Heaven's Joy

 Rich old Ron was miserable. He went to see Rabbi. Rabbi took his hand & led him to a window. "What do you see?" asked, Rabbi. He looked out into the street. "I see lost-looking men, women, & children," answered the rich man." Rabbi led him again by the hand, this time to a mirror. "Now what do you see?" "Myself," he replied. Rabbi paused, then spoke. "What's the difference?" Ron said, "The window is just glass. The mirror is also glass, but it's coated with silver." Rabbi replied, exactly. Add silver, & you stop seeing others. Just yourself." The Scribes & Pharisees had that problem. They were wealthy & thought God's chosen were all saved. Jesus has just explained the cost of discipleship. Put Jesus 1st. Listen to Him. Obey all He says. Luke 15:1-10 picks up the story. 1Tax collectors & "sinners" kept on gathering around to hear Jesus. The lowest scum of Jewish society-they're flocking to Jesus. Unlike Scribes & Pharisees, they are paying attention to all Jesus says. 2aBut Pharisees & the teachers of the law kept muttering to themselves. 'Don't you realize who these people are? Don't you know the tradition (Midrash) of the elders (Mekhilta Amalek 3 on Ex. 18:1, 65a)? Rabbis are not to associate with the godless or teach them the law. You're doing both!' 2b"This man keeps welcoming sinners & eating with them." They aren't interested in listening to Jesus. Certainly not in obeying Him. They'd rather find fault with Him. 3So Jesus told them a parable. 3 stories, 1 parable. The 1st story is about a moderately rich man who's a shepherd. 4a"Suppose one of you has 100 sheep & loses 1. Many of Jesus' hearers were farmers / shepherds. Herds of 20+ were common. The affluent had herds 100+. 99 means he's borderline rich. Still, losing even 1 hurts. Shepherds count their sheep every night. How do sheep get lost? Grazing. Heads down, they keep moving from one tuft of grass to another. When they look up, they're lost. They don't know how they got there. They don't know how to get back. One lost sheep may not matter to other sheep. They keep grazing till the shepherd rounds them up. But it matters to the shepherd. He spends 7x24 with them. 365 days a year. A shepherd knows & loves His sheep. 4bWon't he leave the 99 in the open country & go after the lost sheep until he finds it? He loves the 99. But love will do no less than go search for the 1. Other gods sometimes are pictured as shepherds. But no other god actively looks for lost sheep. Not ever. Just the opposite. Most other gods make it hard to earn their "heaven." Hard to earn a better reincarnation. No other god loves sheep enough to die for them. Our God is unique. Only in the Gospels, our Scripture, is Jesus a Shepherd who looks hard for us, seeking us out wherever we are. How often has Jesus rescued us from wherever we got lost? How does He feel when He finds us? 5When the shepherd finds his lost sheep, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6a& goes home. Wherever He finds us, Jesus carries us home on His shoulders, too. What happens when He gets his lost sheep safely home? He's more than happy! He's overjoyed! 6bHe'll call his friends & neighbors together. 'Rejoice with me! I've found my lost sheep.' Our shepherd is Jesus. Who do you think His friends & neighbors are? 7aI tell you... Jesus speak: 'Listen up!' This is important 7bIn the same way there'll be more rejoicing in heaven over 1 sinner who repents than over 99 righteous people who don't need to repent. Don't miss that. Father, Son, Spirit, & even the angels rejoice for each sinner who repents. Why? Jesus can bring them home! Jesus now tells the Scribes & Pharisees the 2nd story of the parable. This time, it's a woman in poverty. 8a"Suppose a woman has 10 silver coins & loses 1. The silver coins? Greek drachmas, each 1 day's pay. Women sometimes wore them around their heads as a chain. They're her dowry, so each is precious to her. She's poor. A day's pay is a hard loss. But losing part of her dowry? Unthinkable. 8bDoesn't she light a lamp? Like other houses, hers has no windows. It's dark inside. The only light comes from a low door. She always has a lamp shining. On losing a coin, she lights another to see better where she's looking. Doesn't she 8csweep the house & search carefully until she finds it? Straw covers her dirt floors. If a small coin falls, it's easy to lose. Carrying her lamp, area by area, she sweeps, gets on her hands & knees, & searches carefully through the straw. Once again, the coin doesn't know it's lost. But she does. It's dear to her. Just as we're dear to Christ. The coin was part of her treasure. We're part of His treasure. 9aWhen she finds it, her reaction is the same. 9bShe calls her friends & neighbors together. 'Rejoice with me! I've found my lost coin.' Whenever Jesus repeats Himself, He's making a point. This is the 2nd time He's told the Scribes & Pharisees why He hangs out with sinners & tax collectors. He's searching His house for each lost sheep, each treasured coin. 10aIn the same way, I tell you... 10bThere's rejoicing in the presence of God's angels over one sinner who repents." Again, Jesus' remark to Scribes & Pharisees is pointy. They think they don't need to repent. But look at Eccl 7:20. Even their scripture says there's no one 20righteous, who never sins. (Were they asleep?) And by their reading of God's word, rabbis are supposed to stay far away from sinners. Avoid them, not hang out with them! Jesus is saying they're sadly mistaken in every way. Did they miss that they were supposed to be a light to the Gentiles-to sinners? They're horribly wrong. What are they really? That was the point of the 3rd story in the parable, story of the prodigal son's father. It wasn't in our verses, but we know the story. A son asks for money, heads for Las Vegas, & spends it all on wild living. Destitute, he hires himself out to pig farmers, lowest of the low. He's so hungry even the slop he's feeding the pigs looks tasty. He wakes up & realizes that even his father's slaves get better treatment. He'll go home & beg to become a slave. On the way, he rehearses a speech to try to win a place back home as a slave. Meanwhile, his father has been scanning the horizon, each day since he left. After a long while, he spots his errant son on the horizon. He's coming home. That father, The Father, gathers pulls up His robe, tucks it into his belt, & makes a makes a spectacle of himself as He runs to his son. The son drags himself back in shame because he's desperate. That father, The Father, runs with spindly legs flashing beneath his billowing robe! He runs joyfully, out of love. He interrupts before his son can get the rehearsed speech out of his mouth. The father puts a robe around him, a ring on his finger, & shoes on his bare feet. That's how He clothes His beloved children. His son is no slave. The Father is so concerned for the lost that He kisses His son before his son's confession. He already knows his son's heart. No need for words. Like all Israel, Scribes & Pharisees are the older brother in that story. They're in their father's house. But they reject their Father when he wants them to join in the celebration of his dead son's return! The problem? When they reject Jesus, they reject the Father. What's the point of this extended parable? Do we share the Father's heart for His lost sons & daughters? If we don't, we too are the older brother in this story. Don't make the Scribes' & Pharisees' mistake. Don't think our religion will get us into His KoG. Only a living relationship with Jesus that accepts Him, listens to Him, & obeys Him will save us. How can we see how we're doing? Is silver coating our glass? Are we looking in a mirror? If so, recommit to the Lord. Look around outside. See with the Father's eyes. As hard as the Father is looking, look just as hard for each lost sinner He wants to reach through us. As we see & reach each one, we've found the secret of heaven's joy. Heaven's Joy - Luke 15:1-10 Page 1 of 1