Disciples Seek People for Christ and the Church (Sept. 11, 2022) Luke 15.1-10

Growing up in Charleston, WV, we sometimes were behind on the current movies and such. You see, Charleston is what one would call a “small market.” So, by the time that we got many of the movies that were making headlines and causing buzz throughout the nation, they had been out for several weeks, sometimes months. I remember one movie because by the time that we got it in Charleston in 1985, it had won several Academy Awards, two of which were the coveted Best Picture and Best Actor. The movie was Amadeus, an adaptation of a play by the same name that tells the story of the composer Salieri and the genius who was Mozart. In this story Salieri is telling a priest his story: How he grew up in an obscure town, how he wanted to be a musician but his father would not hear of it, how he made a vow to God to be chaste and dedicate his life to making music if only God would grant this request, how his father died and he did become a musician, in fact, court composer to the emperor. In this story he tells the priest he stayed away from women, he worked hard, gave music lessons (many for FREE) and in all strove to uphold his vow, all because he believed that God had answered his prayers.

Then one day he travels to see Mozart, who would be presenting his music to the people of Vienna. He wanders around the room looking at each of the servants in the livery of the Archbishop of Salzburg, who was Mozart’s patron. His thought is, “If God had given such a talent to a man, did it show? Could you see it in the man?” As he continues to look, he steps into a room with food (his one vice) and is interrupted by a woman fleeing a giggling man who was chasing her. Salieri overhears a conversation that is, well, Not Safe For Work. And then the young man stops. He stands up and says that they have started his music without him. The look on Salieri’s face is one of horror as he realizes that this is Mozart. He tells the priest that he was appalled that this giggling, obscene speaking, woman chasing…. child, was the one on whom God had bestowed so much talent. He even calls him the “Badly behaved voice of God.” Salieri has done so much and worked so hard, he has fulfilled his vow and been faithful to God, and he is forgotten by the time his story is told. Mozart on the other hand, is remembered and still performed. How is that fair? How is that just he wants to know.

The text for today asks the same question. How is it that Jesus goes after the ones who are the “sinners” of the day? The tax collectors, the prostitutes, the drunks, anyone who did not match up with the religious fervor of the Pharisees and scribes. And not only does he welcome them (or seek after them), he welcomes them to the table and eats with them. How bad can things get?

See, we have a different notion of sitting down to eat with someone. We go to dinner and while we may enjoy the meal, sometimes we do not enjoy the company. We listen politely and laugh politely at jokes told but, in the end, we really did not have a good time.

Jesus on the other hand seems to have had a good time. He enjoyed the company that he was in and he even sought out those who were considered sinners. And to sit at the table with them was something unheard of. Kenneth Bailey has this to say about eating with someone in the Middle East today that pertains to the ancient Middle East: “In the East today, as in the past, a nobleman may feed any number of lesser needy persons as a sign of his generosity, but he does noteat with them. However, when guests are “received” the one receiving the guests eats with them. The meal is a special sign of acceptance. The host affirms this by showering his guests with a long series of compliments to which the guests must respond. Jesus is set forth in the text as engaging in some such social relationship with publicans and sinners. Small wonder the Pharisees were upset.”[1] Jesus was showing that those with whom he was eating were on the same level as himself. Did he not know who these people were? What their reputations were? And if the old saying of “Birds of a feather flock together” were true, what does that say about Jesus? The Pharisees were put out and they believed that they were in the right. Like Salieri they had done all the right things for God, so God should honor them, not the ones around Jesus.

To understand this better one needs to understand the people who were labeled sinners. Tax collectors were agents who put a bid in to the Roman authorities to do just what their title says. They would then pay the sum to the Romans that would be the tax revenue for the area. Then they would go out and “collect” from the people to make back that money. The Romans really did not care what they did if the proper amount of taxes was given to them. If the collectors took a bit extra from the people as a “merchant’s fee,” it did not matter one bit to the Romans. Therefore, tax collectors were not only collaborating with the oppressors, but they were helping contribute to the oppression because they kept the people poor while they profited and lived in luxury. Prostitutes did what they still do today, sell sex for money. Others were gathered there who fell into the label of sinners and were welcomed by Jesus. In a more contemporary setting, we would say the drug dealer, the opioid addict, the prostitute, the IRS agent, the town drunk and so on. If you understand those examples you begin to understand why the Pharisees were so upset.

