Breaking the Word

 What is your opinion? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them goes astray, will he not leave the ninety-nine in the hills and go in search of the stray? And if he finds it, amen, I say to you, he rejoices more over it than over the ninety-nine that did not stray. In just the same way, it is not the will of your heavenly Father that one of these little ones be lost. (Mt 18:12-14)

General opinion is that the owner seeks after the lost. This is not the message or the view of Jesus but of everyone and that is why he says ‘what is your opinion’ and answers himself. It is one sentence parable but communicates strongly the common usage and the general opinion.

There is celebration and rejoicing over finding the lost. This is also the general practice among the people. It is not just the satisfaction of having found the lost rather it is the celebration and rejoicing at having found the lost. Luke will beautifully expand this into three stories wit more details.

The general practice or the general opinion is what one does when the person who is lost is found. God does the same. God rejoices over the finding of the lost or no one should be lost. The quality of seeking after the lost is the quality of God. When someone does seek after the lost he behaves like God and he is Godly. God is present in the person who goes after the lost.

 One day as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord was with him for healing. And some men brought on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed; they were trying to bring him in and set (him) in his presence. But not finding a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the tiles into the middle in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, "As for you, your sins are forgiven." Then the scribes and Pharisees began to ask themselves, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who but God alone can forgive sins?" … (Lk 5:17-26)

There might have been a great crowd of Pharisees and teachers of law because they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and also from Jerusalem. As Luke, the author, presents in this passage the crowd is overwhelming with the lay people besides the crowd of Pharisees and the teachers. Jesus looks at the faith of the people who brought the paralyzed man. The paralyzed man does not express anything not even his desire to be well again; he is just a passive receiver. The faith of the other persons and their prayers and their expression of piety can work miracles for the person for whom they pray for. Yes, the receiver of the miracle need not be a man of faith and need be a man of prayer as the case is in this passage.

The question raised by the Pharisees and the teachers of the law is authority to forgive sins. How could a human being forgive sins of the other which only God could do? Jesus has been teaching forgiveness among people and among disciples. He answered seven times seventy when Peter inquired him about the number of times one should forgive his brother. In the prayer that he taught his disciples which is also the model of all prayers the believer prays to God for forgiveness as he forgives his transgressors. Everyone is asked to forgive sins and it is in forgiving that he becomes Godly. Where there is total and complete forgiveness then there is the presence of God.