God’s Irrational Love

By Engr. Carlos V. Cornejo

Irrational means going against reason or logic or common sense.  In other words, we are trying to describe here God’s crazy love for us highlighted in these two parables of the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Coin all in the Gospel of St. Luke.

The Lost Sheep

“Then Jesus told them this parable: Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’” (Luke 15:3-6) No businessman shepherd would go out of his way to look for one missing sheep from among his one hundred.  This shepherd knows that losing one sheep from his herd of sheep is no big deal or as this shepherd might say, “It goes with the business” that you lose some investment or adapting a “gain some and lose some” mentality.  But God does not follow the business mindset because each soul is precious to him and would die for that soul on the Cross even if it’s the only one living on Earth.

The Lost Coin 

“Or suppose a woman has ten pennies and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” (Lk 15:8-10) This parable illustrates a soul that loses its value because of sin.  The penny in the parable is hardly of value and if a neighbor of yours will call you to tell you that she has found her lost penny, you surely respond, “This lady is nuts! Rejoicing over a penny.”

If we were in God’s place for example and see a miserable sinner who perhaps has violated all the Ten Commandments except the Fifth (Thou shall not kill) because this sinner still has some respect for the lives of others, we would undoubtedly see this soul as trash and not bother anymore bringing it back to the right path.  But God’s love is crazy, and He will go out of His way to look for sinners, to bring them back to the spiritual home where they are meant to belong.

God never gives up on a sinner up to the very end of that person’s life.  He reminds and invites that soul to go back to Him through that person’s conscience, and through the many events of that person’s life.  God works on our soul both inside and outside, making sure that any soul who gets to be excluded in His kingdom, has made the ultimate choice in saying no to salvation, in spite of the numerous invitations He has done.