A homily on Matthew 9:35 – 10:1, 5a, 6 – 8: Go to the Lost Sheep (6-12-25)

 A beautiful Advent homily on Matthew 9:35 – 10 : 1- 8, calling us to courageously go to the lost sheep in our families, communities and Parishes.(6-12-25)

Praise be to Jesus Christ 

A young nurse once shared something that stayed with me. One evening, an old man was brought to the small hospital where she worked. His body was fine but his heart was broken because of a serious family problem. He sat on the bed as if he had no strength even to lift his face. The nurse tried asking a few questions, but he did not respond. After a while she sensed that what he needed was not words. So she quietly pulled a chair close to him and said, “I will sit with you. You are not alone.” They sat in silence. Slowly the man began to cry and then he poured out everything he had kept inside. Later he told the nurse, “You came to me when I could not come to anyone. You came to find me.”

This real moment is very close to what Jesus is telling us today’s Gospel. When Jesus saw the crowds, the Gospel says His heart was moved. He saw people tired, wounded, confused, and searching for direction. Then He turned to His disciples and gave them a mission with very simple and very strong words. “Go to the lost sheep.”

Jesus did not say, “Go to the strong.”
He did not say, “Go to the ones who will welcome you.”
He did not say, “Go to the easy places.”

He said, “Go to the lost sheep.”
Go to the ones who are wandering.
Go to the ones who are hurting.
Go to the ones who have disappeared from everyone’s attention.
Go to the ones who may not even know how to return.

This command is not only for the disciples, but it is for us too, and it demands courage. Because going to the lost sheep is not comfortable. Lost sheep are usually messy, confused, hurting or angry. Sometimes they avoid us and they may push us away. But Jesus still says, “Go to them.” Why? Because if we do not go, no one will go.

 The session of Advent gives meaning to this mission. Advent is the story of God coming to us when we were the lost sheep. The first reading from Isaiah 30 says that the Lord will show us the way and listen to our cries. God came looking for us long before we came looking for Him. This is the heart of Christmas: God became man not for the perfect but for the lost.

If we look carefully, every family has at least one lost sheep; someone who has stopped praying, someone who carries anger inside, someone who feels nobody understands them, someone who is caught in addiction, someone who is silently depressed and someone who used to come to church but now drifts far away etc.

Many times we do not approach them because it feels difficult. We do not know what to say. We fear they may reject us. But the nurse in the story did something very simple. She went close and sat near. She made space for the man to speak. Sometimes this is all that Jesus asks from us. To go to the person we have been avoiding, making one small step, even if we cannot fix everything.

In the Old Testament, Joseph is a beautiful example of this courage. He went to his brothers, not to accuse but to embrace. His step healed years of pain. Saint Teresa of Kolkata also lived this Gospel. She went to the dying, the forgotten, the rejected. She used to say, “Find your own Calcutta. Find the lost sheep near you.”

Today, Jesus is saying the same to us. We may not be able to heal diseases like the apostles. But we can heal hearts, we can lift someone’s spirit, we can bring someone back gently, and  we can sit beside someone who is hurting.

This Advent, let us ask for the courage to go to one lost sheep in our own family or community or Parish. One phone call, one visit, one simple conversation can become the beginning of healing. Jesus is sending us today not far away but to the people already in our life.

 Jesus, give us the courage to go to the lost sheep. Amen.

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God Bless…