14th Sunday after Pentecost Yr C Proper 19 Sept 11 2022

14^th Sunday after Pentecost Yr C Proper 19 Sept 11 2022

Exodus 32:7-14, Psalm 51:1-11, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Luke 15:1-10

 

We have before us today the first two of three stories that show us what the kingdom of God looks like. First the lost sheep, then the lost coin, and lastly the lost son. These three stories, taken together, show us that Jesus crosses boundaries to find and collect those who are lost, and they show us the exuberance and abundance of God’s grace and love, and the celebration when one is found.

 

Jesus hangs out with undesirable people. Or at least people the Pharisees thought were undesirable. The Pharisees were a group of religious people who kept some pretty rigid standards about who was acceptable and what made them acceptable. The Pharisees were what was called the purity movement. Not only were they the gatekeepers but they also were the rule makers. What was very important to the Pharisees was that standards were kept, therefore, those who did not meet those standards were not welcome, especially when it came to eating.

 

But something was different about Jesus. Jesus was raised in a good Jewish home, by good Jewish parents, but Jesus began to cross some lines, blur some boundaries, make people uncomfortable. The tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen, and Jesus was eating with them. In fact, large crowds of people would sit on hillsides and in parks to listen to what he had to say. The Pharisees were looking on, they were listening in on what Jesus was saying, and watching for who Jesus was eating with. This is the setting in which these stories, these parables, about the lost things takes place.

 

The sheep is lost. It has wandered off, ninety-nine sheep left behind, and the shepherd goes out to find that one darned sheep. The shepherd looks and looks and finally there it is. The shepherd wraps this sheep in his arms, cradles it across his shoulders, tucked around his neck, where the shepherd can feel its heartbeat, slowing with every step, calming with every assurance, you’ll be ok, I’ve got you now.

 

One coin, out of ten, was lost. The woman lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches diligently until she finds it. And when she does, she invites her friends to come and rejoice with her.

 

The third story is left out of our lectionary, the story of the lost son, most commonly known as the prodigal son. It’s probably left out today because it is the longest and most detailed of the lost stories, it actually has its own place and time. But the three really need to be considered together. The youngest son in the household demands his inheritance from his father, takes it and leaves. That effectively removes the son from the family and the community, he no longer really exists. After years of excess, the son realizes his mistake, and returns home. The father declares what was lost has now been found, and what was dead is now alive. The father rejoices at the return of his son.

 

Have you ever felt like that one who is lost? Have you ever wandered, wondered, if you would ever be found again, scooped up in the arms of anyone who loves you? You may know what that embrace feels like. But maybe not, maybe that return and embrace is yet to come. The one who waits, the shepherd, Jesus, anticipates your return.

 

Don’t you hate that feeling of losing someone in a crowd? The initial panic of “Where’d he go?” followed immediately by “Oh my God he’s lost!” Even when it’s just for a minute. We were at the Minnesota State Fair when the kids were very young, you all know what those kind of crowds are like. Up near machinery hill, playing on the Rainbow Playsets, and all of a sudden our son Tom is gone. We panic, and look desperately for him, convinced someone has snatched him and run off with him. And the god-awful longest minute later, there he is, running toward us, as panicked as we are, and we snatch him up and hold him tight never to let go again. There is never even a question of leaving the ninety-nine behind, of course I search for the one who is lost.

 

That one horrible minute of being lost, it’s not about anyone being at fault, it is about the love and compassion in the finding, and in the returning to the arms that enfold, and encourage, and celebrate our return.

 

Our State Fairs feel like the biggest party on earth. It seems like everyone in the entire state attends, all of humanity is there, all at the same time I am. And the food…the corn on the cob, and the cream puffs, and everything imaginable on a stick.

 

But the party held at the return of the one who was lost, is even bigger and better than any State Fair. Because, like the State Fair, no one is left out, every darn person is invited, even people I would never have invited to my party, there are people there I would never have eaten a pronto pup next to in any other place or at any other time.

 

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.

 

The story of the lost sheep, the story of the lost coin, and the story of the lost son, help us to see how deeply Luke believes that this great feast, this great banquet, this amazing meal, is the portrait of the kingdom of God. In those stories, what was lost is found, what was dead is alive, and the celebration begins. In the third story, the lost son, we never find out if the older son, the one who was loyal and never got himself lost, ever joined in the celebration. He may very well have missed out because he was so angry at his father for welcoming back his brother. Each story shows us an increasing measure of loss and pain. But the measure of that loss and pain is nothing compared to the immensity of the joy of the one who welcomes the lost ones back.

 

The joy of the one who welcomes back the lost, and the celebration that ensues, shows us what the Kingdom of God looks like. It includes the outcasts and sinners, it includes the expanse of time and space. It includes the fellowship we have around our kitchen tables, our Eucharistic tables, and our soup kitchen tables. It includes even the one who would rather not be included.

 

I’m reminded of a movie I watched with my kids, over and over. Hook, with Robin Williams, a remake of the story of Peter Pan. In Hook, the kingdom table is piled high with all the wild and wonderful things that can be imagined. And the people sitting at that table, are lost boys, battered, bruised, lost, and found.

