Sought and Found – Sermon on Sept 12, 2010
September 12, 2010
Scripture: Luke 15: 1-10
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.’ Just 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. “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 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.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Sermon: Sought and Found
Rev. Doreen Oughton
There was a small news item I came across this week about a restaurant in North Carolina, the Olde Salty, that made national news after putting up a sign that said that screaming children would not be tolerated. Now I don’t bring this up to get into the controversy of whether the sign is discriminatory, good for business, or bad for business, a sign of intolerance, or a great gesture of hospitality to customers, but because it reminded me of how stressful eating in public with small children can be. My children are 16 and almost 19, so it has been awhile since I worried about the impact my family would have on other diners, with their fighting, kicking seats, spitting out food they didn’t like, spilling drinks, and occasionally, yes, the screaming that would have had us shown the door at Olde Salty. I was fortunate, though. I don’t recall anyone ever glaring at us, or complaining loudly, nothing like that. I don’t know what I would have done if they had said something to me, scolded me or criticized my beloved children to my face. Even in my embarrassment and frustration with my children, it would have been upsetting.
Today’s gospel reading from Luke starts out with the tax collectors and sinners gathering round Jesus to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes grumbling about the company Jesus keeps, noting particularly that he actually EATS with them. If you were here a few weeks ago when we explored the passage from this Gospel where Jesus goes to a dinner party hosted by a Pharisee, you remember that meals were a powerful measure of and tool to establish social status at that time. That’s why people were scrambling for places at the head of the table, places of importance. So here those VIP’s are noticing that Jesus is really digging a big hole for himself by eating with the societal outcasts.
Tax collectors and sinners, hmm. I wonder how that translates to our time. I wonder if we can put together some table fellowship for Jesus from our society. Who would be comparable to the tax collector? Any ideas… Collects taxes, an edge of corruption, very unpopular – .. And now for the sinners. First let’s think about how a sinner was defined in the time of Jesus. Barbara Brown Taylor states that sinners fell into five basic categories. First there were the people who did dirty jobs. What is a dirty job in this day and age? What kind of work do you personally disapprove of?…… Next were the people who did immoral things. What is pretty universally considered immoral in our society?… Then there were the people who failed to adequately uphold the standard of the religious law. Anyone here feel they can join our table of sinners?… Then there was the category of Samaritan, or foreigner, someone from a different place with a different way of doing things, but some overlap in religious heritage. Current day person from that category?… And finally there were the Gentiles, people of different or no faith beliefs. So that is our table that we’ve set, several representatives from each category.
So imagine that Jesus returns, and this is who he spends time with. Imagine we are having one of our celebrations – a lovely collation special for Jesus, and in he walks with this bunch. Would we be staring, grumbling, wishing for a nice sign posted clarifying our behavioral and grooming expectations? Would we be confused at Jesus’ attitude toward them – non-chalant, relaxed, completely insensitive to the impact on those who understand the proper way to do things. Because he is probably not trying to clean them up. He’s not the way I was with my young children, shushing them and correcting them, and making them wash their hands, and taking them outside if they yelled too much. He is just sitting and smiling, talking and listening, passing them the potatos and the salt.
But Jesus is not oblivious to the impact his table companions have on the Pharisees and scribes. He responds to it. He doesn’t apologize, accept any shame about it, doesn’t get defensive or angry or openly scold them. He tells a few parables instead. He includes them in his discussion in the way he frames it. “Which of you, having a hundred sheep…” he leads them. Okay, okay, they are with him so far. “..does not leave the 99 in the wilderness ( not in the nice quiet, safe pasture, but in the wilderness), to go after one that is lost?” Huh? Now he’s lost them. He makes that statement like it makes perfect sense, like it is a basic assumption, and I’m guessing it is not. I’m guessing Jesus told this parable with a twinkle in his eyes because he knew that not many of them would risk the safety and well-being of 99% of the herd to go looking for a missing one. They can probably get back on board with the personal rejoicing at finding the lost sheep, because it is wonderful to find something that’s been lost, especially if you’ve been worried and searching. But then Jesus doesn’t stop at a private, inward rejoicing. No, he has the shepherd inviting friends and family over to rejoice and celebrate with him. And then Jesus says that just as any normal shepherd would do these things, so is there joy and celebration in heaven over the one sinner who repents, more than over the 99 who need no repentance.
