14th Sunday after Pentecost

 

Luke 15:1-10

Woohoo.  I am very happy about our texts today.  Because we have had some real downers lately.  Because the Gospel of Luke can be a hard one.  Luke says a lot of hard things.  He remembers Jesus challenging people and systems that used to keep him and people like him out.  He remembers feeling welcomed and seeing others welcomed in ways others don’t.  But those same memories, that same Good News for Luke can be really hard for those of us who are more accustomed to comfortable seats.  So I am glad for today. 

And I know at first glance today’s texts don’t seem much better.  I mean they are all about sinners and what a mess we as humans can make of our lives and quite frankly the world.  But I love them.  Because we have made it to Luke chapter 15 and it is one of my favorites.  Because today God rejoices.  Today in Luke and elsewhere, we get to see God at his most merciful.  Today we get to see God throw a party again and again over the silliest of things.  And that is just way more fun.  And also, maybe still a bit hard.  And weird.

Because you understand that these parables that Jesus tells today are silly.  The people in them are actually really dumb, right?  This is not what anyone would do.  Jesus asks them "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?”  The answer is everybody.  No one in their right mind would ever do this.  You can’t abandon the entirety of your flock unattended in the wilderness to go look for one sheep, because if you did, when you got back the flock would be scattered, wolves will have eaten half of them and bandits will have run off with the other half and now you have 99 new problems instead of one.  It doesn’t make any sense.

And the coin parable has the same problem too.  This coin, the silver drachma, wasn’t very valuable.  But oil certainly was, they didn’t have kerosine, we are talking about hand pressed olive oil here, it’s still expensive now.  So no, you don’t light a lamp and burn two coins worth of oil in order to look for one lost coin.  And then at the end of both parables, the person gets so excited that they throw a party and spend even more to celebrate their disastrous choices.  None of it makes sense if we are talking about what humans would and should do.

And so these parables stand as a stark reminder that Human math just doesn’t apply when it comes to God.  The actions in these parables are a problem for us because we all experience scarcity.  Every day, you and me, every human makes choices based on limited resources.  We have to.  It’s not a sin, it’s just reality.  We can only do or have or be so much.  We can buy this or we can buy that.  We can spend our time here or be present over there, but we can’t do both.  We all live every day within very real if not somewhat different limits on our time, resources and abilities.  We just do.

And so, these choices in the parable aren’t practical because we as humans just can’t have it all.  We would have to abandon the other sheep to look for the lost one because we can’t be in two places at once (trust me, I have tried).  We would have to spend silver to buy oil to look for the lost coin because we don’t have unlimited resources, we can’t make something out of nothing.

And this is what brings about the biggest and most common heresy we humans love to commit.  We try to put human limitations on God’s abilities.  We think that God must be like us.  That God must face the same sorts of limits and therefore have to face the same sorts of choices as us.  That God chooses between us and them.

But God doesn’t play by our rules.  God created all this all this, all of creation out of nothing.  He can make all the oil, all the silver, all the things without limitations.  And doesn’t have to leave the other sheep.  God can be in two places at once, God is in fact in all places, all the time.  And most importantly God is happy to do so.  God doesn’t worry about scarcity like we do.  God always has the time and space to rejoice.  Jesus shows us today that God is always ready to throw a party.  God rejoices, all heaven rejoices over the littlest things.  Simply because God can.  God’s default mode is rejoicing.  It’s the very first thing we learn, in the very beginning, that God looked at creation, at the whole of creation and decided it was abundantly good.  Consider the possibility that God is just really excited that you exist.

The fundamental theological error we most often make is that we think that scarcity must exist in God.  We think there must be a tangible limit to God’s mercy.  That there is the possibility of the exhaustion of God’s resources or God’s love.  Deep down so many of us fear that if God is out hunting the 1 sheep, that means that maybe I’ll get left alone in the wilderness to be eaten by wolves.  Or if God is burning oil finding that coin, maybe one day I’ll end up left in the dark.  But God doesn’t work that way.  God doesn’t have limits.  God’s love or gracious action for one person, does not, can not impinge on his love and gracious action towards us.  As hard as that is for us fathom. 

Can we take a moment to set aside all the anger and judgment, fear and scarcity, worry about being, doing and making enough and consider the possibility that God really just wants to throw a party for us?  That God legitimately rejoices every time that church door opens, every time.  And not just that, every time you open your eyes, every stuttered breath you take, God rejoices.  And not just a little rejoicing, not just a ‘hey I’m glad you are here’ but a call all your friends, open the champagne, let’s throw a feast rejoicing.  Over you.  And the party never stops.

The repentance or redemption, the success or failure of those around you has no effect on how God feels about you.  God is just as excited, just as attentive, just as merciful to you, even if he has just also been unfathomably merciful to others.  And just to make sure we really understand this Jesus tells one more parable right after this.  The parable of the prodigal son.  Where the father figure literally runs up the road, to embrace his wayward son and throw him a feast.  And then still takes the time to comfort, consol and reassure the jealous son who stayed at home.  Because God can in fact do both things and everything in between.  And God can give you exactly what you need as well.  God can find you when you wander off.  God can welcome you when you come back and God can rejoice right there with you and over you if you have been here the whole time.  Because there is more than enough rejoicing in heaven for all of us.  Amen.

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