September 11, 2022
Today we’re going to learn about something that is really important, it’s a value of Jesus, and so it should be of all Christians. First, I’ll start with a story. One day I was home, and the doorbell rang. I went to the front door, but I also thought to myself, wait a minute: our doorbell doesn’t work! No one was there. Then I remembered we have a doorbell at our kitchen door from the breezeway, but no one ever uses that door. I went to that door, but no one was there! I went outside and I found Cooper, the boy who lives next door. He said his cat is lost; did I see it? It was a black cat with white on its belly, and still a kitten.
He just got it three weeks ago. But he said, Mrs. Malarkey left the door open, and the cat ran out! I don’t know if Mrs. Malarkey really exists, but that’s the story. I was concerned! I didn’t even know he had a cat. First pet. I knew Cooper liked our dog. He had always wanted a pet.
Cooper’s dad said that the kitten spent all its time hiding under furniture in their house. It wasn’t used to being around people and living inside.
I said I would let them know if I found it. Later that week, I was driving a few blocks from home, and as I was turning, I saw a black cat down the road! I turned around and came back, stopped the car. The cat didn’t want to come to me. It looked young. It went into the woods. I texted my neighbor and told him where the cat was heading.
I found out that they went out where I saw the cat heading. They saw the cat, but it wouldn’t come to them. They kept trying for weeks to get it! They put a bowl of cat food on their porch. They put out live traps. They caught a cat that wasn’t there’s! Finally, they had to give up. Cooper got another pet.
But we all tried hard to find that cat! His family cared about a cat that never really cared about them. It seemed to enjoy life outside. We all wanted the cat to be safe, have a good home, we wanted it to be home! We did all we could to find it.
I tell you that story because today’s story is the story of the good shepherd. I’m thinking, tell me if I’m wrong, that none of us have any sheep. Is that right? We might not worry that much about a lost sheep. But it’s a story that’s not really about sheep, or cats. It’s about people.
Luke 15:1 says, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.” So, there were sinners, then there were tax collectors. They were in their own category! A sinner could say, well, at least I’m not a tax collector! The tax collectors were Jewish, but they worked for the Roman empire and collected taxes for the empire. That was the first thing people had against them. Also, the tax collectors were known to cheat and demand more taxes than you owed and keep the money for themselves! That was the second thing people hated about them. The religious leaders also hated tax collectors and considered them cheats and traitors. In Luke 15:2, it says when the religious leaders saw Jesus with sinners and TAX COLLECTORS, they said, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” They think they are insulting Jesus. Jesus’ attitude is, well of course I welcome sinners and eat with them. That’s what I’m here for! The pull in religion, and these religious leaders gave into the pull, is to be a holy huddle. Just hang out with people like me, the ones who are “right” with God.
So, Jesus told them a parable, a parable is a made-up story to illustrate a point: Jesus says to the religious leaders, suppose you have 100 sheep, and you lose one of them. Don’t you leave the 99 and go looking for the lost one, not giving up until you find it? And everyone back then knew, sheep are in danger from predators: jackals, hyenas, leopard and foxes. There is a risk that some of the 99 could wander off because you are gone looking for the lost one. But you go search for it anyway! You’ve got to find this one sheep; you are worried about it.
The religious leaders don’t say anything, but they’re all thinking it would be a shame to lose a sheep. Yes, we would leave the 99 to search for a lost sheep.
Jesus continues, “5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’” Have you been there? You’re so upset, because you lost a kid or a pet, or your Covid vaccination card, and when you find it, you tell everybody you know: this is great! I found him or her or it! God is good!
Jesus continues, “7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” Jesus teaches us, God is all about going after the one who wanders away! And when he finds that one: to God it’s like he won the lottery! The pull in religion is to be a holy huddle, but Jesus calls us to go outside the huddle.
The apostle Paul knew the grace of God. He had been a Pharisee, a religious leader, who sought to find and arrest Christians so they would be killed! God had sought Paul out; he heard God’s voice and was converted on the road to Damascus. It changed Paul’s life so much for the better! He was so grateful God forgave him and put the past in the past. Paul wanted everyone to know God’s saving grace and his love. So, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:19, “Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.” Paul would not stay in a holy huddle, with just people like himself. Instead, he says, I have made myself a slave to everyone! Nobody wanted to be a slave then. Back then, that was most people’s worst nightmare. If you couldn’t pay a debt, then you could be made a slave. It wasn’t a particular ethnicity that were slaves. It was the people who couldn’t pay bills, who would end up as slaves.
Paul says, I have made myself a slave to everyone! I became like a Jew to the Jews, to win them to Christ. To the Gentiles who don’t follow the law of Moses, I became like someone not under the law (although he says, he really is under the law of Christ), in order that they might come to know Christ. To the weak I became weak to win them to the Lord.
To get out of the holy huddle means you relate to someone who is different from you. Why? Because God loves everybody! Not just the religious leaders, not just the obedient followers, not just the “good” people, (because all have sinned and fallen short.) God loves everybody.
God loves Republicans, God loves Democrats, God loves independents. God loves rich, middle income, and poor, God loves people in prison and people who are free. God loves left-handed people and right-handed people. If there is a group I can’t stand, that’s the mission field, right? That’s exactly who I should get close to, become like, relate to, to help them come to know God. The pull in religion is to be a holy huddle and stick with people who are just like me. But Jesus calls us to go outside the huddle.
The promise is you’ll be dancing around rejoicing when you help someone know Christ! And in heaven, there will also be a huge party over one person who repents!
My brother was in Navy ROTC in college. And he went on a two-week exchange trip where American sailors went to Japan and sailed on a Japanese Navy ship for two weeks. He was friends with one of the Japanese sailors, Manabu. A few years later Manabu was married, and he and his wife were stationed in San Francisco. His wife was lonely, she didn’t have friends here. I lived in Seattle, also on the west coast. My brother said, If I pay for your trip, will you go to San Francisco to visit them, because Manabu’s wife is lonely. I said, “Sure!” I went. When I got off the train, I met Manabu and he said, “Do you like lice?” And I thought, “Why is he asking this?” And he said, “Do you like lice?” I still didn’t understand. Then OOOHHH! I realized, he was saying, do you like RICE! I said Yes! I had a good time with them. We would sit on the floor for meals and eat off the coffee table. They had a love seat in their living room, but that’s where they put their stuffed animals. We sat on the floor! The next time I saw them, a year later, they visited me when I was in seminary in St. Louis. Then Kevin and I got together with them a number of times when they were in Mechanicsburg. Then they went back to live in Japan. And I was so happy to read in a letter that Manabu became a Christian! In Japan only 1% of people are Christian! If me coming to San Francisco and eating lice to be a friend helped in some small way for Manabu to find Jesus, woohoo! Rejoice with me! Praise God!
My challenge for you is to ask God, “How can I show God’s love to someone?”
The religious leaders didn’t understand Jesus. They thought he hung out with the wrong sort of people. Jesus came to do exactly that. He told them a story about a shepherd leaving 99 obedient sheep and wasting his time on one wayward sheep. The good news is that God pursued you and me, and now we get to go out and share God’s love too! Then we can rejoice and party, too, because by venturing out we help someone find God. Amen!
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