Love for the One and the 99

Represent

According to Pew Research Center article from 2/8/2019 on the 116th record of elected women and diverse ethnicities “more than one-in-five voting members (22%) of the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate are racial or ethnic minorities, making 116th Congress the most racially and ethnically divers in history.”

The article continues to say:

“Overall, 116 lawmakers today are nonwhite (including blacks, Hispanics, Asians/Pacific Islanders and Native Americans), according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Congressional Research Service. This represents an 84% increase over the 107th Congress of 2001-03, which had 63 minority members.

Although recent Congresses have continued to set new highs for racial and ethnic diversity, they have still been disproportionately white when compared with the overall U.S. population. Nonwhites make up 39% of the nation’s population, according to U.S. Census Bureau population estimates. (For this analysis, Hispanics are included in the Census Bureau estimates for the share of each racial minority group in the overall population.)

In the House of Representatives, however, some racial and ethnic groups are now on par with their share of the total population. For example, 12% of House members are black, about equal to the share of Americans who are black. And Native Americans now make up 1% of the House, equal to their 1% of the population.”

I Wanna be in the room where it happens

The decision being made by the people in the room. You voice is not heard if you are not in this room, or represented in the room. We are getting close to proportionate representation in the room where the laws of United States of America are being made. With these voices able to speak up and proclaim the pains in our community will be heard.

Jesus is speaking to the fracture in the community.

Luke 15:1–2 NLT

1 Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. 2 This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!

Jesus was attracting large audiences and some in attendance where the Who’s Who among the society.

The leadership complained about Jesus associating with the lower caste groups.

The sinful people were looked down upon.

Jesus even ate with the sinful people a sing of acceptance and true association.

Jesus is always looking to include.

They are looking to separate and judge.

Jesus did not come to judge the world but to save the world.

John 3:17 NLT

17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

Jesus desire to save leads him to count all the sheep and see that all are needed to be loved and served. Jesus does not remove himself from the sheep who need him. Instead Jesus makes himself available to the sheep who need him. Jesus is not looking for fame and influence to be gained, but looks to give what he has for the benefit of those who are truly in need.

Jesus needs to teach the majority a lesson of God’s call to salvation and mission and purpose of Christ and Christianity with the following parables. We will first unpack this parable in Luke 15:4-6 better know as the “Parable of the Lost Sheep”

As we go through this text think who is lost? Why are they lost?

Jesus teaches by parable

Luke 15:4–6 NLT

4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

Jesus counts all Sheep (100 sheep)

Jesus the man - the shepherd, one over the sheep, Man is also is a distinction from gods and animals.

Jesus sees the whole picture.

Jesus looks to include all to be welcome into the fellowship.

Jesus also observes the 100 sheep are not all together but should be together.

Jesus sees there is a division of the people and separation.

The 99 - the majority

Safe and secure.

Pharisees teachers of religious law are people of power, influence authority.

The majority in the culture are the ones with power and influence.

The majority can easily forget the minority and those who are not in the inner group of influence.

They follow the most popular and famous.

They do not always concern themselves with the least, negative labeled population.

A sense of hierarchy in numbers and influence makes them fill entitled in certain opinions and aspects of life.

The man in the parable triaged the sheep.

Jesus surveys the whole situation and sees all the sheep and their needs. He triage the social situation.

Triage definitions

Merriam-Webster:

the sorting of and allocation of treatment to patients and especially battle and disaster victims according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors. 2 : the sorting of patients (as in an emergency room) according to the urgency of their need for care. Other Words from triage.

Dictionary.com:

the process of sorting victims, as of a battle or disaster, to determine medical priority in order to increase the number of survivors.

the determination of priorities for action:

One was a priority over the 99.

If one sheep is lost he will leave the rest to seek the one.

If we do not care for the least of these we are not showing the Love of Christ.

1 John 3:18 NLT

18 Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

In our Population you can see how the majority views and are to be excepted without question, but the minority are marginalized and poorly represented. There are 10 non white Senators.

127 minority ethnicity in the 116th Congress.

BLM - Black Lives Matter

The Black Lives Matter movement I will relate to the One missing Sheep.

When the opposition of the BLM say All lives matter are negating that this one life matters just the same. How can you care for all = 100 and you left one behind to fend for themselves?

The one are often ignored and forgotten because they are the minority. It is easy to leave behind what you do not regular interact with those who are not in our group. This society calls for us to be intentional in breaking down the different barriers of separation.

Pharisees barriers

The pharisees and teachers have barriers of judgment of people:

They look down on tax collectors,

Sinful people also known as notorious sinners

Pharisees barrier of self-righteousness.

The pharisee look down on Jesus because he associates and eats with the people they deemed lesser than they.

This attitude hinders them to be effective leaders of God’s people.

Effective leaders know how to empathize with people.

They are not afraid too associate with the ones in need and help.

Jesus sees the need and helps those in need.

Luke 15:4–5 NLT

4 “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders.

Jesus teaches in the parable that the man sees the need and looks to help the helpless. The sheep is lost from the herd and needs help to get back.

Help people and not blame them.

Do not blame those who are in dire straights. Instead look to help them overcome.

Jesus came for the lost!

Luke 4:18 NLT

18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free,

Jesus desires for us to be one!

Jesus desires for us to be one, a unit, united and have true love and fellowship with one another in deed and in action.

Luke 15:5–6 NLT

5 And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. 6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’

This is why the man will carry the one to bring back to the 99 to make the family complete. The desire for unity is what bring him joy to know that what has been fractured can be healed. To know that what was missing was the one needed to complete the community.

United in the Kingdom and on Earth

Luke 15:6–7 NLT

6 When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

They rejoice on earth and angel rejoice in Heaven.

God desires for us to rejoice in earth as we do in heaven.

There is more joy over the one lost sinner who:

Repents

Returns to God

WE too should look to rejoice on restoration and not push for separation.