+ 14thSunday after Pentecost – September 15, 2019 +
Beautiful Savior Lutheran
Milton, WA
Series C (Proper 19C): Ezekiel 34:11-24; 1 Timothy 1:5-17; Luke 15:1-10
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” Jesus says later on in Luke 19. Here in Luke 15 Jesus tells us a two parables of things lost and found: a lost sheep; a lost coin.
This is Jesus’ mission. Finding. Rescuing. Searching. Seeking. Saving the lost, wherever they might be, and whomever they might be. Seeking and saving you, me, and all people in his death and resurrection.
Scripture uses many metaphors, words filled with living and active imagery, to describe Jesus. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah who crushes the prowling wolf. Today’s Gospel reading gives us a yet another picture of Jesus’ seeking, saving, and finding love. The poet, Francis Thompson, called Jesus the great hound of heaven who is relentless in his love toward us. He chases us poor miserable sinners until we’re exhausted and weary in our own sin. In the poem, when the hound of heaven catches the narrator he is greeted, not with fangs and fury, but with a gentle caress. An embrace.
Or as our Lord proclaims to us through the prophet Ezekiel:
I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.
Today, and for the next two weeks, we’ll be looking at the Gospel readings from the perspective of stewardship. An emphasis focused on Christ our Lord as our Good Shepherd, and we as Stewards Under Our Good Shepherd. For he is the Chief Steward, the steward of the lost. Lost sheep. Lost coins. Lost, hurting, wounded, broken people.
So Jesus told them this parable: “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
Jesus’ first parable of the lost sheep is a comforting one, and for good reason. He’s our good shepherd. He lays his life down for the sheep. For you. We’re the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hands.
All of this is a reminder that Jesus’ parable isn’t really about good farming or ranching techniques. It’s about the kingdom of God, the good and gracious reign of God that comes to us in Jesus. Think about it. Most ranchers would consider 99/100 a pretty good percentage. “One lost sheep? No problem. You’ve got 99 good ones. Count your losses and head to the market.” But not the Good Shepherd. He seeks and saves the lost.
Jesus’ second parable of the lost coin doesn’t get the same attention as the parable of the lost sheep, but it’s just as dramatic. And again, it’s all about the kingdom and gracious reign of God in Jesus, not necessarily good financial practices.
what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently 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.’
By now you’re probably wondering. Why did pastor pick this Gospel reading for a stewardship emphasis? What do lost sheep and coins have to do with stewardship? Wouldn’t last week’s Gospel reading about counting the cost have been better?
Jesus gives us the answer in his own words: At the end of both parables he says, ‘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.’ And, ‘Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’
Jesus’ parables have a great deal to do with God’s stewardship of us. His care for us. His seeking and saving the lost. To the Pharisees who heard these parables, Jesus preached repentance. They were a rebuke against their pride and unbelief and rejection of Jesus. “This man receives sinners and eats with them!” They decried.Jesus’ parables call us to repentance too. To repent of our pride, our sinful selfishness of thought, word, and deed. To repent of thinking we’re not the greatest sinner.
And yet to the tax collectors and sinners, Jesus’ words are a proclamation of forgiveness. Of his seeking and saving them, the lost ones. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 to rescue you, throw you on his crucified and risen shoulders, and carry you home. He is the one who searches us lost coins out because we are precious to him. He is the great hound of heaven who sniffs us out and embraces us in his relentless, merciful love.
Jesus’ parables teach us what is truly valuable in God’s kingdom, and how God approaches his own stewardship. This, in turn, has a lot to say about our lives of Christian stewardship. It’s good to think about our stewardship of our time, talents, and treasures, about proportional giving, and giving to God first, and then giving joyfully. We do so because Scripture teaches us that everything was given by him in the first place, and it will always be his possession – we are simply given to manage all that he has placed into our hands as his stewards. Jesus’ parables reveal that he is the true Steward of the Lost, and puts everything we do where it belongs – beneath everything he has done for us.
Remember Jesus’ mission: to seek and to save the lost. To seek and to save you. Christian stewardship, then, is simply supporting this mission in our vocation, where God calls us. We are stewards because Christ himself is our chief steward; the steward of the lost.
God put more than a tenth of his treasure on the line when he paid the price for human sin; not with gold or silver, but with his holy precious blood, and his innocent suffering and death, He found and saved you.
God forsook more than 99% of his Son on the cross to make true peace with man by the forgiveness of our sins. He gave everything. Jesus gave all that he is and all that he had on the cross for your redemption. He died and rose from the dead to give you peace with his Father. He did it to fulfill his Father’s command to everlasting life.
Jesus came to seek and to save you. Today he comes still, to rescue, redeem, heal, feed, and save you in his holy body and his holy blood which finds you and forgives you.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Special thanks to Pastor Jonathan Bakker for use of this stewardship theme.
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