Balik-Tanaw | The lost boys

https://musingsandwonderment.blog/2021/03/04/the-call-of-the-disciples-luke-51-11/

by Bulatlat Contributors

Published on Mar 30, 2025

Last Updated on Mar 30, 2025 at 4:30 pm

By Prof. Revelation Velunta Union Theological Seminary, Cavite

Joshua 5:9-12

Psalm 32

II Corinthians 5:16–21

Luke 15:1–3, 11b–32

Luke 15 has three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

Many among us grew up with allegorical interpretations of these parables. The sheep, the coin, the son all represent the sinner who is lost then found and saved by God.

My friends, let us try to read the parables as parables about shepherds and sheep, women and coins, and fathers and sons. The shepherd is not God. Nor the woman. Nor the father.

The shepherd is responsible for sheep under her care. The woman is responsible for her coins. The father is responsible for his sons.

If sheep, coins, and sons go astray, we ask those responsible: why?

For so long our interpretations have shielded and protected those responsible for sheep, coins, and sons. It is time we ask the shepherd, the woman, and the father: why did you lose them?

For so long we have shielded and protected David and Eli from what happened with their “lost” sons. We still do so with today’s Davids and Elis.

#readingtheparablesofjesusinsideajeepney

*Art, “The Prodigal Son,” JESUS MAFA, Cameroon, 1970 (available at the vanderbilt divinity library revised common lectionary art galleries).

Balik-Tanaw is a group blog of Promotion of Church People’s Response. The Lectionary Gospel reflection is an invitation for meditation, contemplation, and action. As we nurture our faith by committing ourselves to journey with the people, we also wish to nourish the perspective coming from the point of view of hope and struggle of the people. It is our constant longing that even as crisis intensifies, the faithful will continue to strengthen their commitment to love God and our neighbor by being one with the people in their dreams and aspirations. The Title of the Lectionary Reflection would be Balik –Tanaw , isang PAGNINILAY . It is about looking back (balik) or revisiting the narratives and stories from the Biblical text and seeing, reading, and reflecting on these with the current context (tanaw).

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