On a busy afternoon on my way to school pick-up, I zipped to the shops for a quick grocery grab. Racing from one aisle to the next, I passed a lady who caught my eye. Seeing me, she brightly initiated conversation about the price of butter. Under some time pressure, I was keen to return to my shopping list and limit our exchange to small pleasantries. But she was troubled. Before I could move on, she began sharing that she was starting a new life alone, having been abandoned by an abusive husband. She drew me deeply into her world. It seemed that the rising price of butter triggered a raw vulnerability in her, that was too much to bear alone. I felt her spirit crumple. Time paused while she emptied out her troubled thoughts. She searched for comfort for desperate feelings of vulnerability and abandonment. I surrendered, and my heart surged with pity.
It’s perhaps one of the most relatable experiences of being human – feeling troubled or vulnerable, lost like sheep without a shepherd. In today’s world, we can expect to encounter many people similar to this biblical image of the lost, vulnerable sheep. This lady personified the lost sheep, disoriented and clearly harassed by her troubles.
Jesus feels pity for the crowds in this week’s gospel, who seem harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd. He notes to his disciples that ‘the harvest is rich but the labourers are few,’ and instructs them to ask the Lord ‘to send labourers to his harvest.” Go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel and proclaim that the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand, he continues. In his humanity, Jesus felt pity for the people, responded with compassion and gave his disciples practical instructions to act.
In contemplation, I pause to consider: can I more readily accept this invitation to co-labour with Christ too? Do I open my heart to pause, feel pity and respond with compassion? Can I stand alongside others in the depths of their discomfort? Will I tend to the lost sheep? Do I give witness to the Kingdom of Heaven in the way I live my life?
While I may not cure disease or raise the dead, as Jesus instructs the disciples, I can respond in simplicity, reflecting God’s compassion to the lost soul. I can follow Christ’s example and allow pity to swell in my heart for the lost sheep. And I can keep the posture of my heart poised for labour, ready to shepherd the lost in a Christ-like way.
by Karen Wong