Reflection on Luke 15:1-10

 

What this world needs right now is a little more joy.  Am I right?  In a nation where people are so divided in our ideals and where these differences are allowed to destroy friendships, we could use a little more joy.  With illness and death threatening our loved ones and knocking on our own doors, we could use a little more joy.  In a world that seems to be falling apart at the seams, where the world we used to know is no longer, we could use a little more joy. 

In fact, I think that it is time for a party!  It is time to go, as Jesus suggests in his parable of the banquet, out into the streets and invite everyone we see.  Are they poor?  It does not matter; there is plenty to go around.  It is time for some joy!  Are they blind?  It does not matter; music needs no eyes.  It is time for some joy!  Are they crippled or lame?  It does not matter; even those stuck in bed know how to raise their hands in celebration.  It is time for some joy! 

Are you lost from joy?  Are you a coin that has rolled into a dark place?  Are you cast away, not accepted, despised, hated, looked down upon and forgotten?  Are you forgotten?  Are you a sheep who has wandered far, far away?  Maybe, you wandered away on purpose.  Maybe, you thought being lost was your only option.  Maybe, you wandered away accidentally.  Maybe you lost touch with everyone and they lost touch with you, and your relationships slowly, faded away until you became forgotten.

Jesus has a message of good news for you this morning.  Jesus is not like everyone else.  Jesus does not forget you.  Quite the opposite, Jesus is like a woman who loses a precious coin from her headband containing her marriage dowry.  In fact, Jesus is like you when your wedding ring slips from your finger and rolls to some dark corner somewhere on the ground.  Just as you search everywhere, looking under low places, retracing steps, and enlisting help, so too Jesus searches for you.  And, just as you would jump and shout in pure joy when finding your ring, and just as you would throw a thank you party for everyone who helped search and find the lost ring, so too Jesus throws a party for everyone when he has found you.  “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

There is joy whenever Jesus enters the room of the lost.  There is a party to be had whenever Jesus shows up.  Wherever Jesus shows up, there is joy.

So, today we ask you Lord Jesus to show up.  Find the lost people gathered here today.  Make this place a party!  Let us celebrate together because when you show up, Lord Jesus, the lost are found!

But, I have to say that kind of celebration is a major problem for lots and lots of people.  The Bible tells us, “Now 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.’”  Jesus found the lost tax collectors and sinners.  The unacceptable people of Jesus’ time were drawn to the Jesus, and Jesus was drawn to them, and this basic fact caused a lot of grumbling.

Grumbling.  In a world that Jesus wants to fill with joy, I hear a lot of grumbling and so do you.  Let us face it; I create a lot of the grumbling.  I see despicable people in the world gaining attention and even starting to thrive, and it causes me to grumble.  I see the world becoming less holy, and I start to grumble.  I see the unholy receiving accolades, and followers, and appreciation in this world, and I start to grumble. 

Do you know the one place these people should not receive accolades, and followers, and appreciation?  “In the congregation of the holy, that is where,” I say to myself.  “Sinners are not to be given praise in the presence of God’s holy congregation,” I argue to myself.  “Churches have walls and locking doors for a reason,” I convince myself.  “There needs to be at least one place where I can retreat away from the sin and craziness of the world.  It pervades our politics.  It pervades our schools.  It pervades our art.  It should not pervade the people of God,” I declare to myself.  “The common can stay common and the set apart should remain set apart.  Filthy oil and fresh water do not mix,” I justify to myself, impressed by my own scientific sounding oil and water metaphor. 

I and the Pharisees and the scribes are in complete and total agreement as we grumble together, and I secretly wish that Jesus would agree also.  In fact, as a pastor I have the power to make it sound like Jesus agrees with me.  I can denounce any sort of deviant or sinful person from this pulpit, require that they repent, and make it look like I am preserving the one, true faith.

There is only one, true problem.  The Bible says that Jesus eats and celebrates with the sinners and tax collectors.  I can yell and denounce everyone I want, but the Bible says that Jesus will just leave me behind and go out into the streets and invite the outcasts into his party.  I can yell and denounce all I want, but songs of joy will still boom above me from the angels of heaven each and every time that one of those common, unholy people, who I despise so much, encounters Jesus and repents.

Do you know what “repent” means in the Greek language (the language of the Christian scriptures)?  It does not mean “feeling really bad about yourself.”  It does not mean “begging and pleading for mercy.”  Do you want to know what it actually means?  It means “changing your mind.”  It means “starting to follow another way.”  When you throw Jesus into the picture, it means being with Jesus and allowing him to change your mind.  Repentance is being with Jesus and allowing him to change your mind.

Let me set two things straight for you this morning.  Let me “change your mind” about the world and the way that Jesus works. 

First, the Bible does not paint the world as “the rotten” verses “the Godly.”  The Bible does not paint the world as some place that used to be really, really Godly, but has now devolved into trash.  No, the Bible paints the world out there as very good.  Genesis 1:31 in your bibles reads, “God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good.”  Further, the Bible simply classifies this “very good” world as “common.”  In other words, the world is simply the way that the world is.

The people of God are defined as being “holy” which means “set apart.”  We are “set apart” to be God’s representative in the world.  We are “set apart” to love all that God loves in this very good world. 

So, the state of the world is not “the rotten” verses “the Godly.”  The state of the world is: “everything that is basically good and common” mixed with those whom God “set apart” to minister to those who are good and common.

That brings me to the second thing that I want to set straight: we do not become holy only after we repent and change our minds.  Instead, we repent and change our minds because Jesus finds us.  The holy one…the one set apart one…finds us.  We are not saved because we suddenly want to change our ways, we are saved because Jesus searches and finds us.  

We are changed because a party is thrown in our honor and even the angels celebrate with exuberant joy.  I know this distinction can seem tedious, but it can mean the difference between a life of grumbling disappointment in the world, and a life of heavenly joy as we look at the world, seeing all the possibilities.  Are we set apart to be a people who grumbles against the world, or a people set apart to bring joy to the world through Jesus Christ?  I think you know the answer.

After-all, Jesus Christ has found you.  Like a coin which did nothing to be found, or a sheep who did nothing before it was found and thrown upon the shoulders like a beloved child, you have been found by Jesus Christ, and the very fact that you are in his presence is what changes your mind and life in ways that are deeply profound and holy.

It is like the foster child who was passed on from home to home because of the anger in his fists and the stomach churning feces left on the carpet in front of his foster parents’ bedroom doors.  Things started to change for him the day that a loving and devoted couple came into his life and adopted him with joy in their eyes.  They threw a party the day he entered their life forever.  Did he do anything to deserve such a gift?  No.  Did his new life filled with love change him instantly?  Not at all.  Lots of carpet cleaner had to be purchased in the years to come.  Would the kid have ever found joy and love in his life if not for the couple who found him as he was, and loved him as he was, and adopted him anyway?  Jesus finds us, and it makes a difference. 

Jesus finds you, and it makes a difference.  And, when we join Jesus Christ in this life of searching and finding, the world suddenly seems so much more filled of joy.  There is joy whenever Jesus enters the room of the lost.  There is a party to be had whenever Jesus shows up.  So, let us celebrate together because when our Lord Jesus shows up, the lost are found!