FIRST READING Exodus 34:11-24
11“For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. 13And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice. 17As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats. 18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 19And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet? 20Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the Lord; I have spoken.”
PSALM Psalm 119:169-176
169Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding, according to your word. 170Let my supplication come before you; deliver me, according to your promise. 171My lips shall pour forth your praise, when you teach me your statutes. 172My tongue shall sing of your promise, for all your commandments are righteous. 173Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your commandments. 174I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight. 175Let me live, and I will praise you, and let your judgments help me. 176I have gone astray like a sheep that is lost; search for your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.
SECOND READING 1 Timothy 1:5-17
5The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 6Certain persons, by swerving from these, have wandered away into vain discussion, 7desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions. 8Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, 9understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, 10the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, 11in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted. 12I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. 16But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. 17To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
GOSPEL Luke 15:1-10
1Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear {Jesus}. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable: 4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 9And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
HELP ME I’M LOST
It’s one of the great adventure stories of all time. A man named Thor Heyerdahl wanted to test the theory that people from South America could have settled the Polynesian Islands in the South Pacific, long before Columbus sailed to the New World. So Heyerdahl took a small team of men to Peru, where they constructed a raft out of balsa logs. These logs were tied together with rope much as a group of sailors might have done in earlier, less sophisticated times. Heyerdahl named the raft the Kon-Tiki. He and his crew of five set out on the Pacific from the coast of Peru on April 28, 1947. They sailed the raft over 4,300 miles across the Pacific Ocean before smashing into a reef in Polynesia 101 days later. They accomplished their goal.
Heyerdahl wrote a best-selling book about their adventure titled, Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft. While the venture was successful, it wasn’t without its difficulties. During the three-month journey, the crew of the Kon-Tiki had little control over the direction of the small raft and no way to stop its forward progress. They learned early in the voyage that anything dropped overboard was almost impossible to recover once the raft had left it behind.
Two months into the voyage and thousands of miles from land, one of the men, a man named Herman, lost his footing and fell overboard. The raft, driven by a strong wind in heavy seas, moved ahead faster than Herman could swim. Terrified, the five remaining men tried to throw Herman a life belt on a rope, but the wind simply blew it right back at them. In seconds, Herman was all but lost to their sight in the mass of waves.
Then suddenly one of the men, a man named Knute, grabbed the life belt and dove into the water. He swam back to Herman and wrapped his arm around him, holding his exhausted friend and the rope while the men on the boat pulled them both back to the safety of the raft. All six of the men subsequently finished the journey unharmed.
It isn’t hard to picture that man thrashing helplessly in that mass of waves as we consider this much loved passage from Luke’s Gospel about the lost sheep and the lost coin. But as we envision these stories, it’s important to note who was present, when Jesus told these parables. Luke tells us that tax collectors and “sinners” were gathering around to hear Jesus. They evidently were hungry to hear what Jesus had to say. Also present that day, were the Pharisees and the teachers of the law. But they weren’t there to learn from Jesus; they had come to criticize Him, to find fault with Him. They muttered with scorn, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
With this mixed audience in mind, Jesus tells His parables: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them,” He begins. “Does he not 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.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Again keep in mind that this first story focuses on a shepherd, a common person, a person seen at the margins of society, one that was looked down upon, in much the same way as these tax collectors and sinners. This first story is meant to appeal to them, to teach them. But Jesus, being concerned for everyone, isn’t finished and there’s another part of the crowd He needs to teach. So while they’re digesting this pithy little story, Jesus tells them another: “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not 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.”
Because of the greedy nature of the religious leaders, Jesus uses something that would appeal to them, money, in an attempt to teach them the lesson. And like many of the parables Jesus used, these stories have several aspects to consider. First, it’s important to note the element of helplessness in these two parables. The lost sheep was unable to find its way back into the shelter of the sheepfold. It was lost and helpless. Notice that the shepherd puts it on his shoulders and carries it home.
