A minister died and was waiting in line at the Pearly Gates. Ahead of him was a guy who was dressed in sunglasses, a loud shirt, leather jacket and jeans. Saint Peter addressed the guy, "Who are you, so that I may know whether or not to admit you to the Kingdom of Heaven?" The guy replied, "I'm Joe Cohen, taxi driver, of New York City". Saint Peter consulted his list. He smiled and said to the taxi driver, "Take this silken robe and golden staff, and enter the Kingdom of Heaven."
The taxi driver went into Heaven, and then it was the minister's turn. He stood erect and boomed out, "I am Joseph Snow, pastor of Saint Mary's Church for the last forty-three years." Saint Peter consulted his list and said to the minister, "Take this cotton robe and wooden staff, and enter the Kingdom of Heaven." "Just a minute," said the minister. "That man was a taxi driver and he gets a silken robe and golden staff. How can this be?" "Up here, we work by results," said Saint Peter. "While you preached, people slept. While he drove, people prayed."
An inner city church, located in an area of a large American city where there were few residents, was forced to a decision. A large corporation was offering them a great deal of money for their site, on which the corporation wanted to put a parking lot. The money would enable the church to move to another part of the inner city where they would find many more people to serve. Even though this was exciting to some of the congregation, other members were resistant to the idea. They pointed out that the church was the guardian of a building whose history and architecture reached back into the early part of the nineteenth century. Denominational history had been made in that building, and some of the grand figures of the church had passed its portals.
Eventually the congregation decided to sell the site and make the move to a new building in a teeming inner-city neighborhood. The pastor who was with this congregation through all this upheaval said, "We had to decide whether we wanted to be in a museum or in mission." They couldn't have it both ways. It meant either staying on their site, glorying in their past history and serving a few people, or giving up their past and gearing themselves to a significant ministry among the city's people. They opted for mission status over museum status.
Something of this same struggle is indicated in this morning's Gospel reading. The Pharisees and scribes came down on the side of museum religion. They wanted attention given to those who were stable, pious and not a liability if invited to the country club. Their rationale was "Let's have our synagogue programs be for us dependable, like-minded types." Some present-day church-growth advocates have the same rationale. Jesus disappointed them by insisting that the issue was one of mission: to reach out to those who needed great mercy, lessons in etiquette, social graces, and perhaps a bath. Paying attention to these "lost" persons would change the comfortable fellowship the scribes and Pharisees enjoyed at the synagogue, to say nothing of putting a dent into its budget.
The Pharisees' love of God's law made them forget about God's love for sinners. The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, along with the parable of the prodigal son, are about God's concern for what's lost. They contain notes of joy, a heavenly celebration caused by a successful search. But all of us know that joy in heaven has not always meant peace on earth.
God cares for his children like a parent cares for a child. Parents will do almost anything for their children. God is the same way. He loves us more than a parent loves a child. He longs to rescue those who are lost. He saves us from drowning in the sea of life if we call to Him and accept Him. Our loving father will search for that which is lost. There's no giving up, no quitting point. Just like looking for a treasure, God's love treasures each and every one of His children because there's no such thing as a life without worth. God doesn't mind stooping down to find us and lift us up from the depths we have fallen into.
Those who do not know the Lord do not know much of anything. True knowledge and wisdom comes through love and respect for Jesus-the one who made our salvation possible. The lost sheep and the lost coin represent a heedless, thoughtless sinner who follows the corrupt dictates of his own heart without considering his conduct or the course of his life. Lost money loses its value the longer it is lost. It becomes covered with dirt, it loses its colour, it becomes torn and wrinkled. A lost person is the same way. The longer a person is lost, the deeper he sinks into sin. He loses his character, and the image and description of God is defaced from his heart.
There are four ways to lose things:
1. Foolishness
2. Darkness
3. Dirtiness
4. Disgrace
The Pharisees thought Jesus' association with sinners was disgraceful. Jesus used these two parables to illustrate that heavenly beings rejoice over those who repent on earth. They have seen the guilt and danger of men. They know what God has done for the human race. Most important, however, is the fact that they realize that the repentance of one sinner causes God's mercy to shine more brightly.
The coin was also lost in disgrace. In those days, when a husband took a bride, he gave her a headband with ten silver coins that were evenly spaced. She wore this headband in public to show that she was married. If she was unfaithful, one of the coins was removed, and the gap showed that she had disgraced her marriage vows. It was a shame and disgrace to lose any of these coins. Similarly, it's a disgrace not to know Jesus. If we refuse to accept Him and His sacrifice on the cross, it's a disgrace to His grace.
