Exodus 32:7-14, Luke 15:1-10
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
All of our readings today speak of sin, a breakdown of the relationship between God and humanity, they also speak of God’s anger and God’s mercy and the distance that God, that Jesus is willing to travel to restore a lost sheep to the fold. But what does sin and a need for forgiveness have to do with us? We are good church going people; we are Christians who worship here in church as often as possible; we give generously (as we are able) to the church and its many ministries; we don’t steal or murder; we don’t worship other gods; we keep the Commandments that God has given to us; more than that we love each other, we love our neighbors and even those who stand against us. Right? And, if you have any doubts, I can stand up here and tell about all the good things that you have been doing through the church and some of what you’ve been doing on your own; I can highlight your generosity for PACS and the Good Samaritan Shelter, your generosity in providing meals to St. Mary’s Shelter and the efforts you’ve exerted to help the youth raise money to go to a youth assembly. We’re good people! And I as your pastor, I’ve got to be good, right? I hold to the Commandments; I’m always reaching out to those who need comfort and care; I preach almost every Sunday, study and teach about the Bible. How much better can I get? Just don’t ask my wife. She’ll tell you about how I regularly get myself in trouble with her and others? And if I’m so good, why is it that I often feel the need to ask the Lord for forgiveness? Maybe I’m not so good, maybe we are not so good after all.
And this is not about beating everyone over the head about sin. We do not, necessarily, wantonly act against God’s will and Commandments. But let’s be real; you and I occasionally find ourselves imagining all kinds of ways that we could break God’s Commandments; we even talk about these ways; we even enjoy the idea of maybe breaking some of God’s Commandments. There is a reason why we sometimes cheer for the, so called bad guys, in certain movies, especially when they are not hurting others; there is a reason why we are intrigued by men and women who get romantically involved with people, not their spouses; there is reason why we fantasize about joining with vigilantes. And of course, who among us has not made up excuses for such things as, missing church, not helping out where needed and not supporting the church as well as we could. The truth is hard to hear, but we need to face the fact that we are not as good as we might like to believe we are. Which means, and this is the important part, we have not fully committed ourselves to having a serious relationship with Jesus. We are much like the men, women, boys and girls who just want to have a little fun together, feeling that they are not ready for a real committed relationship or are maybe afraid to make a commitment to each other.
Jesus gives to us everything that he has, even his life; his commitment to us is true; he loves us and forgives us liberally, waiting for a return of love from us, waiting to see if we will follow the Commandments and expectations had for us, waiting and waiting and waiting. And, not without, a great deal of frustration, even anger. God was ready to be done with Israel in the wilderness, when they turned to other gods and crediting those other gods with freeing them from Egypt. Can you imagine? But God relented of his anger and God remained faithful to an unfaithful people. Jesus was a bit put off by the complaints of the Pharisees and the Scribes, as he described how a shepherd might seek out a lost sheep and return it to the fold; he was put off by the willingness of those so called faithful, to abandon those who have sinned or who stood outside of their circle. Put off, but Jesus did not abandon them and he did not condemn them to be punished. That is the message here for us today.
In fact, not only does Jesus remain committed to love and forgive us, his parables make it very clear that he is willing to take the first step to heal the relationship between us.
Every time in my life, when I wandered away from the fold, the Lord came to get me, or sent his angels and messengers to lead me back, in spite of the many times I sent them away. Eventually I recognized my need for Jesus; eventually I went along with Jesus and his representatives. I don’t want you to miss this one point, Jesus, every time we wander off, seeks us out. Strange, now that I think of it, how many times he now sends me out to straying members, to the lost sheep of the fold, to invite them to return, to remind them of Jesus’ love for them and to help them know they are missed by their church family. I’m not an angel, but I am sent out as Jesus’ messenger. In this I am not alone! There are occasions when you too have been sent out and times when you will be asked again to go out and find those who have wandered from the fold. Our Sunday School leaders have been talking about reaching out to parents and children who have wandered away from church. We all of us know people who have wandered away from the church; right here and now you are being called upon by Jesus to invite these wandering sheep back to St. Peter’s. You are being called to this ministry; we are being called! Except for the Lord himself, there is no one better to do this.
As it turns out our readings are not so much about our sinfulness, as they are about God’s desire to restore all of us to a good relationship with God, with Jesus. Going through my head right now, is the voice of my mother, yelling at me after I did something wrong and ran away from her, “Don’t make me come up there and get you!” That was a scary prospect! She was the disciplinarian. But that is not Jesus, he lovingly says, “Let me come up there and bring you back into my loving arms, so that I may heal your anger, your fear, your hurt, your confusion, your loneliness, your sinfulness. He comes for us in love (he or his messenger) when we need him and he sends us out to others when they need Jesus.