My
grandma once taught me, “You are known by who you hang out with.” The implication of this was, of course, if
you ate your school lunch with good and proper people, you also will be known
as good and proper. Then there are the
people with whom she would not have me eat lunch: the sinners.
Yes,
of course, we are all sinners and need the forgiveness of God, but this was not
the classification of sin that she was talking about. She was talking about cheats and turncoats
and drug users. You do not sit at the
lunch table with them, because if you do, you are considered one of them.
Jesus
appears to be making the simple lunchroom error that every Jr. High student of
any worth inherently knows to avoid: sitting with the wrong crowd. “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with
them.” You can almost hear the
accusations dripping from their lips. It
is as if Jesus were a criminal himself.
It is as if Jesus himself were to come to no good. It is as if Jesus might be hauled away by the
authorities and executed. If only the
Pharisees and the scribes knew the end of the story. But, they do not know the end of the story. They only know that Jesus eats with bad
people…with sinners; “tisk, tisk.” Yes,
my grandmother actually said, “tisk, tisk.”
The
Pharisees and scribes see the world as good and bad. They see the world as black and white. They see the world just as my grandma had taught:
good people…sit with them; bad people…do not sit with them. My grandma also taught that you can marry a
rich woman as easily as a poor one. I
did not listen to that gem of advice, but I think that the former sank in a
little deeper than I would like to admit.
I think that sometimes I do look out on the world and throw people into categories
of good and bad.
For
example, at a recent church picnic, I saw a young couple drive up in a pickup
truck with their children. Did you read carefully
what I typed? A couple was driving all of their children around in a pickup truck.
Those children wore no seatbelts, and certainly did not sit in age
appropriate (required by law) car seats.
I shook my head in disbelief as they got out of the truck to go play in
the park, and continued eating my turkey and mustard sandwich with all of the other
good people of the church.
A
little later I looked up to see that the parents had gone off on their own to
play basketball while their children were…well…they did not even know where
their children were, they were not watching!
Terrible people. I settled into
conversation with those who knew better and promptly forgot about those sinners
until the middle of the night when I jumped awake and realized with horror one simple
truth: Jesus invites sinners to eat.
I
am a pastor! How could I be so
stupid? I am a Christian! How could I be so dumb and
inconsiderate? How could it be that I
did not invite this sinful family over to eat with us? The answer is easy really: it is because I
saw them simply as that: sinful, hopeless people. Jesus, on the other hand, did not categorize
people this way. Jesus simply asked, “Are
these people lost?”
"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 [is found and turns his life around] 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 is found and [turns her life around.]"
The question I ask when I see people is: are they good or bad?
The question Jesus asks when he sees people is: “Are they lost?” And, if they are, then they need to be found.
I
should have gone and found those children.
I should have gone and found those parents. I should have invited them to eat with
us. Maybe I did not because I, like the
Pharisees and scribes, also am lost.
But, I am certain that I am not alone in being lost. As theologian David Lose asks:
- Might the parents who want their children to succeed so
much that they wrap their whole lives around hockey games and dance
recitals be lost?
- Might the career minded man or woman who has made
moving up the ladder the one and only priority be lost?
- Might the folks who work jobs they hate just to give
their family things they never had be lost?
- Might the senior who has a great pension plan but
little sense of meaning since retirement be lost?
- Might the teen who works so hard to be perfect and who
is willing to do just about anything to fit in be lost?
- Might the earnest Christian who is constantly asking
whether people have accepted Jesus into their hearts be lost?
- Might the pastor who sees sin in the world but doesn’t
see people in the world be lost?
Being lost is not about good or bad, it is about our relationship with God and one another. I must admit that as a fellow lost soul I need to hear a sermon just as much as anyone else. So, I will turn to an old sermon. It is an old story that I am sure you have heard over the years, but it a sermon that preaches to all of us who are lost, no matter the reason.
A minister had just
closed a revival in a huge Midwestern city. He stepped on the train on his way
home and found himself seated beside a young man. Just to kind of pass the time
away, he tried to start up a conversation. He noticed that he didn't receive an
answer. He turned to the young man and said, "Son, I'm a preacher. I'm a
minister. I'll be glad to help you any way I can".
And the young man, through his tears, proceeded to tell his story. He said:
"Preacher, two years ago I got so mean at home that my mom and dad
couldn't do anything with me. But one day I even went so far as to strike my
father with my fist. He told me then, 'Son, I hate to do it. It's going to
break your momma's heart. But we want you to just get away from here--just
leave this house.'"
"Preacher, I wandered all over this country for the past two years. And
then about three weeks ago Jesus found be and I turned my life to Jesus. I
wrote Mom and Dad a letter and told them I'd be on this old train. I told them
I was coming home."
The preacher said, "Son, that's well and good, but how do you know you're
going to be welcome? How do you know that your Mom and Dad will even let you go
home?"
The young man said, "Preacher, we've lived beside these old railroad
tracks all of my life in a little white house. And out behind the house is a
great big old apple tree. And I told my dad in my letter, if I was welcome home
and he and my mom could see it in their hearts to forgive me of all the pain
and heartache I caused, for Dad to go out there in the backyard and hang a
little white rag on top of that tree. And I could see it from the train. And
I'd know by that signal that everything was all right."
"Preacher, would you look for me and tell me what you see? I want to go
home so bad and I'm so sorry for all the things I've done. Tell me if you see
one little teeny white rag on top of that tree."
Well, the old preacher not knowing what to expect wiped the window of that old
train off and looked out. And he had a great big smile and said, "Son, you
can relax. That apple tree is in full bloom! I never saw so many white rags
tied on anything in all of my life. And that's not all. Out under the apple
tree I see that grey haired old Mom and Dad standing out there waving a big
white bed sheet saying 'Come home son. Welcome home. We love you."
And you know, that's just like God. No matter how we've wasted our lives, no matter how far in sin we've sunk, no matter how lost we get, no matter how many people we have judged and forgotten, when we desire to live another way and cry out, "Jesus, I want to live for you. Forgive me of my sins." you know that Jesus will welcome us home each and every time.
All Scripture quotes are from the New
Revised Standard Version Bible, copyrighted, 1989 by the Division of Christian
Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and
is used by permission. All rights reserved.
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