 

God’s kingdom table is populated with all those who have turned from God and returned to God. God’s kingdom table is populated with all those younger children who have been reckless, and all those older children who have been loyal. God’s kingdom table is populated with all those who stand on the margins and look in, and those in the center whose gaze is nearsighted. God’s kingdom table is populated with those who wish to be first, and those who are always last. God’s kingdom table is populated with all of us who are scooped up by the joyful, compassionate one, and ride on those shoulders all the way to the celebration. The table is set, the party is ready. Come.

 

16 Pentecost Yr C

The gospel of Luke today is incredibly hopeful and joyous. The lost sheep and the lost coin stories that we heard read today are followed by the story of the prodigal, which we don’t hear today, but we probably should. We hear that Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them. The question I ask so often is where do you find yourself in this story; and the answer for many of us is right here, as one of these lost ones. We find ourselves right here. I do, anyway, often I find my self being carried back into the sheepfold by the Good Shepherd. There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. This is Good News indeed. It is never too late to turn around. These lost things stories are stories about God’s amazing grace. No matter how dire the consequences of your actions have turned out to be, they will never keep you from God’s embrace.

There is nothing we can do that will keep us from God’s embrace, from God’s love, from God’s grace. And yet, we are so good at keeping our gaze away from all of that. Repent means to turn around, so sin is when we turn away from God, sin is when we set our sights on that which is not God, sin is when we fool ourselves into believing that God does not care. God cares, God loves, God embraces, all we have to do is turn around and let the embrace enfold us.

That is not to say that there are not consequences for turning away, oh yes there are consequences. You and I know that. Our Old Testament is full of the stories of God’s people turning away from God and the consequences of doing that. We hear from the prophet Jeremiah today about the foolishness of the people. We hear the consequences of that foolishness, the fruitful land became a desert, and the earth shall mourn. The kings of Judah became more interested in wealth and power, those things that are idols, than in shepherding their people. You see, when we turn away from God, we turn toward worshipping idols; we worship that which is not God. We turn toward that which seduces us, that which seems so very very attractive. And in turning, we miss the mark.

And what’s so very difficult about it is that most of the time we are pointing in the approximate direction, we are full of good intentions. You know what this is like, But the reality is that we are human, and we will continue to make mistakes, we will continue to suffer the consequences of our decisions to turn away from God. We will continue to miss the mark. The Good News is that in the midst of our mess, God never gives up on us, God never gives up on us, God takes us back, even when we give up on ourselves, even when we give up on each other.

The gospel writer introduces the stories we hear today by telling us that the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” We learn about God’s amazing grace and love by what happens in these stories. These are stories that are told as a response to the grumbling Pharisees, and they are also telling us about why Jesus spends time with people he’s not supposed to hang around with. The Pharisees tend to measure holiness by avoidance. Pharisees are identified by what they don’t do. They don’t touch dead bodies, bodily secretions, unclean animals or wrongly prepared food. These were very clear boundaries, if holy touched unholy, the holy ceased to exist; therefore, it is best to avoid the unholy. And of course it is best not to hang around with questionable, unclean, people.

But, there goes Jesus, hanging around with questionable, unclean people, sinners, outcasts, women and children. Not only does Jesus hang out with questionable people, maybe people just like you and me, but Jesus also tells these stories that seem so odd. Everyone knows that a shepherd would not leave 99 sheep to find the one idiot sheep that can’t seem to stay with the herd. The shepherd leaving the herd would be sure death for the rest of the herd; the wolves lay waiting for the chance to pounce. Besides which, one sheep on it’s own is sure death. Why would the shepherd even bother. It’s an economic matter really. The parable of the lost coin makes a little more sense. The loss of one coin out of ten is an urgent matter, especially since the woman is probably a village peasant. Her coins likely represent the family’s savings, not huge, but the loss of even one coin would be a catastrophic event. Both of these are followed by the story of the prodigal, which is a whole other sermon itself. That’s a story that on the surface makes no sense at all, because the son who took his inheritance and left, really disowned himself from his family.

The commonality of all these stories is twofold. There is celebration in each of them, and there is inclusion of those who are on the margins, those who are outsiders.

So two things become important I think. First, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who turns back toward God. I think this means that there is never a time when we are outside the possibility of God’s embrace. God’s love for us is never-ending, it is amazing and abundant. God loves you, and that love is transforming. That love causes us to respond to God in ways that turn us back, that set our faces toward God.

Secondly, God’s love is available to all, even those who don’t look like us, act like us, sing like us, pray like us. Our job as disciples, and discipleship is Luke’s agenda, is to go out and be God’s light and life in the world. Our job as disciples is to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God’s amazing and abundant love. We must carry into the world God’s love and the reality of God’s forgiveness; we must show that no one is ever outside of God’s embrace.

And, we may invite them to the party. We may invite them to this place where we gather together to celebrate God with us, where we are made into God’s body as we pray together, as we hear the word together, as we turn our sights back toward God, as we stand side by side and receive the gift of bread and wine, the gift of life, and are transformed into the people God creates us to be.

Thanks be to God, Amen, Alleluia