September 16, 2005
I have come to believe that a significant element in any authentic version of Christianity is looking after the “lost sheep” of Christ. The phrase appears repeatedly in the Gospels. While not wanting to venture a definitive exegetical definition of this term, for me it refers to a whole group of people who might be described variously as: confused, unable to get it together, socially inadequate, awkward, unattractive, unkempt, manipulative, and at times demanding. The list could go on, but basically these are people who don’t fit in. They are socially, if not physically, homeless. While they may be involved in some kind of objectively immoral behavior (e.g., an “irregular” relationship, some kind of theft or deception, drinking, drug use, even prostitution), one has the distinct impression that they lack full – if any – culpability for these actions. They retain a certain childlike innocence in the midst of it all. Perhaps this is due to the cloudiness that characterizes their thinking, or some other traumatic experience or form of damaging deprivation in their early life. The lost sheep of Christ.
The greatest temptation for Christians who “have it together” and know how to “fit in” is to ignore, overlook or systematically exclude the “lost sheep” by the sophistication of our own version of Christianity, and their inability to meet those standards. But Christ commands us to look after them. And the more that we do, the more that we discover – despite whatever social, economic and educational discrepancies might exist between us – we’re really not that different after all. And maybe it’s that discovery that we’re most afraid of. We’re afraid to be stripped of all our illusions of supremacy and self-sufficiency. But isn’t that exactly what needs to happen in order for us to be saved? Otherwise don’t we become finger-pointing, looking-down-their-noses Pharisees that draw so much fire from Jesus? The lost sheep of Christ remind us that each of us has our own areas of confusion, disorder and incompetence that we are unable to overcome by our own efforts and resources, no matter how hard we try. Ultimately what we have in common with the “lost sheep” is very much more than what separates us. We all need Christ.
Fr. Herald J. Brock, CFR
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