Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Year C, RCL
September 15, 2019
North Fork Ministries
Gospel:
Luke 15:1-10
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."
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."
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I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve squandered a good portion of my life sweeping the house looking for a single lost coin, or searching in the wilderness for the one sheep that will make my flock complete. Most of us, I suspect, would probably say that we’re looking for something we’ve lost, or maybe never had, even if we are not quite sure we would know it if we found it. Everybody is looking for something.
So it is easy enough to read this passage about lost sheep and lost coins and imagine ourselves as the seekers after what is lost. In fact, that is the label applied in congregational development circles for many of you who have found your way here to Holy Trinity or Redeemer. Some churches go so far as to put together a “seeker’s service” – one designed to be very user friendly, with entertaining music, low demands, sermons that are easy on the ears - all designed to make church a “nice”, familiar, non-threatening performance. The people are seeking something, and churches are careful not to scare them off.
I seem to recall, from my Baptist childhood, that these parables usually became opportunities for preachers to talk about sin and repentance. However, as I look them over now, it seems to me that lost coins really aren’t capable of much sin, and the repentance of a sheep probably isn’t worth seeking. I’m led to the conclusion that the parables of the lost coin and the lost sheep are not really so much about us at all, but about how God works in the world.
Part of what leads me to this conclusion is that the actions of the protagonists in these stories really don’t make a lot of sense. And it is when the simple, apparent message of a parable doesn’t add up, when the actions of the characters seem outrageous, mysterious, and strange that Jesus is asking us to look deeper into the parable than a literal interpretation would take us.
Let’s think about this. Which one of us, if we were charged with the responsibility of caring for a flock of 99 endangered sheep, would abandon them to the beasts of prey waiting for a chance to slaughter the flock, while we head off into the hills looking for the one sheep who had wandered off? It would be a wildly irrational act. Do that and you would be out of the sheepherding business in no time.
And consider the woman who lost a coin and spent the day sweeping the house looking for it. If that single coin was so dear, so precious, could she really afford the expense of a celebration when she found it? The party would cost more than the lost coin. In our world, this kind of behavior is foolish.
But we have to remember that are talking about the kingdom of God, not rational human conduct. Think of the 99 lost sheep as representing everything the world thinks is important – a bigger house, a better job, more stuff, higher prestige. The one sheep that is lost, that is what is on God’s mind. We are the lost sheep and not one of us is forgotten by God. And the woman’s joy at finding the lost coin, points us towards the extravagant nature of God’s love for us.
We aren’t saved by searching and finding what we seek. Seeking salvation, is much like seeking happiness, it’s a sideways affair. Only indirectly do we find it. It is a matter of God’s grace.
I’ve never spent the day sweeping the house, searching for a lost coin. However, on at least one occasion, I have found lost treasure. It was years ago. I had purchased my first home, a small two bedroom, frame house in a modest Austin neighborhood. We bought the house from an elderly couple, who had lived there for many years and now were moving to a retirement home. After living there for over a year, I had occasion to remove a metal grid from an interior wall in order to gain access to the heater in our narrow hallway. Peering inside the sheetrock wall, I happened to notice a dust covered cigar box, lying on its edge against a 2x4. I pulled the box from its resting place, noted the King Edward label, sat cross legged on the hall’s worn hardwood floors, and pulled the box onto my lap. Slowly, somewhat fearfully, I lifted the brightly colored lid. Inside were a half dozen small, faded velvet bags, each closed tight with a drawstring. As I lifted the first bag, I could hear the metallic sound of clanging metal. I opened the bag and found inside 10 silver coins – silver dollars, some in mint condition, some well worn, and all very old. My heart raced as I opened the remaining bags and found a similar cache of coins inside each.
That same day, I bought a coin book, and after a little research determined that this collection of 60 silver dollars was, indeed, no small treasure. However, I was certain of the true owner, and after a day or two of trying to convince myself of the righteousness of “finders keepers, losers weepers”, I called the old man, whom I knew must have mislaid the coins, and granted him the pleasure of rejoicing over that which was lost.
The thing is, all the treasures in my life, I seemed to have stumbled upon. Those things which I have sought most earnestly, have eluded me. And those few treasures that I have sought, and actually found, have proven to be of less value than I had hoped.
The success of our seeking is really a measure of our willingness to be found. You might consider yourself a seeker, but what you have really done, by showing up at Holy Trinity or Redeemer this morning, is wander into a place where God can find you.
God seeks a connection with us. Sometimes we have to let go of our relentless searching and simply be – and stay still long enough for God to find us.
Like happiness, a connection with God, isn’t something that you can find by constant searching, but is something that finds you.
The problem with seeking is that we have a preconceived notion of what it is we are going to find. We imagine what it will look like, feel like, and how it will satisfy our desires and egos. But God doesn’t appear in ways that we can imagine, and so we search in the wrong location. A letting go of the self is required for the encounter to take place.
God’s nature is to love and God’s love cannot be contained. God does the seeking. Our role is to allow ourselves to be loved. And accepting that you are loved can go a long way toward moving you along the path to loving yourself.
I feel a lot more comfortable with the idea of providing a place, here at Holy Trinity or Redeemer where we can be found, than I am with the notion of saving lost souls. Churches often are more open to the idea of saving the lost than they are to welcoming those they imagine are lost. If we have a role to play in the work of the kingdom, it’s that of welcoming. God is the true seeker. We are merely wandering in the wilderness together. And God is looking for us.
I like the idea that in each of these parables there is a celebration. When the lost coin is found, when the lost sheep is restored to the flock, there is great joy. So they have a party. We are called to share in the Divine joy that comes through restoration. And it is restoration with the Divine that we celebrate each Sunday at this table.
My prayer for each of you, today, is that we have wandered into a place where we can be found – and that there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God.