Luke 15:1-6
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”

Reflection
Tax collectors were lowly toll booth operators for the Romans. Those spoken of here were Jewish people who had no other economic opportunity to feed their families. They were seen as traitors. Sinners were not necessarily people with low ethics. Most often they were people who had no economic resources to do the rituals of their tradition.
Who you welcomed and with whom you ate was very important in 1st century Mediterranean culture. The status of your guests at the table with you became your status. People were expected to relate to people of a similar status or caste.
Jesus’ story is simple yet layered with cultural meaning. Every shepherd was allowed a 15 percent loss rate on long trips to find food for the sheep. No shepherd would leave ninety-nine sheep to find one. Jesus says that, for God, there are no acceptable losses.
Jesus regularly and publicly engaged with people of low status, as well as with people of higher status. He created a community of people who had power with each other, not over each other. He created a community of people who strove to know and live according to the truth that only one status matters: Child of God. Jesus risked his life for his people because, for God, there are no acceptable losses.