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17 Pentecost (Luke 15:1-10)
September 14,15, 2013
At the start of World War 2, Hitler unveiled a new modern military strategy called the
Blitzkrieg. It took France especially and the rest of the Europe completely by surprise.
England had done it earlier with the tiered rifling, the Romans had done it earlier with their
variation of the Greek Phalanx. Of course the Greeks developed the phalanx.
In today’s reading of the Gospel Christ unveils a new strategy as well. The Pharisees and
scribes were upset because he was eating with sinners and allowing them to learn from
him. (A sinner in their terms was person who worked for or the Romans or other Gentiles
like tax collectors, or soldiers, politicians, or prostitutes or people like that.) In the Jewish
community holy people were not to consort with sinners; in fact rabbis were not to even
teach one who was a sinner. And this is exactly what Jesus was doing; he was not only
allowing those in sinful occupations to listen and learn from him, he was encouraging them!
The Jews had strict rules about keeping oneself clean and pure. The reason was good; they
were trying to please God. After all, it was God who wanted the Jews to live in a manner
that was different than the pagans around them. It was God who had mandated the dietary
laws that separated them from their neighbors. It was God who mandated the liturgical
laws that made certain things and people clean and sinners.
Remember what happened to the Israelites in 722 and 586 BC? Israel became like her
neighbors and God punished her by having other nations invade and then deport them.
Remember what happened during the time of Ezra? God became very unhappy with his
people because they intermarried with their neighbors. So what is going on here? Jesus
seems to be changing the rules. It is any wonder that the religious people were angry?
We need to note first that Jesus is not against keeping oneself pure and he is strongly
against sin; sin, we are taught, leads to death and hurts us and when we sin we not only
harm ourselves but we harm those around us. In fact, remember Jesus was on record as
saying things like, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” Repent means to feel
remorse, feel crummy about doing bad things and change, stop living sinfully. And Jesus
also said to us “Be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Jesus himself had and
certainly wants us to have a high standard of moral living. We are after all, part of God’s
family now. We are brothers and sisters of Jesus himself. But, instead of pulling away and
standing aloof from the rest of society, God through Jesus announces a new strategy; it is
not a blitzkrieg though. It is the strategy of infiltration and rescue. We are the little bit of
yeast in the dough that slowly but surely permeates the whole lump of dough. We are the
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17 Pentecost (Luke 15:1-10)
September 14,15, 2013
tiny mustard seed which gradually grows and grows until it becomes a tree. We are candle
in the dark room that drives away the darkness. The kingdom of heaven is on the move. It is
on the attack and Jesus promises us that even the gates of hell cannot stand against the
Church of Jesus Christ. We are supposed to affect and reach out into the society around us.
In order to illustrate this new attitude of infiltration and rescue to the Pharisees and scribes
Jesus tells some parables about lost things, the lost sheep and the lost coin. In the first
parable, the shepherd was a fairly wealthy man. One hundred sheep was a pretty good
sized herd. Yet the shepherd values each sheep and one day he noticed that Fluffy-3-spots
was missing. So he leaves the 99 sheep to go back and look for the one that was lost. Since
the shepherd was a fairly wealthy man, he would probably have had some assistant
shepherds. So why doesn’t he send one of them back to look for Fluffy-3-spots? The point
of the story is that the Shepherd himself was concerned for Fluffy. When he finds him, the
shepherd picks him up, lays him on his shoulders, and carries him.
Now Fluffy is not a lamb, he is a full-grown sheep. Unlike the pictures we see where the
shepherd is holding a sheep in the crook of his arm as if the sheep were 4 or 5 pounds; here
the shepherd has to do a fireman carry. He puts Fluffy across his shoulders. Adult sheep
weigh between 80 and 120 pounds—sometimes more. This is an effort; this is costing the
shepherd a lot physically. But that doesn’t matter to the shepherd because he wants to find
and rescue his sheep. And when he arrives home, look at his reaction. He doesn’t say,
“Man, what a rotten day at work I had. Fluffy got lost and I had to find him and bring him
back home, dang, my neck hurts from carrying that stupid sheep for 3 miles.” No, quite the
contrary— He has his friends and neighbors over and opens up the bar and they drink and
celebrate and he says, “Rejoice with me for I found my sheep that was lost!” He throws a
party!
And look at the next story. A woman loses a silver coin. Now the coin is not a coin from her
coin purse; these coins were part of her dowry and were worn as ornamental decorations
on her headdress. It could be compared to a diamond in a woman’s wedding ring today. So
these coins are very significant to her. Not only important to her emotionally, but it is
valuable. Her dowry, of which this is part, was her social security or her retirement or her
insurance in case her husband dies. So what does she do when she loses the coin? She
carefully sweeps the house looking for her coin. The houses of the poor people did not
have windows per se so the house would be quite dark even in the daytime. That is why she
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17 Pentecost (Luke 15:1-10)
September 14,15, 2013
needs the lamp. When she finds the coin, she like the shepherd calls to her friends and
neighbors and says, “Rejoice with me for I have found the coin I had lost.”
In each case, when the lost is found there is great rejoicing. The attitude of the shepherd
and the woman is truly remarkable because they represent God. Jesus shows in a vivid way
how God Himself feels when sinners repent and come to Him. There were whispers of this
in the Old Testament. But here we see with remarkable clarity all heaven celebrates when
one sinner repents. When a sinner changes his life; they throw a party! God Almighty,
unlike our usual picture of him being all serious and frowning, God and all the millions of
mighty and powerful angels throw a party; they have balloons and high five each other and
everything. Well, I am not really positive about the balloons and the high fives, but Jesus is
very clear about the joy and celebration. This revelation about the attitude of God the
Father is quite frankly, revolutionary. God seeks out and rescues the lost ones; God
Almighty loves us and wants people to come to Him!
So what is the point Jesus is making? The point is that God the Father values sinners. God
wants them, He wants us to repent, to change and to enter the kingdom of heaven; he
wants people to have life and not to die. When we step off the path, when we lose our
way, God is looking for us! He loves us! He wants us to be back and part of his flock. And
Jesus has also given us an example. We are to be like Him. We are to try to rescue those
who are lost. We are to love those around us and always be ready, as St. Paul says, to talk
about our faith. God values the lost, and so should we.
We, the church of Jesus, are on the move. We are leaven in the lump of the dough, we are
the small seed growing into a tree, and we are the little candles in a dark society. How?
How are we these things? As we change, as we repent and our lives grow more like that of
Jesus, we affect those around us! Just as when we live in sin we hurt ourselves and those
around us, so when we repent and turn away from the sin and turn to God we also affect
ourselves and those around us. And as we turn away from sin and as we grow in love for
God and others, we become the candles, the little seeds, and the leaven. And God lets us
share in that glorious joy of heaven as He and all the mighty angels celebrate our
homecomings and those who God brings home through our service. May God grant us
grace and strength to repent when we need to and may God give us the opportunities and
love to share our faith to those who are lost and the courage and ability to share it clearly.
And finally may we share in His joy and the joy of heaven.
Amen