Luke 15:1-10 The tax collectors and sinners, however, were all crowding round to listen to him, and the Pharisees and scribes complained saying, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you with a hundred sheep, if he lost one, would fail to leave the ninety–nine in the desert and go after the missing one till he found it? And when he found it, would he not joyfully take it on his shoulders and then, when he got home, call together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep that was lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner repenting than over ninety–nine upright people who have no need of repentance. ‘Or again, what woman with ten drachmas would not, if she lost one, light a lamp and sweep out the house and search thoroughly till she found it? And then, when she had found it, call together her friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, I have found the drachma I lost.” In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing among the angels of God over one repentant sinner.’ -- The New Jerusalem Bible. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1995, c1985
A Study The Oxford Bible Commentary points out that the writers of this Gospel put the onus of the loss on the loser; the gospel attributed to Matthew has the sheep wandering away. Here, the shepherd loses the sheep.
Jesus, in this gospel's context, takes at least partial responsibility for the loss of humans to sinfulness. His response when one sinner turns back to the Light reflects how important our repentance is.
A Reflection Today's Forward Day by Day meditation relates the story of a railroad executive who paid claims for cows hit by his railroad's locomotives. He said that it was always the prize cow of the herd that had been hit by their train; and he came up with a way to improve the dairy and beef industry, worldwide: simply cross a cow with a locomotive!
Each of us is a prize human in God's eyes. "God didn't make no trash" is canonical truth.
The Collect
O Lord our God, grant that your Church, following the teaching of your servant Leo of Rome, may hold fast the great mystery of our redemption, and adore the one Christ, true God and true Man, neither divided from our human nature nor separate from your divine Being; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and or ever.
Luke 14:25-35 Great crowds accompanied him on his way and he turned and spoke to them. ‘Anyone who comes to me without hating father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes and his own life too, cannot be my disciple. No one who does not carry his cross and come after me can be my disciple. ‘And indeed, which of you here, intending to build a tower, would not first sit down and work out the cost to see if he had enough to complete it? Otherwise, if he laid the foundation and then found himself unable to finish the work, anyone who saw it would start making fun of him and saying, “Here is someone who started to build and was unable to finish.” Or again, what king marching to war against another king would not first sit down and consider whether with ten thousand men he could stand up to the other who was advancing against him with twenty thousand? If not, then while the other king was still a long way off, he would send envoys to sue for peace. So in the same way, none of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns. ‘Salt is a good thing. But if salt itself loses its taste, what can make it salty again? It is good for neither soil nor manure heap. People throw it away. Anyone who has ears for listening should listen!’
A Study The writers of Luke were a bit more emphatic than those of Matthew. Where Matthew's text speaks of "preferring" Jesus to family, this text says "hate." It was not an either/or selection, but one of priority.
Jesus tells us to count the cost of following him. Every well-pondered ethical decision and moral stand puts us squarely in someone's cross-hairs; otherwise there would be no need to think it through. At what cost do we take the easy way, and at what cost the high way?
The "salt" to which Jesus refers is that of commitment to the priorities set, the cost calculated. When the commitment is gone, the flavor is lost, and what was a spirit working for Jesus is now like the useless salt, just taking up space.
A Reflection Today's lectionary reading from Psalm 78 recalls that YHWH spared humankind often because they are "creatures of flesh, a breath of wind that passes, never to return."
In the first Genesis creation story, God speaks human into being; in the second, He creates human from the dust. In either case, we are created beings, whether elegantly spoken into being or artfully sculpted into mud-creatures. And Jesus knew our frailties of passing commitment, of weak allegiance, of human "hygienic needs."
And Jesus said, "none of you can be my disciple without giving up all that he owns."
This is not to speak to whatever church-y "ministries" we may have acquired: yes, it's important to have ushers and altar guild and lectors and Men's-Wednesday-morning-breakfast-and-prayer-group. But Jesus was not thinking of an hour or two a week in situations that could easily turn into Pharisaic holier-than-thou episodes.
Jesus was talking about the long-anticipated vacation spent in the back yard instead of Disneyland, so that the money otherwise spent could put a roof on a hurricane-damaged home located somewhere we've never been, belonging to somebody we will never meet.
Jesus was talking about the unexpected fast when our lunch money goes to the bag-lady begging on the street.
Jesus was talking about the hour immersed in the Word instead of the latest Steven King novel.
Jesus continues to speak into our hearts about priority. Those with ears, let them listen.
A Collect
Everliving God, whose will it is that all should come to you through your Son Jesus Christ: Inspire our witness to him, that all may know the power of his forgiveness and the hope of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
