Pentecost 16
Exodus 32:7-14
Psalm 51:1-10
1 Timothy 1:12-17
Luke 15:1-10
All right now, let’s get real here. So you loose a coin and sweep the house, check the couch kitchens, look under the rug. Aha! There it is, it rolled behind the fridge and nestled up with the dust bunnies.
And then you call your friends and throw a party? I don’t think so. I’d say, boy, that was stupid, loosing the coin. I won’t be that careless again. Or I might admit it to a close friend. But to advertise the fact that I lost a coin? And then to throw a party that probably would cost me more than that coin?
Or say you have 100 sheep. You take a quick nap and one wanders off. So you leave the 99 and go searching. You know, that one sheep represents a profit loss of what? 1%. You risk 99% to look for 1%. That doesn’t make very good business sense.
Time expended, energy….then again, you want to admit to your carelessness by advertising the fact that you saved 1%? And again, you throw a party!! Hmmm…lamb riblets with garlic and rosemary sound good….
Other than, say, when you were in college searching for laundry quarters…the time and energy spent looking for the lost seem like, well, time and energy lost.
Just let it go….there will be other coins. There will be other sheep….
There will be other people.
Look at the first reading,
The Lord is fed up with the Israelites, his chosen folk. He
says to Moses, “Your people, whom you brought up out of the
But Moses says, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot
against your people, whom you brought up out of the
Gotta’ love that… your people, no your people: Like parents when a child is in trouble. Your son did this….
Moses reminds God that these stiff-necked folk are “your people” and they have been promised good. And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
For they are important people even in their stiff-necked
way. They are valuable even when
rebelling against God. And eventually
they come to the promised land. The
So back to the coin and the sheep. These items have done nothing except get lost. Roll away, wander off. They don’t ask to be found. They don’t repent. They just get lost.
Yet they are valued so much that everything stops while the search and rescue begins. The floor is swept, the valley is searched. And then, these little items are celebrated! A party is held in their honor!
Do they deserve it? Do the other sheep grumble like the Pharisees that this grace stuff isn’t fair, you see?
Do we good sheep who stay in the right place and keep our noses clean get upset when the lost are found and celebrated?
Ah, but my friends, we are invited to the party. The bread and wine await all of us. Those who are lost and those who are found gather together around the same table.
God invites, not us. Good thing. We would check id’s and sins at the door. We would sort and sift and make sure people are repentant enough…humble enough…nice enough…
But God is the one who seeks and finds, who searches and rescues. Even them, even us. Even without our asking, sometimes even without us being aware that we too are lost.
For the 1% is just as valued as the 99%. This is the economy of God’s world. And the cost of the party is not important. The rejoicing is: the rejoicing with friends and neighbors and strangers. The celebration of the lost rejoining the found, of the coin saved from being forgotten behind the fridge, or the sheep brought home, cold and shaking.
When the coin is found, it isn’t just stored in the piggy bank or brought to the bank, it is used to bring joy to others. To help make life a little more cheerful, a little more joyful.
How we need that in this world!
And the sheep found is an occasion for calling together friends and neighbors…”Rejoice with me!”
How we need more of that in this world! A world that is so full of distrust, division, loneliness, violence….
We need more seeking of the lost, celebrating of the found! We need more parties with friends and neighbors and strangers…so that people feel important, valued, like they belong.
God, these are your people, you have promised to seek and find, to value each and every one of them. Bring us together that we may rejoice…share in this party of bread and wine…then strengthened and renewed we may go out to find more coins, more sheep, more occasions to rejoice! More people to celebrate!
Amen.