3rd Sunday in Lent
Luke 15:1-32
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And, the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
So, he told them this parable: “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? And, when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And, when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And, when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the wealth that will belong to me.’
“So, he divided his assets between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant region, and there he squandered his wealth in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that region, and he began to be in need. So, he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that region, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything.
“But, when he came to his senses he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.” ’
“So, he set off and went to his father. But, while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him.
“Then, the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But, the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And, get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate, for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’
“And, they began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on.
“He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’
“Then, he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him.
“But, he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command, yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But, when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’
“Then, the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But, we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”
What Was Lost
I’ve made many friends over the years, as I’m sure all of you have. I feel like I form friendships pretty easily, but despite what it may look like, I am an introvert, and it’s not always so easy for me to maintain those friendships. My best friend in high school was a young woman named Ellen. We kept in touch for a few years after we graduated, but she married a man from England, and ended up moving there, and for the last twenty-five years or so, our only communication has been the very occasional message on Facebook. This, or something like it, is true for any number of friends that I’ve made over the years, with the exception of a handful that I have regular contact with.
Are these failed relationships? Not necessarily. But, they certainly aren’t thriving. And, I’m not so full of self-importance to say that the responsibility is all mine; relationships are a two-way street. Generally, I don’t think anyone is mad at me because of this; I’m certainly not. People are busy, and we have relationships that are right in front of us that we have to take care of, let alone worrying about people we don’t ever see. And, I honestly believe that despite my lack of attention, I don’t care about these people any less. I could probably do a better job of showing that I care, but the fact remains, I still do.
The three parables that we heard today are ultimately about relationships. A common way to interpret them is that God is the shepherd, the woman, and the father. We are the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son, and God works to reunite us. But, when we read parables, it’s important to think about the different ways that we are all of the characters in the story. As those who are lost, we can easily see how we can stray from the path of righteousness, and how we would need to be rescued from that. We can see how we might be the sheep and the coins who were not lost, or the son who stayed home. Did we do something to ostracize the one who was lost? Did we do something to make them think that they weren’t a part of the family? Did we become resentful when they eventually came back, because of all of the rejoicing for their return?
As for the shepherd or the woman, it seems the message is that we should always be looking for those who are lost, so we can bring them back. Those are our neighbors who need help, those whom society has cast aside, the infirm, the differently abled, the foreigner, the unsheltered. From the father, we can learn how to be welcoming to those who return to the fold. We don’t need to chastise or punish. We throw a party! We celebrate! We rejoice that the one who was lost has come back to us.
I read an article by Rev. Dr. Angela Dienhart Hancock, a Professor of Homiletics at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, who suggested that we when we look at the shepherd, the woman, and the father as ourselves, it’s possible to think of them in what might be a less flattering light. What if these people were partially at fault for what happened? What if the shepherd wasn’t paying attention when he should have been, and didn’t notice when one of his sheep wandered off. What if the woman was being careless with her coins, and misplaced one of them. What if the father wasn’t the perfect parent, as so few parents are, and the son had a good reason to leave. We could certainly make the case that he might not have been raised very well, as he blows through all of his money through debauchery, becoming destitute, and ends up feeding ritually unclean animals to support himself.
What if we could read into these stories a breakdown of relationship? What does that say about us? Relationship is the basis of community, our individual relationships with each other are the building blocks of our neighborhoods, our towns and cities, our country, our world. If we are not intentional with our relationships, if we let them stagnate or just slowly drift away, how can we build community? How do we notice when someone needs help? How do we build trust?
When the shepherd finds the sheep, when the woman finds the coin, when the father welcomes his son home, these are relationships restored. The community is made whole, and like it says in the parable of the prodigal son, what was dead has come back to life. We see stories all the time of revitalizing neighborhoods, revitalizing schools, revitalizing churches. All of that is done through relationship. When people start to care more about each other, when they start paying attention to each other and helping each other, amazing things can happen.
Unfortunately, we are seeing a breakdown of relationship, right now. Neighbor turning against neighbor, entire communities of people turning against other communities. We can’t maintain a city this way. We can’t maintain a country like this. We could make the argument that our world is unraveling, because of the lack of relationships. Climate change is going to be absolutely devastating to people living in the global south, but they’re thousands of miles away. We don’t see them every day, we don’t talk to them, we don’t think about them. It’s so easy to go about our lives and not worry about the horrific consequences that will be the result of the decisions we make here in the north.
It is possible to care about people that we don’t interact with. The reality is that we are all in relationship with each other. All of our actions have an impact on all of the other people in the world. We can care about them, even if we don’t talk to them. We can worry about them, even if we don’t see them every day. These people are still part of our family. They are still God’s children, just like we are.
As for my friends who I don’t have a lot of contact with, I will occasionally have a phone call or meet-up with someone that I haven’t talked to in years, or even decades. I think it’s part of human nature to remember the people who were important to us, even if it’s been a really long time since we’ve had any interaction with them. I don’t know what it’s like for other people, but for me, I can often pick up right where we left off the last time we spoke.
I just had a phone call with a friend that was a year behind me in seminary. We hadn’t talked to each other in probably ten years, though like a lot of them there was the occasional message through Facebook. We ended up talking for almost two hours, catching up with each other about our lives and sharing stories about our time in ministry. It was so great to catch up with her, and I will more than likely always think of her as a friend, even if we go another ten years without talking. Because, we can care about people who aren’t in our lives. We just have to remember that everyone is important; everyone is a child of God. We are the lost, and we are the ones who stayed behind. We are the ones who are resentful when the lost return, and we are the ones who rejoice. We are the ones who find those who are missing, and we are the ones who let them get away. So, don’t forget how important your relationships are, all of your relationships, with all of the people of the world. We need those relationships to build community, and we need community to hold our world together.
Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
