Luke 15:1-10
The boss of a big company needed to call one of his employees about an urgent problem with the company’s main computer. He dialed the employee’s home telephone number and was greeted with a child’s whisper, "Hello?"
Feeling put out at the inconvenience of having to talk to a youngster, the boss asked, "Is your Daddy home?" "Yes," whispered the small voice. "May I talk with him?" the man asked. To the surprise of the boss, the small voice whispered, "No."
Wanting to talk with an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?" "Yes," came the answer. "May I talk with her?" Again, the small voice whispered, "No."
Knowing that it was not likely that a young child would be left home alone, the boss decided he would just leave a message with the person who should be there watching over the child. "Is there anyone there besides you?" the boss asked the child. "Yes," whispered the child, "a policeman."
Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee’s home, the boss asked,
"May I speak with the policeman?" "No, he is busy," whispered the child. "Busy doing what?" asked the boss. "Talking to Daddy and Mommy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.
Growing concerned and even worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the ear piece on the phone, the boss asked, "What is that noise?" "A hello-copper," answered the whispering voice.
"What is going on there?" asked the boss, now alarmed. In an awed whispering voice, the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper!"
Alarmed, concerned and more than just a little frustrated, the boss asked,
"Why are they there?" Still whispering, the young voice replied (along with a muffled giggle), "They are looking for me!"
In the scripture we read this morning (Luke 15:1-10), Jesus tells two parables that have to do with seek and found, which is the introduction to the famous parable known as the Lost Son, or the Prodigal Son, which is, however, not covered by today’s lesson.
The passage begins by telling us that, ‘Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”’
You might have known that the tax collectors and sinners are the outcast of the society in Jesus time. In that culture, there were six or seven classes of people, ranking from the highest law-keepers, such as Pharisees and scribes, to the lowest sinners, such as tax collectors. Tax collectors were classified among the lowest because they serve the oppressive Roman’s and Herod’s governments, which placed a heavy burden of taxes on the poor. The tax collectors also usually collected more than what they were required to collect because if they were short they would be either punished or fired from the job. So they usually collect more and, of course, the extras ended up in their pockets. So the Jews regarded the tax collectors’ job immoral.
The religious people were also instructed not to associate with them. For example, using passages like Psalm 1:1 says, “Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers;” some Pharisees and scribes stayed away from what they defined to be sinners, and practiced it to the extreme. They would never eat on the same table with the sinners and tax collectors, lest they get tainted with their sins. So when they saw the Rabbi Jesus talking, sitting, eating and celebrating with the sinners, they grumbled about his inappropriate behaviors.
Based on the context, we can see that among those sitting, eating, and celebrating with Jesus were also women. Women were treated as lower class by the religious leaders. One of their daily prayers says, “Thank you, Lord of the universe, that you did not make me a woman.” There is also a similar attitude in Buddhism that I grew up with. The Buddhists believe only men can attain Buddhahood, or to be enlightened. So, if you are a Buddhist woman, the only way for you to get enlighten is to pray that you will become a man in your next life by accumulating enough karma through prayer, meditation, good deeds. However, the chance to become a man in the next life is very thin because, based on your previous accumulation of bad karma, you could become a *censored*roach instead. Then again you have to spend another life wishing to become a human being, hopefully a man so that you have a chance to enter the nirvana. For the Buddhists, to become a woman is quite unfortunate; it indicates that you were not good enough in your previous life. In other words, being a woman somehow shows that you carry some loads of sins, and you are a sinner!
I don’t know why all these religions, including “Christian Religion” have similarity in oppressing women. However, if you read the life of Jesus Christ, he treated women with equal respect. So I say anyone that does not treat women with equal respect might be a religious person, but definitely not a follower of Jesus Christ. There is a big difference between a religious Christian and a true follower of Jesus Christ.
Anyway, it is in such a context that the Pharisees and the scribes were grubling against Jesus’ “indiscreet” behavior. So Jesus taught them a lesson by telling them three parables—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son. In this morning’s scripture lesson we cover the first two.
In the first one, Jesus wants the listeners to relate to him as a shepherd; he wants them the understand the heart of God as a shepherd seeking and rescuing the lost sheep; in the second parable, he wants them to relate to women and understand the heart of God as a woman searching for her lost treasure—it was a radical thought for a rabbi to challenge the Pharisees and Scribes to think like a woman; I am sure you know the third parable, which required them to relate to a father and understand the heart of God as a father waiting for the prodigal son to come home.
You’ve all read the stories, and this morning let us look at the actions steps this passage is calling us to do.
1 – Listen with Repentance
Verse 1 says, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.” This verse was preceded by the last verse of chapter 14 which ended with, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” Jesus was saying that there are people have ears but they don’t listen and hear the message of God. So he asked people who have ears to hear listen. And guess what? The tax collectors and sinners showed up. Those who don’t have the heart of repentance don’t find Jesus message liberating.
The reason you have to listen with repentance is because you are forgiven. The good news is you don’t have to burden your life with guilt. But, get this. You are forgiven not because your act of repenting, but, in fact, you are forgiven even before you repent. That’s the difference between religions and Christianity. Religions ask you to repent so that you might be forgiven. But the message of Jesus Christ says, you are forgiven, so come and listen. When you come and listen and “hear” the message, you repent. A repentant person is like a found sheep, which was lost. Like the song says, “I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.”
You don’t repent to gain forgiveness. You repent to respond to the message of forgiveness. The Bible says, each time a sinner repents, heaven rejoices. Heaven means God because in those days they were not supposed to mention the word “God” lest they offend the Spirit, so they use the word “heaven” to represent God. Each time there is a sinner that repents there is a party in God’s presence. Jesus said, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
After you get the message there are three more actions you need to take:
2 - Create a safe environment for people to come and listen
There is something about Jesus Christ. He always seems to produce a safe haven for the sinners to come and listen. The religious institutions often seemed to be a judgmental and exclusive environment, and people feel uncomfortable to come. But somehow, the outcasts of the society seem to feel comfortable to be around Jesus. As followers of Jesus, we must learn to create a safe haven for people to feel comfortable and safe to come to you and listen to the good news of the gospel.
3 – Join the Seek-and-Save Mission
As children, we enjoy the game of hide-and-seek. The child in the story I told in the beginning obviously overplayed the game. As adults and followers of Jesus Christ, we should enjoy the mission of seek-and-save. It’s not a game, but a mission. Like a shepherd that seeks for the lost sheep, let us seek for the lost people with the heart of Christ. With the first parable, Jesus is calling you to identify with him in his search for the lost, and in his joy at finding.
However, this does not invalidate Jesus’ comment in Matthew 23:15 about Pharisees who were proselytizing aggressively, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cross sea and land to make a single convert, and you make the new convert twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.” They were apparently trying to gain adherents to their sect, rather than compassionately seeking the lost.
The climax of the story is not just the return of the sheep but the triumphant rejoicing in its rescue (v. 6). Jesus is stressing, both by parable and direct statement (v. 7), that his seek-and-save mission pleases God. So when you do the seek-and-save mission, don’t try to proselytize, but to create a safe environment for people to listen to God’s forgiveness and allow them to repent.
3 – Let’s Party
Jesus was having a party with the sinners because they repented and they were found like lost sheep and lost treasures. Sitting and celebrating with them, Jesus must be hearing the songs of angels in heaven. Do you know that the church is a place of celebration, because we all were lost and are found? We have more parties to throw as we join the seek-and-save mission.
One of the reasons that we have an outdoor worship once a year like this is to remind ourselves that the church is not about rituals and rites. The church is a place for party and celebration for the homecoming of the repentant listeners. Amen!
