Luke
15:1-10
1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were
coming near to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were
grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with
them." 3 So he told them this parable: 4 "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? 5 When he has
found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 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.' 7 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. 8 "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? 9 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.' 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the
presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
"This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
· It’s often said that
we are known by the company we keep. This would hold for Jesus as well. The
scribes and Pharisees were grumbling because a rabbi, a teacher, was often in
the company of those they felt were not worthy of the rabbi’s attention. So
they grumbled: "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
They wanted him to spend his time with the “good” people, the “right” people,
the “worthy” people… with them.
· It is possible that
these folks were concerned about Jesus reputation and how the tax collectors
and sinners might destroy it. They also might have been concerned that he
wasn’t doing what he should have, that is, spending time with the “right”
people, the “righteous” people, those who had not sinned, since that was what a
proper rabbi should do: stick with the proper people (where he could be
controlled?).
· In the face of this,
Jesus relates three parables. The so-called Prodigal Son is our Gospel for next
week. In the first two parable, the ones we hear today, the meaning might be
easy to catch. How it would be received by the “sinners” and the “righteous”
would be quite different.
· In the first parable,
a shepherd has 100 sheep and one gets lost. Now I have a degree in Business
Management and to me, 1% wastage written off isn’t that bad. However this is
not a lesson in business or shepherding. It is a lesson in the Kingdom of God.
· The one lost one is
really lost. If we consider the terrain of Judea (the wilderness),
the chances are slim to none of finding that one sheep. There are lots of
places to hide or to get caught in. There are also wolves, hyenas, even
leopards around and they’d be looking for just such a lost sheep. But as I
said, this is not a story of actual shepherding. The parable’s shepherd is as
concerned for all the other sheep as he is for the lost one; he just HAS to
find the lost one… even if it cost him his life.
· In the second
parable, the woman has lost one of her ten silver coins and proceeds to turn
the house upside down to find it.
· The lost coin – a
Greek coin called a drachma – was possibly
a day or a half day’s pay for a worker of the time. (In that time, it had the
same purchasing power as about $50 today.) Again, she doesn’t wait for the coin
to turn up and she doesn’t write off the 10% loss. She aggressively cleans
until she finds it… and then throws a party.
· Really now, people
just don’t act like that.
· But God does. God
seeks out the lost sheep and the lost coin. For the tax collectors and sinners,
that must have been such good news! For them to hear that they were cared for
that much, that their apparent sin did not hinder the Lord of All Creation from
loving them would be such a freeing message.
· They were made in the
image of God and God would recovery God’s image in the ones so many considered
lost. The “Lost” hear the parables with joy; however, the Pharisees might hear
the message with annoyance since their “righteousness” would be challenged.
· There is a lack of
understanding here. The so-called sinners might have felt that no grace would
reach them, while the so-called righteous might have felt that no grace was
needed. Yet they – and we - all need the same grace (and the same amount if it
could be measured) to be saved.
· Paul wrote to Timothy:
the
saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. We can’t really
comment on Paul’s self-understanding, but the statement that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners is good news to us! Rather than spending time
beating ourselves up for our past or spending time wondering why we confess and
ask forgiveness since “none of us really sin” as one member of another congregation
once said to me, we can rejoice in the grace of salvation. Every… last… one… of
us… no matter whom we welcome and eat with.
the saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners
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