FOURTH SUNDAY OF EASTER

Posted on May 14, 2019

12 MAY 2019

For lots of reasons which have to do with the complications of family systems I never spent much time with my maternal grandfather. However, once when I was a small child we were visiting some distant relatives when my grandfather called.  When he found out we were there he told us to wait, he’d be  right over.
When he arrived he was carrying a black lamb, just birthed. When someone asked him why he had shown up, he said: “I wanted my grandson here to  see a baby lamb.” I got to hold that lamb and I suppose formed some kind of bond with it.
I did not see my grandfather again for about two years.  When I did the first thing I asked him was: “How is the lamb?”
He got very serious and said: “The lamb died.  It got lost and it died.”
“How did it get lost?” I wanted to know.
“She just nibbled herself into lostness,” he said.  “Sheep do that, they just keep their heads  down and keep eating and before long they’re lost.”
My grandfather died when I was in college and I don’t think I ever had a sustained conversation with him. It was my loss and maybe my lostness. I just keep going from day to day, doing what kids do as they grow up. I didn’t really look around to see where I was, or that some day I would miss my grandfather.The easy way out for me is to blame my grandfather but I think that’s part of the lostness. Blaming says it’s okay for me to keep my nose down to the ground, buried in immediate  concerns. But I know I got myself lost.
This gospel is supposed to be a comfort to us. The author believes that the Lord knows our proclivity to nibble ourselves into lostness. The author believes that the Lord knows how following our immediate concerns get us us to places we never thought we’d wind up, often far away from God, or the community–the Church.
The author believes that if we just lift our heads a little, the Lord is constantly calling to us and we will hear him.
The catch, the hard part is our ability to lift our heads and listen.That’s why this weekly gathering is so important.It gives us the opportunity to lift our heads a little from the daily demands.It’s not a law that keeps us coming here each week, but danger of nibbling ourselves into lostness.