In the same way, the lost coin obviously couldn’t find its way back onto the woman’s necklace or into her purse. Both the sheep and the coin were as helpless as Herman foundering in the waves of the Pacific, totally dependent on his friends on the Kon-Tiki. We often get frustrated with people who have deep-seated problems. “Why can’t they just help themselves?” we ask. “Why can’t they pull themselves up by their own bootstraps?” as the old saying goes. When it comes to salvation, however, there’s something we all need to understand. The Bible is clear; we cannot save ourselves.
When it comes to salvation, there’s no amount of work we can do, no amount of good deeds, no self-help program that will open heaven’s portals. We cannot think our way to Jesus, we cannot work our way to Jesus, we cannot even clean up our act enough to get to Jesus. Salvation is a free gift from God through Jesus Christ. That’s why St. Paul writes in Romans 5: “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (6-8) Salvation isn’t something we can achieve on our own, but something that has been done in our behalf.
The doctrine of salvation by grace through faith is very important in the writings of St. Paul. He saw the dangers of people believing that they were among the spiritual elite and furthermore, believing that they had achieved this status by their own doing. And Paul warned against such an attitude because it breeds pride. (Eph. 2:8-9) Jesus doesn’t need smug, self-righteous followers looking down at the spiritually unwashed among them. That was the chief problem with the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
The so called religious authorities of the day were leaders in their community, who were, in their own estimation, blameless to a fault. That is except for one serious flaw; they let their love for religion and of following every letter of the law, get in the way of their love for people. In Matthew Jesus said, “In vain they do worship [God], teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (15:9) In their eyes, they were superior beings, particularly with regard to the sinners and the tax collectors who were also in the audience as Jesus taught. They didn’t know that there’s no such thing as spiritual superiority in the kingdom of God. We are all sinners saved by grace.
The second thing we need to see is the eagerness of the shepherd and the woman to find that which was lost. Out of concern, the shepherd leaves the ninety-nine sheep in the open country and goes after the lost sheep, searching until he finds it and when he does, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. He then calls his friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”
And the woman who has lost one of her ten silver coins lights a lamp, sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds it. And she too calls her friends and neighbors together and says, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” In both cases, Jesus says, in the same way, there is rejoicing in heaven whenever one sinner repents. One pastor tells about watching a television news story about three hikers who were high up in the Cascade Mountains.
One of the hikers went ahead of the others to scope out the trail. As he did so, a thick fog settled over the rugged peaks. Two hours later, the other two still couldn’t find him. They looked, they yelled, they searched and searched. Then they got scared. “He couldn’t have gone that far,” one of them said. “The terrain is pretty treacherous. He must have fallen. What do we do?!” And of course they did what any well-prepared hiker does in the twenty-first century. They pulled out their cell phone, and called for help!
And before too long, an emergency rescue helicopter was hovering at 6,000 feet overhead. And not too long after that, a helicopter from the news station was in the area, investigating the story. And just when they were going to call more people into the search . . . the third hiker turned up, out of nowhere, safe and sound. He had wandered off the path onto the wrong trail and gotten turned around. Eventually he ran into another group of hikers who pointed him the right direction.
As the pastor watched the story, he couldn’t help thinking to himself: “Wow, what a lot of energy and time and money invested just to look for one hiker.” Then he thought, “We can’t afford to do that every time somebody gets lost.” That of course was a logical response. However, on further reflection, he decided that Jesus would most certainly disagree. Jesus wants to reclaim everyone who is lost. That’s what the cross says to us. There’s no length to which God won’t go to rescue one solitary soul. And when that one lost person is found, all of heaven rejoices.
This brings us to the next thing we need to understand: you and I are the lost sheep; we’re the lost coin. Our tendency is to think of lost people as the homeless, the addicted, the person behind bars, or perhaps the idol worshipper in a dark jungle. But the truth is, we’re that lost person if we’re still living for ourselves and not in full devotion to God. We’re the lost sheep or coin; we’re Herman struggling in the waves as the Kon-Tiki moves farther and farther away if we’re still putting our desires ahead of God’s will for us.
