The Ecumenical Age

If, somehow, Mark were to return to earth to recreate this Gospel episode into a Twentieth Century scenario, it probably would read much the same as the original. Jesus would be looking into the crowd and He would see many of us taking off in all directions like sheep without a shepherd. He would take pity on us lost sheep. He would patiently gather us together and begin to teach us and to give new direction to our lives.

We are the lost sheep and we are wrong to imagine otherwise. There are degrees of lostness and misdirection to be sure, but not one of us has been handed a gilt-edged guarantee of immunity from the “lost sheep” syndrome.…