Finding Sheep
16th Sunday after Pentecost
Ruskin Heights Lutheran Church
St. Luke 15:1-10
September 12, 2010
Jesus tells two stories today, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the people who search frantically to find them, the shepherd and the old widow.
Jesus is being criticized for “welcoming sinners and eating with them.” To answer the critics He tells these stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin.
It’s the sheep I like best; I’ve always had a soft spot for dumb fuzzy animals that tug at the heart.
This sheep is lost.
Ninety-nine remain.
The shepherd comes to the rescue.
There are two versions of this sheep and shepherd story in the Gospels:
There is St. Luke’s report and there is St. Matthew’s description.
I like St. Matthew’s better than I like St. Luke’s.
Your Father in heaven is unwilling that any should be lost.
But St. Luke doesn’t say that.
Instead he adds that little dig at the end:
That’s wrong.
I mean, it is wrong for the story. When St. Luke was doing his final edit, I think he scrambled it up a little.
The stories are identical, to a point.
The sheep wanders off.
The sheep doesn’t even know it is lost.
It doesn’t seem to be crying to come home.
For all we know the sheep is happy.
Like, say, Jesus when He was twelve, hanging out at the Temple. Mary and Joseph had to do a multi-day search for their lost son and there he is, talking to the scholars and all. (Luke 2:41-50)
She demands, “Why did you do this to us – go off missing and worrying us to death?”
Jesus looks at her oddly. “What? I knew where I was.”
That’s the sheep. There is no evidence the sheep is at all distressed.
Here’s the sheep: schlepping around the neighborhood, taking in the sights, enjoying itself, getting a little “me” time.
Of course, that’s what leaving God is really all about.
It’s all about me.
Anyway, the shepherd goes after that sheep.
It is the shepherd who undertakes a relentless and unrelenting search that does not cease until that sheep is found and brought home . . . kicking and bellyaching for all we know.
Here is where the stories depart from one another.
St. Luke says: Everybody’s happy the sheep repented.
St. Matthew says: Your Father in heaven is unwilling that any of these little ones should be lost.
I don’t see any repentance in the sheep. It just doesn’t fit the story as St. Luke tells it.
What does fit the story is Jesus in St. Matthew.
Why does the shepherd waste his time on one sheep; why doesn’t he just cut his losses?
Because, like the Father, he is unwilling that even one should be lost.
That’s why I like St. Matthew more than I like St. Luke.
The central fact is this — whether you are reading St. Luke or St. Matthew — the sheep shows no initiative at all. Who ever heard of a sheep taking any initiative?
Instead, the initiative belongs entirely to the shepherd.
It doesn’t belong to the sheep — it belongs to God.
Says Jesus in St. Matthew, call Him crazy, that’s just the way God is.
“Your Father in heaven is unwilling that any should be lost.”
God is so unwilling that it is He who conducts the real search for us — we do not.
And what God searches for, He finds.
And if God is unwilling to permit that any should be lost, then we have only to pray, “God’s will be done.”
So, about those people at that dinner party in St. Luke — the tax collectors and sinners:
And about us, we little ones who have been found:
The love of God in Christ chased us, caught us, and brought us home.
It was not our doing.
It wasn’t by our own initiative.
It is all God’s doing — His unwillingness that any should be lost.
Like those tax collectors and sinners of another time, so we in this time come near to listen to him.
And he welcomes us, and shares food with us.
And, yes, there is great joy in heaven.
Ruskin Heights Lutheran Church
St. Luke 15:1-10
September 12, 2010
Jesus tells two stories today, the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the people who search frantically to find them, the shepherd and the old widow.
Jesus is being criticized for “welcoming sinners and eating with them.” To answer the critics He tells these stories of the lost sheep, the lost coin.
It’s the sheep I like best; I’ve always had a soft spot for dumb fuzzy animals that tug at the heart.
This sheep is lost.
Ninety-nine remain.
The shepherd comes to the rescue.
There are two versions of this sheep and shepherd story in the Gospels:
There is St. Luke’s report and there is St. Matthew’s description.
I like St. Matthew’s better than I like St. Luke’s.
St. Matthew 18:10-14
Jesus speaks:
“See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
“So, what do you think? If a shepherd owns 100 sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the 99 and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the 99 that did not wander off.
“In the same way, your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.”
Your Father in heaven is unwilling that any should be lost.
But St. Luke doesn’t say that.
Instead he adds that little dig at the end:
“Just so, there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the 99 who need no repentance.”
That’s wrong.
I mean, it is wrong for the story. When St. Luke was doing his final edit, I think he scrambled it up a little.
The stories are identical, to a point.
The sheep wanders off.
The sheep doesn’t even know it is lost.
It doesn’t seem to be crying to come home.
For all we know the sheep is happy.
Like, say, Jesus when He was twelve, hanging out at the Temple. Mary and Joseph had to do a multi-day search for their lost son and there he is, talking to the scholars and all. (Luke 2:41-50)
She demands, “Why did you do this to us – go off missing and worrying us to death?”
Jesus looks at her oddly. “What? I knew where I was.”
That’s the sheep. There is no evidence the sheep is at all distressed.
Here’s the sheep: schlepping around the neighborhood, taking in the sights, enjoying itself, getting a little “me” time.
Of course, that’s what leaving God is really all about.
It’s all about me.
Anyway, the shepherd goes after that sheep.
It is the shepherd who undertakes a relentless and unrelenting search that does not cease until that sheep is found and brought home . . . kicking and bellyaching for all we know.
Here is where the stories depart from one another.
St. Luke says: Everybody’s happy the sheep repented.
St. Matthew says: Your Father in heaven is unwilling that any of these little ones should be lost.
I don’t see any repentance in the sheep. It just doesn’t fit the story as St. Luke tells it.
What does fit the story is Jesus in St. Matthew.
Why does the shepherd waste his time on one sheep; why doesn’t he just cut his losses?
Because, like the Father, he is unwilling that even one should be lost.
That’s why I like St. Matthew more than I like St. Luke.
The central fact is this — whether you are reading St. Luke or St. Matthew — the sheep shows no initiative at all. Who ever heard of a sheep taking any initiative?
Instead, the initiative belongs entirely to the shepherd.
It doesn’t belong to the sheep — it belongs to God.
Says Jesus in St. Matthew, call Him crazy, that’s just the way God is.
“Your Father in heaven is unwilling that any should be lost.”
God is so unwilling that it is He who conducts the real search for us — we do not.
And what God searches for, He finds.
And if God is unwilling to permit that any should be lost, then we have only to pray, “God’s will be done.”
So, about those people at that dinner party in St. Luke — the tax collectors and sinners:
“See that you do not look down on these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. Your Father in heaven is unwilling that any of these little ones should be lost.”
And about us, we little ones who have been found:
The love of God in Christ chased us, caught us, and brought us home.
It was not our doing.
It wasn’t by our own initiative.
It is all God’s doing — His unwillingness that any should be lost.
Like those tax collectors and sinners of another time, so we in this time come near to listen to him.
And he welcomes us, and shares food with us.
And, yes, there is great joy in heaven.
Labels: 16th Sunday after Pentecost, sermon, sheep
posted by Pastor Russ | 10:00 AM
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