). God went after Adam, seeking him out. And, since then, it has always been God in search of us, asking the same question: “Where are you?”

Speaking for God, the prophet Ezekiel said: “I myself will search for my sheep and look after them” (Ezekiel 34:11). This is a truth that Jesus confirmed time and time again. One instance, of course, is this parable of the lost sheep that we just looked at. He did this in the two parables that follow it as well: one, of a woman combing through her entire house searching for a lost coin (Luke 15:8-10), and the other of a father continuously scanning the horizon for the return of his lost son (Luke 15:20).

Jesus said that “the reason he came to earth was to SEEK out and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). That is all of us. Like the prophet Isaiah said, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way” (Isaiah 53:6). Many of these lost sheep include those whom we love. I hope that knowing that God loves us so much, he seeks us out even before we try to find him, will give us the comfort and hope that we need that those we love will be saved. And if we are among the lost, God is calling out to us today, asking, “Where are you?”

Let us not hide from his sight, but respond: “Here I am, Lord.” 

Watch a video of this reflection by Aneel Aranha here: https://youtu.be/Jupe5yHpAbc

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