Over the past several weeks and months, I’ve been talking and writing about what it means and about the cost of discipleship because I’m worried that so many people are so casual about their faith. There are far too many people who come to church, even regularly, who refuse to make God central in their lives. So it’s no wonder that when Gallup does their polls, they find that church people have the same prejudices as the world outside, church people have the same problems as the world outside, church people have the same morals as the world outside. And so people outside the church rightfully ask, does their faith do nothing for them?
The truth of the matter is, that for the casually committed, it really doesn’t. There are many people whose names are on church rolls who are, in a sense, lost. The Christian faith, true discipleship, is an all or nothing proposition and if we want the benefits of the faith, the peace, the joy, and the hope of the resurrection, then we must give God our all. Remember our gospel lesson from last week? Jesus said we must love everything else less to be His disciple and that we must take up our cross. (Lu. 14:25-27)
In his book, God Is Closer than You Think, John Ortberg uses an expression that many young adults are familiar with especially those who are in romantic relationships. The expression is summed up in three letters D. T. R. Those letters stand for “Define the Relationship.” It’s a clarion call for relational clarity: Are we in this relationship for laughs, or are we in it for keeps? There comes a time in every relationship when you’re either in or out. The same is true about our relationship with Christ.
The Bible compares it to a marriage. There’s no such thing as being a little bit married. You’re either in or out. The same is true for the Christian; you can’t be a little bit Christian. John Ortberg goes on to say that in Jesus’ day, being in relationship with Him inevitably involved some kind of spiritual D.T.R. Says Ortberg, “Nobody ever went away from an encounter with Jesus saying, ‘That was a good talk.’ Jesus gently but relentlessly asked people to make a decision about their relationship with Him. The fundamental decision involved this invitation: Follow Me. Come be with Me, and learn from Me how to be like Me.”
We all need to define our relationship with God and if we’re not fully committed, then we need to make changes. This brings us to the final thing we need to see in these parables. When we have a relationship with Christ, we have a new relationship with every other person on earth.
Jesus was telling these parables to a crowd that included scribes and Pharisees, as well as sinners and tax-collectors. Jesus wanted them to see that none of them had an exclusive claim on the kingdom of God. We’re all sinners saved by grace. Therefore, we dare not look down on anyone else. Each of us is precious to God and so is everyone else on earth. That makes us brothers and sisters, whoever we may be, whatever our rank or station.
The story is told of a young man named Billy who was attending his first day in Junior High school. At an opening assembly there was an introduction of all the homeroom teachers. Miss Smith was introduced first. She was an “easy” teacher, so the kids cheered as she was introduced. Mr. Brown was next and he also met with thundering approval. But Mr. Johnson was known to be a very strict disciplinarian. The kids jeered most unkindly when his name was called. The pain was evident on his face.
The scene was devastating to young Billy. He was a sensitive kid and he couldn’t believe how the other students were treating Mr. Johnson. Suddenly he stood up in the middle of the bleachers and shouted: “Shut up! That’s my father!” Instantly, the jeering and the booing stopped.
After school, Billy went home. When he saw his real father, he began to cry. “Dad, I told a lie at school today,” He told his dad about the incident and how he had said that Mr. Johnson was his father and how he had yelled at all the other kids to “shut up” and be nice to the man. His dad said: “It’s all right, son. You just got the family members mixed up. Mr. Johnson’s not your father, he’s your brother.”
The scribes and Pharisees couldn’t see the sinners and the tax collectors as their brothers. They looked upon them as riff-raff, as scum, as being unworthy of their consideration. Thank goodness God doesn’t have the same attitude. When God looks at us, God sees “a sheep of His own fold, a lamb of His own flock, a sinner of His own redeeming.” When God looks at us, He sees something beautiful and worthwhile, something worth giving His only Son for. And that’s how we need to look at the world for whom Christ died.
Even while we were yet sinners, Jesus came and died, (Rom. 5:8) once for all. (Heb.7:26-27) Jesus tells us that there’s rejoicing in heaven whenever one who has been lost is found. That’s how important each soul is to God. And because God loves all humankind this much, we need to regard everyone else, as precious souls for whom Christ died as well.
Amen