And to further emphasize his point, which is probably a good idea since I suspect the Pharisees and scribes did not yet get his point, he tells them the parable of the woman who loses a coin, one out of ten, searches diligently, and, like the shepherd, wants to have a big celebration with friends over finding it. Again Jesus says that there is rejoicing of angels when one sinner repents. I confess that if I was with the Pharisees, I might be confused also. What do a lost sheep and a lost coin have to do with repentance? Jesus’ parable maybe falls apart a little bit here. Did the sheep or the coin sin by being lost? Could a sheep or a coin repent? The sheep may have felt relief at being found, or not, but certainly it wouldn’t have made any difference to the coin whether it was with the other 9 coins or off on a floor somewhere. If Jesus’ message was that he needed to go about to the sinners and get them to repent, it probably wouldn’t have been so controversial. The Pharisees and scribes may even have appreciated it, that Jesus was trying to clean up the riff raff, moving the communal salvation along by helping to eliminate sin from their midst. They would have understood if he had table fellowship with them after their repentance and cleansing and renewal, after they became respectable. But Jesus does it all backwards. He values them right away. He searches them out and invites them in not to make them acceptable and worthy, but because he recognizes, as does the shepherd and the woman with the coin, that they already are of great value, worth looking for, worth celebrating.
The beauty of Jesus’ parables is their ambiguity. We may not be sure what the message is for the Pharisees and scribes, or for us. Is he suggesting that they, and we, are to join him in the search for the lost? That we need to look again at those we would easily let slip away, those we have not recognized as important to the whole. Think about the round completeness of 100, of a perfect 10. Ninety-nine and nine imply there is something missing. Things are incomplete, not as they should be. And maybe that matters enough to put effort into the search. Maybe it is a message to think about what is missing for us. We can be delighted with what we have, but there may be something, or someone missing, from our lives, perhaps from our church, that would make it complete. Maybe we have to ponder that, and look.
Is the message to the Pharisees and scribes, and to us, that we should celebrate more over the lost being found? Can we be happy about signs of reconciliation and forgiveness, integrity and blessing that we see, even when they are happening in another person’s, or nation’s life? Or do we cling to resentment, to grudges, even to envy? A Jewish story tells of the good fortune of a hardworking farmer. The Lord appeared to this farmer and granted him three wishes, but with the condition that whatever the Lord did for the farmer would be given double to his neighbor. The farmer, scarcely believing his good fortune, wished for a hundred cattle. Immediately he received a hundred cattle, and he was overjoyed until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred. So he wished for a hundred acres of land, and again he was filled with joy until he saw that his neighbor had two hundred acres of land. Rather than celebrating God’s goodness, the farmer could not escape feeling jealous and slighted because his neighbor had received more than he. Finally, he stated his third wish: that God would strike him blind in one eye. And God wept.
Or is the message to the Pharisees and scribes, and to us, that no matter how lost we get, Jesus will come looking for us. Even if we get jealous, cling to resentment, refuse to celebrate, still Jesus sees our value, recognizes that we are an important part of the whole and will search and search until he finds us. He doesn’t just want to find us. He won’t look begrudgingly, but is eager to find us, to reunite us with the rest, and have a big celebration over it. Are we part of the 99, the one lost, the seeker, or one of the rejoicers? Yes, we are. And this parable is less about the Pharisees and scribes, and us, that it is about God and Jesus, who always see our value, will always search us out, will always rejoice over finding us. Thank God.