The lost sheep was lost because of foolishness. Sheep are dumb. For example, during mating season, the males fight for the right to mate by butting heads with each other. Without God, a lost person is spiritually dumb. When sheep get lost, they don't even know it. A lost sinner is the same. He is hopelessly lost, like a blind man in a darkened room who is looking for a black cat that isn't there. A sinner on his own will never find the Lord. We must lead people to Jesus like a shepherd leads a lost sheep back to the flock.
The silver coin was lost because of carelessness. It was lost in the darkness. In those days, there was no artificial lighting, so if you needed to find something, you had to light a lamp. People without God are the same. They are not just lost, they are in the dark. They need Jesus, the Light of the World. He turned the light on the Pharisees and exposed what they were REALLY like.
The coin was also lost in the dirt, because houses in those days had dirt floors. Similarly, people without God are depraved and dirty because sin is dirty. Jesus left His heavenly home for our dirty, sinful world so He could seek and save that which was lost.
Have you ever had to search for something you or someone else misplaced? Have you ever had to search for someone who has been lost? If so, you've undoubtedly discovered two things:
1. You will do everything you can to find the lost person or item.
2. The longer the lost item or person remains lost, the less likely it is that the item or person will be found.
Lost sinners are the same way. God will do everything He can to bring them back to the fold, but they have a choice-accept Him, or reject Him. In other words, a lost sinner has to be willing to repent and return to God's flock. He must WANT to be found, either by God or by fellow Christians. The best way for us to be happy is to make Heaven happy, and the best way to make Heaven happy is to repent.
Sinners loved Jesus because He cared for them. The Pharisees hated Jesus because sinners hung around Him and He hung around sinners. He was fulfilling the mission He agreed to in Luke 12:49-56-namely, to unite God's kingdom and God's people. He used the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin to illustrate what He was doing and why He was doing it. As a church today, we need to be concerned with the ones who are lost rather than those who are already in the fold. If Christ loved us enough to seek us out, we need to love others enough to seek them out. We not only need the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, we need the cleansing power of the Spirit. That is why Jesus looks for us, so that He can bring us out of the darkness into light, and out of dirtiness into love.
We must always try to reach someone. By doing so, we show Christ's love-a love so great that He looks for us-and He looks for us because even thought we are without the Lord, He loves us. We must use all God has given us to talk to the lost-praying for our neighbour, talking to them, inviting them to church, sharing our testimony, or ministering to them when grief and heartache enter their life.
Our second reading and Gospel reading show us what is really important in being a Christian-that is, to reach out a hand of forgiveness and acceptance to someone who has sinned against us, even though we don't have to. As Paul said in 1 Timothy 1:16, "But I was given mercy so that in me, the worst of all sinners, Christ Jesus could show that He has patience without limit. His patience with me made me an example for those who would believe in Him and Have life forever" Grace expresses the faithful understanding that God's love seeks and moves toward us even before we do any seeking or reaching out to God. Grace is the faithful understanding that even if we are unworthy, God reaches out to us. Mission means concentrating on people and structures that have not been touched by the Gospel. Mission changes with the times or else it dies and becomes a museum. Helping people think about the way they see the world and what the facts really mean is an important mission of the church. Real mission will mean reaching out for ideas and judgments that initially are disturbing, such as same-sex marriages.
Do we care about people who don't know the Lord? Do we care enough to show the Christian life as best we can, with persistent bouts of loving, caring and kindness? Do we care enough to tell them what Jesus means to us and could mean to them? Do we care enough to keep searching for those lost souls in spite of pain and rejection? How can we be complacent about our own Christian faith as long as we know people who have wandered away from the Lord? All of our committees, workshops, and outreach programs are no good without the essential ingredient-someone who cares that a person does not know the Lord.
Jesus and Luke were not interested in separation. They were focused on God-the one who will not be bound by our sense of rightness, correctness or prosperity. God is also not bound by social status, gender or other considerations. Jesus and Luke see repentance as a gift from God, more the experience of being found by a concerned seeker than the product of human effort. God loves everyone, especially the "wrong crowd". He wants us to know the joy of a life lived in God. He invites us to join Him in the great treasure hunt-the hunt for lost souls-and bring the great treasure to Him when we have found it. It is better for us to drop the mask of the offended Pharisee scribe and see ourselves for who we really are-tax collectors and sinners who have been given a party and who need to learn to joyfully throw one.
