A listener named Barbara asks Father Dave about the Parable of the Lost Sheep. She says, “In the Gospel Parable of the [Lost Sheep], Jesus says there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance. Who is he referring to when he says righteous people, and what makes them righteous?”
Father Dave begins, “I wouldn’t want to put words in your mouth, Barbara…but certainly one or two other people listening right now have this question: When Jesus says ‘righteous people,’ does he mean us?” He notes that while this parable appears in both Matthew and Luke’s Gospel, this particular passage and the word ‘righteous’ only occurs in Luke’s Gospel.
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He explains that this parable is part of three similar stories in Luke Chapter 15: The Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Parable of the Lost Coin, and the Parable of the Lost Son. “It’s helpful for us to know the context of this trilogy of parables,” Father Dave says. “Jesus is saying that heaven is rejoicing more over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who have no need of repentance. The irony that Jesus is using there is that there is nobody who needs no repentance.”
“What he’s saying is these 99 people who think they’re so righteous, and think they’re in no need of repentance,” Father Dave continues. “The danger there is us being good practicing Catholics, saying our prayers, and yet getting lulled into a sense that we’re perfect, and we have no need of repentance. We all do; I do. The Pope goes to confession.”
Father Dave explores the connections between the three parables. “The through line and focus in all three of these stories is that the person — who in this allegory would be God — is seeking out the things that are lost,” he says. “The shepherd who’s looking for that one lost sheep goes after him. He’s not just sitting around with the 99 sheep saying, ‘Boy, I hope that one sheep comes back soon.’ In the same way with the lost coin, the woman says, ‘I have to find this coin.’ God is looking for this thing that is lost.”
He highlights one difference in the Parable of the Lost Son, or the Prodigal Son. “The father doesn’t leave home and go in search of the son, but the allegory to the father as God is still very strong in that he rejoices when that person comes back,” Father Dave says. “When it comes to humans, God the Father does not go out and pick us up by the scruff of the neck and bring us back. He gives us free will. A coin or a sheep does not have free will. Like the father in the story of the Prodigal Son, he’s waiting for us to make the move and return, but when we do, he is rejoicing so much.”
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Father Dave compares the older brother in the Parable of the Lost Son to the “99 righteous people” in the Parable of the Lost Sheep. He says, “The older brother is the ‘righteous one’ who does everything right. He says, I’m always working in the field for you. I’ve never even asked for a party with my friends, and yet we realize that in him saying that, he’s not so perfect. He has envy, and he is in need of repentance just like everybody else.”
“It’s not to say we don’t rejoice over them, but we rejoice because something that was lost is now found, something that was away has now come home,” Father Dave continues. “We don’t have to rejoice about the people that are already home, but there’s also the awareness that they too could use a little humility and a little repentance.”
