Carried Home

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Haunting Vision from Jeremiah

The prophet Jeremiah opens our imagination today with a haunting vision:

“I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.”

His words echo the language of creation in Genesis, but now in reverse. What God once filled with light and order, human unfaithfulness has unraveled into darkness and chaos.

Jeremiah is not only describing Israel’s history — he is naming a spiritual reality that each of us knows.

The Wasteland Within

There are seasons in life when we feel like that desolate landscape: barren, restless, stripped of joy. Outwardly, everything may appear fine — even successful — but inwardly we know the ache of emptiness.

  • Sometimes this wasteland is the fruit of sin we have clung to.

  • Other times it comes from wounds we carry that never fully healed.

Either way, it is the soul’s desert — a place where God feels absent and silence reigns.

Yet Jeremiah’s vision, though severe, is not without hope. God does not reveal desolation in order to condemn but to awaken. Even in the wasteland, there is still a whisper: return, turn back, come home.

Paul: From Shame to Witness

Saint Paul, writing to Timothy, embodies this truth. He remembers his past with brutal honesty:

“I was once a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence.”

Yet he speaks of his sins without despair, because mercy has already transformed him:

“I received mercy.”

That phrase is the Gospel in miniature. Paul’s shame is not erased but transfigured. His wounds become witness. His broken past becomes testimony that no one is beyond the reach of grace.

  • Psychological insight: Our culture tells us to bury shame or disguise failure. Paul instead brings it into Christ’s light. There, even failure becomes fruitful.

  • Allegorical insight: Paul is every one of us. The parts of our story that accuse us can, in Christ, become altars of thanksgiving.

The God Who Searches

And then Jesus speaks His parables of the lost — the sheep and the coin.

A sheep wanders.
A coin falls into the dust.

Each seems small, even insignificant. But not to God.

  • The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine to search for the one.

  • The woman turns her house upside down until the coin is found.

Why such effort for so little? Because in God’s eyes, nothing is little.

Allegories of the Lost and Found

  • The Lost Sheep represents the restless part of us that strays: desires that drift, wounds that fester, memories we bury. Christ the Shepherd searches until He carries that part of us home.

  • The Lost Coin carries another dimension. A coin bears an image, and so do we — the image of God. Sin and shame may cover it in dust, but the Spirit sweeps and lights until that image shines again.

Healing, Not Erasing

Psychologically, these parables remind us that God seeks wholeness.

  • He does not erase our past but transfigures it.

  • He does not discard our brokenness but redeems it.

  • What is scattered is gathered.

  • What is hidden is revealed.

  • What is lost is found.

And when it is found — there is joy.

“There will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who do not need repentance.”

God rejoices not in numbers but in names, faces, and hearts.

Our Call Today

So what do these readings call us to today?

  • Jeremiah reminds us that sin leads to desolation.

  • Paul shows us that no past is too broken for mercy.

  • Jesus assures us that God does not wait passively. He searches, pursues, carries.

Faith is not about never being lost. It is about allowing ourselves to be found.

The Final Word of Joy

We are the sheep.
We are the coin.
We are Paul.

And the God who warns through the prophet is the very God who lifts us on His shoulders, brushes off our dust, and restores us to joy.

So let us not fear the wastelands within. Let us not despair over scars. Let us not dismiss the hidden places we think unworthy.

  • The Shepherd is searching.

  • The Spirit is sweeping.

  • Christ is carrying.

  • God is rejoicing.

The wasteland will bloom again. The sinner will be made new. The lost will be found. And heaven will sing.

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