“The wrath of God is his relentless compassion, pursuing us even when we are at our worst. Lord, give us mercy to bear your mercy.”
– Maggie Ross, from The Fire of Your Life
The fourteenth chapter of Luke concludes, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” Today, in the fifteenth chapter all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.
Tax collectors were reviled because in the depressed economy of first-century Israel under Roman occupation. Some had taken the only jobs they could find: collecting taxes for the emperor. For this, they were reviled and seen as traitors. So the others were grumbling and not pleased. The religious people did not like these known traitors and sinners eating and drinking with Jesus; they didn’t like Jesus socializing with them.
They thought they were better than those Jesus was eating with. They wanted their secluded society to continue, they were safe as they were, with the rules they knew.
It is funny how we all think more of ourselves than we ought; it is nothing new. We judge others, putting ourselves above others with our words and our deeds.
Jesus describes his people, (sinners/us), in Jeremiah 4. ‘For my people are foolish they do not know me,…they are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.’
From Psalm 14, “Everyone has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad.”
There is no distinction between the good and the bad.
The pharisees and scribes were grumbling. The religious folks were those who were disturbed by Jesus’ presence and the differences he was bringing to the community. He tries to bring them along and teach them about the differences in the religious value system that he was bringing, as contrasted to the one they had, with strict rules, black and white, right and wrong,acceptable, non-acceptable, clean and unclean. The lines were getting blurred. Jesus was blurring them.
Jesus tells them two parables. A sheep and a coin are lost. Their owners go to great lengths to find them. The parables describe the great joy that is experienced when these lost things are found.
These parables are about God, and the great lengths that God goes to seek and find those who are lost, and the result of finding that which was lost.
“Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep was lost.” “Rejoice with me, for I have found that coin that I had lost.”
Much has been written about these parables. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Repentance is a major facet of this text.
Unlike the English word repentance, which implies contrition and remorse, (and is a way this passage is preached emphasizing the importance of personal contrition and remorse), the Greek word metanoia has to do with a change of mind and purpose — a shift in how we perceive and respond to life. When God finds us when we are lost, our usual ways of perceiving and responding to life are transformed.
When we think of repentance using the English word and meaning, we think of turning away from our sin and a turning toward God; the Greek word, metanoia speaks to a shift in us, in how we perceive and respond to life.
In these parables, in these stories; the shepherd and the woman go to look for the missing sheep and the lost coin. The shepherd and the woman are metaphors for God; going to look for the lost. While repentance on our part is part of the story, it is not the whole story. God goes looking.
The witness of the Biblical story from Genesis to Revelation is that our God is indeed relentlessly compassionate, pursuing us even when we are at our worst. God pursues us.
God relentlessly pursues us. Repentance involves an acknowledgement and awareness that we cannot save ourselves. That in and of ourselves, we are helpless. And when we are found, when we “repent”, it will involve a change of mind and purpose for us. It should. It must.
Jesus wanted the religious leaders, to see themselves for who they were. And to understand their need for change.
There is rejoicing when the sheep and the coin are found.
What does it mean to be found? To be seen? To be pursued by the God who created and sustained the universe?
What do we do, and how does it affect and change us, when we begin to comprehend the great lengths that God (as depicted through the actions of the shepherd and the woman) goes through in order to find each of us?
Neither a sheep nor a coin (and I recognize this are parables) are capable of repenting. They do not have capacity for it. The onus, the burden, the obligation, is on the shepherd and the woman to find them, not on the object that is being found. The onus, the duty, the encumbrance, was on God. God did the finding.
And Jesus tells the religious leaders, when the lost are found, don’t be grumbling because you didn’t want them here; because you didn’t think they deserved to be here - “Rejoice with me!” “Rejoice with me!”, for I have found the sheep that was lost! For I have found the coin that was lost!
What is being depicted here are two different types of responses to Jesus and God’s reign. Sinners repent because they know they are lost and thus can avail themselves of the transformation that comes with God’s finding them. By contrast, the righteous do not need to repent (or change their ways) presumably because they don’t think they are lost. They don’t need God to find them; they are justified either in their own eyes or in the eyes of others (16:15; cf. 10:29; 18:14).
In a world in which demeaning others has become the commonplace, everyday rhetoric of people on all sides of all conflicts, can we place ourselves in this crowd of tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and scribes and listen to what is being said? Can we choose our response?
Can we accept that we are all lost and in need of being found?
Maggie Ross is a mystic and woman dedicated to a solitary life who has made vows to the Archbishop of Cantebury. She has written many books concerning her solitude and her life as a hermit.
To recall and slightly amend the words of Maggie Ross, “Christ, give us mercy to bear and accept your Mercy!”
For the acceptance of God’s mercy, love, and compassion requires us all to turn, to change, to repent of all thoughts and behaviors that stereotype and demean others, thoughts and behaviors that may treat and see others as less than.
Repentance is not free standing. Conversion is not just for some. There is a prevenient mercy that keeps searching and looking and seeking for all.
Joseph Fitzmyer put it well, “Repentance does not take place without the provenience and the initiative of the gracious shepherd.” (Fitzmyer, Luke, 1075)
We come to repentance through the grace of mercy of God, not of ourselves.
Our work involves preparing ourselves and our communities to receive those God brings in and figure out a way to work together in this new world. May we not be like the pharisees and scribes wondering why they are here. May we make a place at the table. and may we be found rejoicing.
Amen.
