I’ve Been Looking All Over – Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (Luke 15:1-10)
Some Biblical texts are just hard to preach. Maybe that goes without saying. Some of them are hard to preach because they are dense and hard to decipher meaning from. Some of them are difficult to preach because they deal with sensitive, sometimes violent material. Some are difficult to preach because they seem contradictory to our faith or even to other parts of the Bible. Sometimes texts are difficult because Jesus is saying hard things (we’ve heard several of those texts in recent weeks). And sometimes things are difficult to preach because they are just too well known and well loved. This week’s scripture is an example of this last type.
The parable of the shepherd and the lost sheep is well known by most Christians. Jesus or God as shepherd of the flock is a popular metaphor. For good reason. It is such a simple and beautiful story, and it provides us with such vivid imagery. It is imagery that we often see in Christian artwork, in paintings and pictures and sculptures like the one on your bulletin this morning. It is such a well told and well-constructed parable that gets its point across so effectively. And that is why I find it difficult to preach. It says all that it has to say and all that needs to be said in a way that does not ask for much more explanation. In a way that stays with people. It can be hard to find anything more to say about a scripture like that. But, it is my job to try and do just that. Luckily, I found a way into today’s scripture through the idea of celebration and the joy at finding something that had been lost.
Today’s reading from the Gospel of Luke features two well-known parables of Jesus. One being the story of the Lost sheep, and the other a parable about a woman and a lost coin. However, the parable that follows them, starting in Luke 15:11, is perhaps Jesus’s most well-known parable. It is the parable of the Prodigal Son. There is a theme that links the parables that make up chapter fifteen of Luke, and that theme is joy at finding what is lost. Think of the story of the Prodigal Son, or the Lost Son, and then think of the stories we just heard about the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. There is a pattern to all these stories of something begin lost and then being found, and when it is found it taken as cause for celebration. The two parables in today’s reading follow an even more similar pattern. Something is lost, then it is searched for and found, then there is a joyous celebration because of the thing that was found. The story of the Lost Sheep is cause for celebration. And not just any celebration, but a heavenly celebration. God is the one who celebrates and invites us to celebrate as well.
Of course, we don’t start with celebration. Often, celebration is the culmination of something, marking an accomplishment or a passage of time. Maybe it doesn’t have to be that way. Maybe we should take time out of our daily routine to celebrate for no reason at all, just because we’re happy or grateful. That could be good, but most of the most passionate and heartfelt celebrations occur after something that took time and effort to accomplish. In the case of these parables, searching for something lost and then finding it. So, before we get to the celebration, we should spend some time thinking about what has been lost and the search to find it.
The first is that one sheep out of one hundred that wandered off. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but be a little worried about those other sheep when the shepherd goes out in search of that lost one. Do we really think that all of the other ninety-nine sheep are still there when he gets back? Surely another one could have found its way off on its own. Maybe a group wandered off together. However, this illustrates the lengths God is willing to go to find us when we are lost. It may seem silly and risky to some people, but that just makes all the more reason to celebrate when the one is found. In the same way, one coin may not seem like a lot, but it is to a woman who only has ten. Now you may think, wait…surely the God who created the universe and who does more than we can imagine can’t be compared to someone whose wealth is only 10 silver pieces. That’s the thing. God can have the whole world in their hands and still put all their attention on finding the one who is lost. We are called to give special attention to the one out of one hundred. Perhaps even at the cost of losing the other 99. Remember, the celebration in heaven was so great because it was the one out of 99, the one out of ten. So, we always reach out and search for that one lost sheep. Even if we come to the realization that it’s us.
The Gospel of Luke is unique in its telling of the parable, because unlike in Matthew where we read it also, Luke mentions the importance of repentance. So, in Luke’s telling, repentance is a cause for celebration. A celebration by God, and throughout the heavens. However, if you were like those religious leaders, who judged others and believed they themselves had nothing to repent of, you risk missing out on that celebration. Every human may be a sinner, but God is still looking for us. God still places great value on us. Those who are lost might ask, “What difference do I make?” The answer is that it makes a difference to God. They give God and God’s people a reason to celebrate when they are found.
We are all lost and we all have something to find, but if we can’t accept this through repentance then we miss out on the celebration. After all, the context of telling of these parables is that Jesus had sat down to share a meal with sinners and tax collectors, and in that same room there were religious leaders. These men were looking at Jesus funny. Judging him for sharing a meal with “people like that.” People who many would not consider worthy to share a meal with Jesus. This is what inspires Jesus to tell these parables. This is why Jesus uses the shepherd as the main character in the first parable. In the Hebrew Bible the image of the shepherd was often used to represent God and God’s care for the people. However, in the time of Jesus, shepherds were not viewed favorably. They were looked down upon. They were in a class perhaps even lower than the sinners and tax collectors eating with Jesus. So, it is even more impactful that Jesus compares God to a shepherd in this parable. Which also happens to be one of the only times the shepherd metaphor is used in the Gospels.
Heaven celebrates with us. The open table is a celebration for all those who choose to come to it, but it is not a celebration for those who judge and think they can control it. Indeed, if we are to experience God’s grace, we have to be able to celebrate when God has mercy on others. We keep ourselves from joining in the celebration if we are concerned more with merit over mercy. We must be open to looking for God. By repenting we let God know that we are looking, that we are ready to be found.
I invite you now to think of another image. Have you ever played hide and seek? Have you played hide and seek with a young child? Well, think about that game of hide and seek, and then, can you remember what that child’s favorite part was? It was being found. During a game of hide and seek a child gets the most excited when you find them. Sure, they like to sneak away and hide, believing that they have found the just the right hiding place. You can picture them, maybe even hear them, giggling as you go around looking in all the wrong places first. They’re so happy with themselves, and the anticipation builds. Then you finally get around to looking for them in the right place, probably the place you knew they were hiding all along. It is in that moment that the child laughs and smiles the loudest. Hiding was fun, but they are so happy to be found.
We’ve talked about God celebrating when what was lost is found, but isn’t there some reason for celebration on our part, as well. The story of the Lost Coin is cause for celebration. The story of the lost sheep is reason for celebration. We are not just found and welcomed; we are celebrated. And we are celebrated because we are loved. There is joy in being found, and part of that joy is because we know the one who searches for us. There is delight in being found because we know we are worthy of being found because the flock we are a part of is God’s flock where we are always welcomed home. With heaven, we celebrate that we are found.
So, there. I managed to find some words to say about these parables. These well-known, well-loved, well-crafted stories that leave us with images and metaphors that are meaningful and help us make sense out of faith and our relationship with God. In my mind, these parables succinctly get across what I think is maybe the ultimate story of God and the people told throughout the Bible. Which is the story of God always trying to get ever closer, and in ever be Those who are lost might ask, “What difference do I make?” The answer is that it makes a difference to God. They give God and God’s people a reason to celebrate when they are better relationship with God’s creation. We humans tend to find ways to turn away or hide, plenty of examples of that in the Bible, yet God continues to look for and to seek us. When we are found it is always a reunion worth celebrating. Amen.