So, Jesus does what he often does in a situation like this: he tells a story. He says, “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?”[2] Jesus tells them that God is like a shepherd who will leave 99 sheep in the desert to find just one that is lost. Not only does the shepherd leave them in the desert, he leaves them without someone to care for them. But note this, Bailey states that going after the one should give the 99 more security. He says, “Yet was it wise to leave the ninety-nine and wander away searching for the one? … Does the lost individual matter or are “the people” alone important? Indeed, it is the shepherd’s willingness to go after the one that gives the ninety-nine their real security. If the one is sacrificed in the name of the larger group, then each individual in the group is insecure, knowing that he or she is of little value. If lost, he or she will be left to die. When the shepherd pays a high price to find the one, he thereby offers the profoundest security to the many.”[3] The one who was lost is precious to the shepherd as the 99 are as well. The shepherd will go after the one no matter who it is.

When the one is found there is a party thrown. There is rejoicing that the one lost was now found. The party may cost more than the sheep that was lost, but no matter. There is to be rejoicing over the one that was found.

Jesus continues with another parable that would have caused gasps as well. Here, God is a woman who has lost a coin. Now this coin would not have been worth that much, think of a dollar among fifty dollars. But the woman will not hear of shrugging her shoulders and saying “Oh well.” No, she lights a lamp and sweeps the floor listening for the ring of the coin against the broom. And when she finds it, another party is thrown, all over one coin.

Jesus tells those listening that, “…there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance[4]” and “…there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”[5]

See, the Pharisees are the 99 sheep and the 9 other coins that were not lost. This would not have been missed by them. They knew who were the lost. But what is Jesus telling them? That the one is more important to him than they are? No. Jesus is telling them that they are precious as well, but they are to welcome those who are coming to the kingdom. That it does not matter who they are, when they repent, there is a party thrown in heaven and should also be on earth.

We are disciples of Jesus. We are called to reach out to others to bring them to the kingdom of God. Too often we do not heed this calling. We are afraid of what someone might say to us. We are afraid that we will be mocked. We had a bad experience with evangelism and therefore don’t want anything to do with it. “Should not the professionals handle that?” we may ask. God’s answer to all of these is, “get busy and do the work I called you to do. Reach out to those who are the least of these. Go and welcome the sinners into your midst. Do what Jesus did.”

We can do evangelism. The PC(USA) Book of Order has a section called the Great Ends of the Church. Here they are: “the proclamation of the gospel for the salvation of humankind; the shelter, nurture, and spiritual fellowship of the children of God; the maintenance of divine worship; the preservation of the truth; the promotion of social righteousness; and the exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the world.” Notice what the first one was? We are told to proclaim the Gospel.

There are three ways to do this. First, is lifestyle evangelism. You can show others your faith through your life. When you show love, grace, compassion, stand for social justice, and live a life of integrity, people will notice and say, “What makes them so different? Maybe we should find out?” Second, is relational evangelism. Here relationships come into play. It is not a sales pitch or pressuring people to come to Christ, but rather being in a relationship with people. Conversations about what Christ has done for us and how that grounds us and makes us able to go through life are huge. Third, is invitational evangelism. This what it sounds like. We are called to invite people to church for worship or to a special event. This is an effective means of evangelism that has been shown to work. And guess what? These three forms do not call us to be street preachers or hit people on the head with our Bibles. They call us to be ourselves and to love others. To seek them out and to welcome them into the family of God.

Jesus is calling us to go out and find those whom we consider the “tax collectors and sinners.” We are to leave the 99 and go to find the one. We are to sweep the floor and look with a lamp in all the nooks and crannies. And we are to celebrate when one comes into the family. We may not be best chums with the person, but they are still family and we are to love them (Comedian Mark Lowery once said; “You know who I’m talking about: You’ll cry at their funeral but you don’t want to go on vacation with them.”) because they are a part of the flock of which Jesus is the good shepherd. Remember too, it is not us who need to be found. We are already a part of the flock. We need to reach out to those whom God has told us to go to, the least of these, the ones who are on the fringes, the ones who are the “unrighteous.” And don’t worry about your reputation. Jesus didn’t and the people flocked to him because they knew he cared. Let us go and do the same. Amen.

[1]Bailey, Kenneth E. Poet & Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes: A Literary-Cultural Approach to the Parables in Luke. Combined Edition. Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1983. Print. [2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [3]González, Justo L. Luke. Ed. Amy Plantinga Pauw and William C. Placher. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010. Print. Belief: A Theological Commentary on the Bible. [4] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print. [5] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.