– Maggie Ross, from The Fire of Your Life
The fourteenth chapter of Luke concludes, “Let anyone with ears to hear listen!” Today, in the fifteenth chapter all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.
Tax collectors were reviled because in the depressed economy of first-century Israel under Roman occupation. Some had taken the only jobs they could find: collecting taxes for the emperor. For this, they were reviled and seen as traitors. So the others were grumbling and not pleased. The religious people did not like these known traitors and sinners eating and drinking with Jesus; they didn’t like Jesus socializing with them.
They thought they were better than those Jesus was eating with. They wanted their secluded society to continue, they were safe as they were, with the rules they knew.
It is funny how we all think more of ourselves than we ought; it is nothing new. We judge others, putting ourselves above others with our words and our deeds.
Jesus describes his people, (sinners/us), in Jeremiah 4. ‘For my people are foolish they do not know me,…they are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good.’
From Psalm 14, “Everyone has proved faithless; all alike have turned bad.”
There is no distinction between the good and the bad.
The pharisees and scribes were grumbling. The religious folks were those who were disturbed by Jesus’ presence and the differences he was bringing to the community. He tries to bring them along and teach them about the differences in the religious value system that he was bringing, as contrasted to the one they had, with strict rules, black and white, right and wrong,acceptable, non-acceptable, clean and unclean. The lines were getting blurred. Jesus was blurring them.
Jesus tells them two parables. A sheep and a coin are lost. Their owners go to great lengths to find them. The parables describe the great joy that is experienced when these lost things are found.
These parables are about God, and the great lengths that God goes to seek and find those who are lost, and the result of finding that which was lost.
“Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep was lost.” “Rejoice with me, for I have found that coin that I had lost.”
Much has been written about these parables. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 righteous persons who need no repentance. Repentance is a major facet of this text.
Unlike the English word repentance, which implies contrition and remorse, (and is a way this passage is preached emphasizing the importance of personal contrition and remorse), the Greek word metanoia has to do with a change of mind and purpose — a shift in how we perceive and respond to life. When God finds us when we are lost, our usual ways of perceiving and responding to life are transformed.
When we think of repentance using the English word and meaning, we think of turning away from our sin and a turning toward God; the Greek word, metanoia speaks to a shift in us, in how we perceive and respond to life.
In these parables, in these stories; the shepherd and the woman go to look for the missing sheep and the lost coin. The shepherd and the woman are metaphors for God; going to look for the lost. While repentance on our part is part of the story, it is not the whole story. God goes looking.
The witness of the Biblical story from Genesis to Revelation is that our God is indeed relentlessly compassionate, pursuing us even when we are at our worst. God pursues us.
God relentlessly pursues us. Repentance involves an acknowledgement and awareness that we cannot save ourselves. That in and of ourselves, we are helpless. And when we are found, when we “repent”, it will involve a change of mind and purpose for us. It should. It must.
Jesus wanted the religious leaders, to see themselves for who they were. And to understand their need for change.
There is rejoicing when the sheep and the coin are found.
What does it mean to be found? To be seen? To be pursued by the God who created and sustained the universe?
What do we do, and how does it affect and change us, when we begin to comprehend the great lengths that God (as depicted through the actions of the shepherd and the woman) goes through in order to find each of us?
Neither a sheep nor a coin (and I recognize this are parables) are capable of repenting. They do not have capacity for it. The onus, the burden, the obligation, is on the shepherd and the woman to find them, not on the object that is being found. The onus, the duty, the encumbrance, was on God. God did the finding.
And Jesus tells the religious leaders, when the lost are found, don’t be grumbling because you didn’t want them here; because you didn’t think they deserved to be here - “Rejoice with me!” “Rejoice with me!”, for I have found the sheep that was lost! For I have found the coin that was lost!
What is being depicted here are two different types of responses to Jesus and God’s reign. Sinners repent because they know they are lost and thus can avail themselves of the transformation that comes with God’s finding them. By contrast, the righteous do not need to repent (or change their ways) presumably because they don’t think they are lost. They don’t need God to find them; they are justified either in their own eyes or in the eyes of others (16:15; cf. 10:29; 18:14).
In a world in which demeaning others has become the commonplace, everyday rhetoric of people on all sides of all conflicts, can we place ourselves in this crowd of tax collectors, sinners, Pharisees, and scribes and listen to what is being said? Can we choose our response?
Can we accept that we are all lost and in need of being found?
Maggie Ross is a mystic and woman dedicated to a solitary life who has made vows to the Archbishop of Cantebury. She has written many books concerning her solitude and her life as a hermit.
To recall and slightly amend the words of Maggie Ross, “Christ, give us mercy to bear and accept your Mercy!”
For the acceptance of God’s mercy, love, and compassion requires us all to turn, to change, to repent of all thoughts and behaviors that stereotype and demean others, thoughts and behaviors that may treat and see others as less than.
Repentance is not free standing. Conversion is not just for some. There is a prevenient mercy that keeps searching and looking and seeking for all.
Joseph Fitzmyer put it well, “Repentance does not take place without the provenience and the initiative of the gracious shepherd.” (Fitzmyer, Luke, 1075)
We come to repentance through the grace of mercy of God, not of ourselves.
Our work involves preparing ourselves and our communities to receive those God brings in and figure out a way to work together in this new world. May we not be like the pharisees and scribes wondering why they are here. May we make a place at the table. and may we be found rejoicing.
Amen.