In this morning’s Gospel lesson, Jesus employs a similar technique as he tells two parables. In the first parable, Jesus tells the parable of the good shepherd who discovers that a sheep is missing. Leaving the 99 others safe in their sheep pen, he travels into the wilderness to find, rescue and bring home the little lost lamb. In the second parable, Jesus tells the story of a woman realizes that she is missing one coin. She lights every lamp in the house and begins searching through every nook and cranny until she finds the one missing silver coin. In both parables, when the missing one is found, the rescuer “calls friends and neighbors to celebrate and rejoice, for what was lost is now found.”
What makes these parables cliffhangers is that while the invitation is offered, Jesus does not tell us about attendance at the party. The hearers are left to wonder, “Who is going to that party?”
Think about it for a minute… now, the celebration for the return of the Prodigal Son (which happens later in this chapter) we get – the son, who was feared dead, returns home. That is reason to celebrate with family and friends and neighbors. But this? We’re talking about finding a lost animal – one of 100, by the way – or finding a lost coin – just ten cents on the dollar.
I remember when I was a boy and a calf got out of the pasture. We called our neighbors to help keep an eye out for that little rascal, and when we found it, we called them to tell them it was home, but we didn’t throw a party. Who would come to a party for a lost calf? (Besides…the irony of having a hamburger cookout for the return of a calf is just too funny…) And when Mom finally found missing cash that she forgot she hid under the rug in her room, she didn’t call her friends over for cookies and tea. In fact, I don’t know that she told anyone besides us! Who would go to a party for a returned calf or a discovered $50 bill? Even now, if you invited me to celebrate the returning home of Fluffy who strayed or finding a $10 bill you forgot that was in a secret place, I would probably have a reason – ANY reason – to not bother showing up that night. Would you go to a party like that? I doubt it.
That’s exactly the point.
Listen again to the first sentences of Luke 15: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering near to hear Jesus. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them. Then, Jesus told them this parable…”
Scandalous behavior, this. Jesus receives sinners. Their specific sins aren’t noted, but it’s not really necessary that we know their specific misdeeds against God and man. The unspecific sinner is part of the unholy trifecta of tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners, all despised and scorned by the Jewish leaders and the “good” citizens. I imagine some were guilty of civil crimes against others - theft, for example. Others were guilty of breaking religious law, like being unclean - eating the wrong thing, touching blood, touching a dead person or animal. Others were just Gentiles, making them guilty by association. Whatever they had done, in the end it didn’t really matter. They stood condemned in the court of public opinion with the Pharisees acting as judge, jury, and reporter, telling everyone else that these people were “sinners.” And Jesus - Jesus, of all people! - was receiving them and eating with them!
To receive someone is to welcome them, not just as a guest, a stranger, into the home, but to welcome them as if they were as close as a brother. It’s the same notion that Jesus uses when He says, “He who receives me, receives Him who sent me,” that is, if you welcome Jesus as a brother, if you receive Him by faith, then you are also a son (lower case S, of course) of God. To receive is to be in familial relationship. Jesus is welcoming these people, the miscreants, the ones with criminal past, the ones caught in the wrong bedroom with the wrong person, the ones with dark secrets that they pray never see the light of day, Jesus receives them into His presence.
But, it was more than that. Jesus also eats with them. In the ancient world, eating with a person was one of the most personally intimate things you did with people. Food was shared by dipping your hands into a bowl, perhaps with a piece of bread - think something like pita bread or thick tortillas, not Mrs. Bairds - as a serving utensil. If you are sharing that kind of meal, you want to know whose hand is dipping into your food, and you want to know the person attached to that hand, what he or she does, where he or she has been, what he or she has been doing. You want clean hands at your table - not just physically clean, but ceremonially clean as well, so that you don’t become unclean.
To sit and eat with someone like this, then, is to go one further than receive. Your guest is welcomed not just as a brother, but as someone worthy to be your equal.
And Jesus is eating with these sinners. Why?
Because He came to seek and to save the lost.
The parables are story-demonstrations of Christ’s love: each lost one is important enough that Jesus will leave the safe and secure behind to go find the one in danger of dying. Each one that is missing needs to be sought out and found and returned to its place with the others. These missing ones, these wandering ones, these lost ones --- these are the sinners whom Jesus loves. Jesus love is magnanimous, and when He finds the lost one, instead of dragging the broken and hurting soul and making them walk behind, Jesus lifts them with his hands, raises them, and carries them in His arms and on His shoulders.
Those hands, those arms, those shoulders of Jesus…marked by the nails of the cross, striped by the whips of soldiers, spat upon by both people and leaders, scratched by the rough timber of the cross…those hands, arms and shoulders turn in expectation to those who laugh and say, “He eats with sinners…” And Jesus says, “Yes, yes I do. I eat with them, I care for them, I live for them and I die for them. I rise for them. I forgive them. I bless them. They were so lost they didn’t even realize it! So I sought them out, rescued them, and am carrying them home. Come and celebrate! Rejoice!” The invitation…the invitation by Jesus to celebrate because the lost – the sinners, the ones most needing Jesus – are restored. The celebration is prepared for what was lost is found! And the invitations are sent in hopes that everyone else rejoices, too.
It’s not only an earthly celebration, but one that continues into eternity as even heaven rejoices as Jesus receives sinners, carrying them with nail-marked hands and whip-scarred shoulders and welcoming them through water and Word into the family of God. Then, He invites us to table with Him, feasting on His very body and blood for the forgiveness of those things that once branded us as sinners. Our sins covered in the blood of Jesus, God welcomes the repentant sinner.
Usually, we think of repent as a change, a turning, of heart, mind and body. There is sorrow and contrition and a pledge to change when we repent of our sins. Here, repent has a little different idea behind it. In the parables, how could a lost sheep repent? How can an inanimate coin repent? The recovery, the saving, the finding is all done by the shepherd and by the woman, both determined to find the lost. The sheep, the coin – they can’t do a thing! In fact, if you think about it, for all intents and purposes, it is as if the lamb is dead and the coin a dead asset. Wonder or wonders, it is the fact that they are lost and presumed dead that makes them so wonderfully, ridiculously valuable to the shepherd and the woman – and, for God.
You see, it is not our goodness and our richness of life that makes us worthy to God, but our being dead in our trespasses and sins that makes us most valuable to God that He sent His Son, Christ Jesus, to rescue us. We have no power, we have no way to save ourselves or even argue our worth.
In these parables, repent isn’t so much about changing as it is being received. When Christ receives us, welcomes us, and invites us to feast with Him, the word of absolution and forgiveness is full and complete. God doesn’t say He understands our sins, or that He gives us a mulligan. Instead, He disposes of and finishes our dead lives and raises us new ones with Christ. He doesn’t heal our sinful boo-boos; He drops them into the empty grave of Jesus where they do not come back to life. He forgets our sins there, in Jesus’ tomb. He remembers our iniquities no more. Instead, He and all the hosts of heaven rejoice as Jesus carries us into His presence.
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