Lost Sheep

Sermon preached by the Rev. Lowell E. Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas

September 15, 2013; 17 Pentecost, Proper 19, Year C

Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary

(Luke 15:1-10)  All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. 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? 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 sheep that was lost.' 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? 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."

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his gospel reading starts off ugly.  But it ends pretty beautifully.

“All the tax collectors were coming near to listen to Jesus.  And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’”

You need to know that sitting at a meal in Jesus’ day was not something casual.  To share a table with someone was a public event, and it carried profound significance.  Eating with someone created a public endorsement of the other and an obligation of lifelong friendship.  Friendships in an honor culture established your place in the community. 

In his community, Jesus’ sharing meals with sinners and tax collectors would be more scandalous than your priest becoming best friends with our local meth dealers.  The good people, the respectable Pharisees and scribes, were offended and spoke up about it. 

So Jesus returned the insult.  But you need to know something else to catch the bite in his response.  In Jesus’ day, shepherds were despised and mistrusted, assumed to be stupid or crooked.  My friend Paul McCracken writes:  “Only children could be shepherds without social taint.  An adult shepherd was considered to be either so inept or addled that he could not perform any other occupation, or to be so dishonest that he could not be trusted in any other role.”[i]

So Jesus turns to the respectable Pharisees and scribes and says, “Which of you, having a hundred sheep…”  Which of you crooks…  Which of you idiots…  You can bet the peasants in earshot enjoyed the barb. 

And they would have understood that this story about the hundred sheep was a story about some children-shepherds watching flocks for their fathers or older brothers, probably one child for every twenty to twenty-five sheep.  When one sheep went missing, one child went to look for it while the others watched the flock. 

And it probably wasn’t too hard to find the sheep.  They are social creatures.  When a sheep realizes it’s wandered away, it will panic.  The lost sheep’s muscles will lock-up rigidly and it will bleat loudly and pitiably.  A shepherd can find it pretty quickly, but so can a predator, so the shepherd must be quick. 

When the shepherd finds the sheep, it is usually comforted enough to stop bleating, but away from the security of the flock, the sheep will remain frozen, unable to follow.  So the shepherd must carry it back, a pretty heavy load for a small child.  When they rejoin the flock, there is rejoicing among animals and shepherds alike.[ii] 

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ne obvious and traditional interpretation of this parable has to be about God’s intention to seek and restore everyone who might be lost, including tax collectors and sinners.  God’s loving intention is so complete and so universal that God will find a way to bring all of the sheep into the divine flock.  God rejects the opinion of the Pharisees and scribes that only some who are worthy are to be saved.  No.  One hundred percent is the only result acceptable to God.  God eats with sinners.  Get over it Pharisees.

The parable of the lost coin makes a similar point.  God intends to lose nothing of value, no matter how long or difficult the search.  So take that with you today.

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ut I want to offer another interpretation. 

Think of the various elements of your life as the whole flock.  Life is good when everything is tended to, flowing together, properly nourished and protected.  But every once in a while, you lose something – some part of yourself; some quality in your life.  And you need to go on a bit of a search to bring it back, to restore you to wholeness.

I was talking with someone the other day who is living with a certain level of frustration and dissatisfaction.  He says he ought to be happy and satisfied.  He’s got a great family that he loves, and they’re all doing just fine.  He has the job he has worked toward for many years, and he is very well paid.  But he has a lot of responsibility, and he works long hours.  It’s hard to get away from it all.  He loves his work, but sometimes it’s too much.  He’s always inside – at meetings or on the phone or computer.  Even at home he’s having to keep in touch with work and troubleshoot. 

We talked a while, and he began to reminisce.  He recalled how he used to enjoy time outdoors, especially in nature.  He and his wife used to hike, to camp occasionally.  Now, he’s rarely outside, and if he is, it’s usually doing some chore like mowing. 

There’s something about nature that breathes life into him, he says.  It gives him energy to be outside, among the trees or in the open air.  So he made a plan.  He’s going to carve out some time to get back into nature.  He’s going to plan some things – a hike, a picnic, a quick visit to a favorite overlook.  Some of it by himself; some with family.  He’s going to find that lost sheep, and bring nature back into his life, to see if some wholeness doesn’t return to him.

There’s a businessman I know who says yoga takes his stress away.  He got involved in a deal that consumed him for a while, and he couldn’t go to his yoga class.  “I felt it,” he said.  “I got all tense and out of sorts.  I got out of the habit and quit going.  I could feel the spiral, and I started gaining weight.”  So he went after his lost sheep, returned to his yoga class, and now he feels more like himself.

The other day I got fed up with having too many balls in the air, so I cleaned up my desk.  And I felt so much better.  I hadn’t done anything on the checklist; I had made no progress in one sense.  Yet I was more relaxed, more focused, and then more efficient and present. 

We are social beings, and everything is connected with everything else.  When one part of your life is stuck and frozen and bleating, out in the wilderness feeling threatened by the predators, the whole flock is shaken. 

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hat are the lost sheep in your life?  What have you let wander away that needs to be refound?  For some people, it’s prayer.  For others, it’s exercise.  For some, it’s rest.  Just getting enough sleep can make a huge difference.  Diet, music.  Attention to detail; getting organized.  Taking a retreat.  Reconciling with a friend after a misunderstanding.  Making amends for something you regret.  Quitting a bad habit.  Paying attention to those you most value.  Reconnecting with family or an old friend. 

We all have some lost sheep.  And it takes some energy to go out on the search and to bring them home.  But the effort is worthwhile. 

Notice one more thing.  The celebration.  In Jesus’ stories, when the sheep was restored, the shepherds celebrated; when the lost coin was found, the neighbors rejoiced with her.  Share your progress.  When you restore some balance, when you find something that was lost, let yourself celebrate and share the joy. 

God’s intention is that love will fill the universe, including your whole life.  That there will be no sheep lost, nothing of value lost.  God is with you on the sheep search.  The Good Shepherd will search with you and illumine the way.  And whenever you find what you had lost, every time there is joy in the presence of the angels of God.  So go out there this week, and make some angels happy.

That’s a beautiful ending to a story that started out pretty ugly.

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[i] Paul McCracken, Jerusalem Institute for Biblical Studies, Sunday’s Lectionary Text, September 10, 2013, www.jibe-edu.org

[ii] Ibid