September 12, 2010
by Linda Kraft
Luke 15:1-10
- There's an old story, about a little boy who cried out in the night. "Daddy, I'm scared!" Half awake Daddy said, "Don't be afraid, Daddy's right across the hall." There was a brief pause and the little boy called out, "I'm still scared." So Daddy pulled out the big guns, "You don't have to be afraid, God is with you. God loves you." The pause was longer but the little boy called out again, "I don't care about God, Daddy; I want someone with skin on!"
Our Gospel for today comes at the beginning of what some have called the Gospel to the Outcast, chapters 15 -19 in the good news according to Luke. Here in the 15th chapter we have a special treasure – three parables of the lost: The Lost Sheep; the Lost Coin; and The Prodigal Son. Today we get to consider the lost sheep and the lost coin parables. Both make the same point, that God is especially interested in recovering the loyalty of the lost sinner.
We’ve been hearing a lot about the Scribes and the Pharisees this summer. We’ve heard how they felt called to live lives of purity. They’d been taught by their religious leaders that the only way they could be loved by God is if they were able to keep every tenet of the Law perfectly. So each day they surrounded themselves with prayer, fasting, almsgiving, making sacrifices and keeping themselves separate from anyone who didn’t measure up to the same standards.
To the Scribes and Pharisees, this Jesus person started out as a bit of a puzzle. This carpenter’s son from Nazareth was known to speak eloquently, read the ancient texts fluently and expound on them with great authority. Wherever he went, he could be found teaching in the houses of worship, the synagogues. People seemed to be drawn to him. He had what we would call today a charismatic personality.
But there was more to Jesus than charisma – intelligence, wit and charm. And realizing THAT, set off alarms among the people who thought they had things already figured out.
This itinerant preacher, this Jesus bar Joseph, the Nazarite, with his uncut hair and beard and his simple style of dress was someone who seemed to attract all kinds of people. Any good and faithful Scribe or Pharisee could tell you back then that that sort of magnetism just wasn’t wise. In fact, that’s where our lesson for today begins. The Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” (V.2)
Tax collectors. Now there was a reason the religious elite didn’t like THAT kind of person, and it wasn’t all about having to pay money to the occupying forces of Rome. Roman leaders thought it might be easier to get the highest amount of taxes from the people if the tax collectors spoke their native language, knew where they lived and had some knowledge of the investment history of the particular families they were charged with taxing. So the Romans found some Jewish men they thought might work well in those collection agent positions.
The Romans did a little investigating and found men who maybe had once been brought up in the faith tradition, who might have been educated in the Temple and who might even have passed their rite of initiation, the Bar Mitzvah. This would be like someone in our Lutheran tradition who had been baptized, raised in Sunday School and confirmed.
Then the Romans convinced the Jewish men they chose that they would be doing a service for their fellow Jews. If these tax collectors did a good job of getting the most from their neighbors, they would prevent the troops from having to invade their homes and take by force what could be more peacefully extracted. Tax collectors were men who had turned on their own families, church members and heritage, choosing instead to make their living off the hardship of others. That’s why THEY were despised by the Scribes and Pharisees.
What about those other Sinners? Oh, that’s easy! Sinners were anyone not included in among the righteous keepers of the Law of Moses. Such a label applied to tanners, fishermen, women, anyone who slipped up in even one tiny part of being righteous. Temptation to wander from what was necessary was always a danger to the Scribes and Pharisees. After all, their very lives in eternity depended upon their own ability to keep themselves apart from such rabble.
It would be convenient for us to be able to keep this story’s message back there, 2000 years in the past, in another land, among people with whom we have little in common. We might be more comfortable if we didn’t have to bring its application and implications into today’s world, into the USA, into this building, into our own lives. But of course, we can’t.
We need to look at Jesus’ parables and try to understand what they mean for us today. This Bible that we have is God’s holy word. In its history, poetry, stories and parables God tells us a lot about ourselves and even more about our creator. You and I, who call ourselves people of God, Christians, believers, and disciples of Jesus need to explore what God is trying to say to us, today, in these ancient words.
So let’s take a look again. Scribes and Pharisees – who might they be today? It would be reassuring if we could point out a particular people or denomination and say, “They’re the ones; they’re the ones who think they’re better than everyone else.” Who would that be in today’s world? What was the first idea that came into your mind? Did you think of who that could be, the righteous, holier-than-thou, stay-away-from-the-sinner sort of person?
Hmmm..., and who would the sinners in today’s world be? You know who sinners are, right? They’re easy to pick out in a crowd. They’re the ones who always... the ones who never... the ones I don’t want to...
Wait a minute. Something is not feeling right about where this is going. I’m starting to get a little uncomfortable here. Are you?
Our reading tells us Jesus searches for the lost. In the parables, the good shepherd leaves the 99 and seeks the one that has strayed. The homemaker isn’t satisfied to have an incomplete collection of nine coins, the entire set of ten is what she wants. But, if it’s the LOST Jesus goes after like a shepherd or a homemaker, who are those lost ones anyhow?
It’s not always easy to pick apart a parable and try to put people and actions from today into yesterday’s story. It’s not even wise. The allegory almost always breaks down and then, just as we think we have all the answers, we realize we don’t and we’re lost back at square one again.
Oh. Wait a minute. Lost. MmMmmm.. was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see, ‘Twas grace... You and I – left to our own devices – are lost. You and I are the Sinners. We look at others and point out their faults, whether it is their superior attitude or their desperate lifestyle, and we think we’re better than they are. We go to church. We say our prayers. We read our scriptures. We offer our time, talent and treasures so the Good News can be spread around the world. WE’re the GOOD GUYS. Right? We’re the GOOD GUYS!
Isn’t that what the Scribes and Pharisees thought?
But Jesus left the many who were SAFE and went after the one who was lost. Jesus, God with skin on, came among us and ate with sinners. Jesus tried to reach the religious leaders but they thought they had no need of him because they were so perfect. Who did Jesus come to save?
Jesus came to redeem ALL of creation, not just a few worthy souls. The price was high but Jesus paid it, and now we all are found, saint and sinner alike. Amen
- Someone with Skin On by Billy D. Strayhorn from Lost and Found Department, eSermons.com, September 2010.
(Comments to Linda at Linda_Kraft@Ecunet.org.)
Linda Kraft, Pastor at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Stafford Springs, CT
Secretary, Slovak Zion Synod, ELCA
Board Member: ELCA Division for Higher Education and Schools