Jesus Knows Where We Are

September 11, 2016
The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost


GOSPEL LESSON: Luke 15:1–10 [Joy over one restored sheep]
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his 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 coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? And 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 before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
P: This is the Gospel of our Lord.
C: Praise to you, O Christ.

Jesus is always telling the Pharisees and scribes about the Kingdom of God. It is hard for them to understand. They were brought up believing that it was necessary to follow the Law of Moses 100%. The Law explains what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, what is clean and unclean, what is acceptable and what is to be rejected. We Christians also need to be told about the Kingdom of God. It is also hard for us to understand. We who have been brought up in the Reformation understanding that we have been saved by grace 100%, still feel in our hearts that we want to live according to the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord’s Prayer. We have been taught what is good and bad, what is right and wrong, what is clean and unclean, what is acceptable and what is to be rejected.

And so today’s words of Jesus are also spoken to us. Jesus wants us to stop grumbling also. He wants us also to receive sinners and eat with them.

The old Pharisees wanted no contact with sinners. Sinners were the Jewish people who did not keep the Law of Moses perfectly. They were not all criminals, but because of their work or laziness or busy-ness or health, they could not or chose not to keep all the rules of Moses and all the added-on man-made rules of the Pharisees. The Pharisees thought they were like scum or garbage or disease. They did not want to have any dealings with them, because they thought that they too would become religiously unclean and therefore lose the favor of God. They wanted God to be happy with them and give them salvation.

Therefore they grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus told parables about what might make God grumble, and about what gives God joy. He told the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son, also known as the Prodigal Son. Today’s Gospel reading is the just the first two parables. Even though Jesus told these easy-to-understand parables, I do not think the Pharisees and scribes understood them. I think they did not understand because they did not understand what it means to be lost. They could not understand or sympathize with that poor little sheep or the missing coin, nor of the Prodigal Son sitting in the mud of the pig pen. Maybe we cannot either?

Have you ever been lost? Have you ever panicked thinking about what might happen? One of my earliest memories is getting separated from my mother in a department store. I started to cry and run around and call out, “Mother!” When you are lost you are scared. Think of that Lost Sheep somewhere in the wilderness. It is dark, cold, hungry, lonely, scared of wolves, bleating and calling for help and running around trying to find the flock. The Lost Coin is in even worse shape. Even if it were alive, it could not shout out its location, it has no legs and not pick itself up to roll around looking for the Woman. It can only wait, either in hope or despair. When you are really lost, you cannot find your way home. You need your mother, or shepherd, or friend, or Jesus.

I do not think that the Pharisees had ever been lost. I do not think that they understood the parable at all. They could not understand the feeling of the sheep, nor the feelings of the tax collectors and sinner, the social outcasts, the beggars, the rascals, those with a different life style, the sick and diseased. They lived in a completely different world. The Law of Moses was like a big bubble that protected them from all of that.

Have you ever lost something and were thrown into panic until you found it? “Where are my keys? Where did I drop my wallet? Where are my kids? My boss is going to kill me if I don’t find it. Where did my dog run off to?”

I do not think that the Pharisees and scribes had ever lost anything. They did not understand the panic and fear of the Shepherd or Woman who had lost something precious. And so they could not understand why they searched for the Sheep or the Coin. They cannot understand the concern of Jesus or the pain of God when his precious people are lost.

I do not think that the Pharisees realized that they themselves were lost. They felt at home in the Temple. At first, perhaps the Sheep thought that it was happy eating the nice green grass it had found in the wilderness. Perhaps the Coin thought it was nice lying in the soft dust under the kitchen cabinet. But the Shepherd and the Woman and Jesus knew that something precious was lost. Jesus received even the Pharisees and wanted to have fellowship with them also. Jesus wanted to have the joy of the Shepherd and the Woman, who shared their joy with their neighbors. God and the Angels of Heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents.

The Gospel Message is that God our Lord and Shepherd sent Jesus to be the Good Shepherd to search for and to find us. His search took him to the wilderness of this earth. He searched the valley of the shadow of death. And in his death on the cross, he even searched the depths of hell to bring us home. His resurrection is the beginning of the salvation-party. As Psalm 23 says,


You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

It is easy to get lost: physically, spiritually, emotionally, economically, in our thinking, in our behavior, in our health, in our relationships with others, in our struggles with self-control, in our plans for the future. Sometimes the world seems like an impossible maze or a tangled jungle.

In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus reminds us that he has searched for us and has found us. He knows where we are. In the same way he has found other sinners and tax collectors and outcasts. He receives us all and has fellowship with us. Even the Angels of God celebrate with us in our worship today.

Amen.

Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church


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