Those leaders with Jesus were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Jesus welcomed sinners and eats with them. This is who we follow. Not one who placated the ego of the comfortable but the one who sought out those on the margins and to connect with them, even eat with them.
When he hears them grumbling, Jesus takes his actions further by telling them a couple of parables.
A shepherd who loses one sheep (out of 99) and goes off to find that lost sheep and celebrates with friends when the shepherd finds the sheep.
A woman who lost one of ten coins, turns her place upside down until she finds it then rejoices with friends at finding the lost coin.
But wait a minute…
Would we seek the one sheep when we have 99? Or a lost coin? Wouldn’t we just chalk up our loss and move on?
But God doesn’t…
And what is all this celebrating over the lost…
“What about the faithful?” “What about those who have followed the path?” “What about those who were not lost?”
It doesn’t seem fair. But we know that Jesus became one of us to turn the world and our expectations upside down. These parables of the Kingdom challenge our idea of fairness.
For God doesn’t want to celebrate with just the faithful; God wants all to be found so they too can celebrate. And if we are really honest with ourselves, we all have been lost at one time or another. And God did not stop searching for us.
It is the story of our lives, that by the grace of God we are saved; that God always seeks us out, wants no one lost, wants all of us & creation to be complete & whole.
The parable is true, that often we are the lost and we are the ones searching for the lost.
And if the parables are all about the Kingdom of God, then what should we do?
Rachel Stafford is a teacher of children with special needs. She published a story about an experience she had had with one particular child. The story echoes something of our parables today.
Rachel had just begun a new job teaching children with severe learning and emotional difficulties in an inner-city school. The job was draining, often bringing her to tears - but she prayed each day that she could make a breakthrough to one broken soul.
Her most difficult charge was ten-year-old Kyle, the son of a drug-addicted mother, a boy with permanent scars along the side of his left arm from a beating with an extension cord when he was three. Kyle was given to angry, violent outbursts and running away.
Rachel and another teacher had planned a field trip for their students. But because of his behavior issues, Kyle would have to remain at school. Kyle flew into a rage, screaming, cursing, spitting, and swinging at anything within striking distance.
And then he did what he had done at other schools, at home, and once at a juvenile detention center: he ran. Kyle dashed out the door, straight into the heavy morning traffic.
And Rachel ran after him. She had no idea what she would say or do once - and if - she caught up with him. But she ran after Kyle.
Kyle ran for several blocks, dodging cars like a professional athlete. He was fast, but Rachel managed to stay with him. Finally he stopped, near a trash compactor behind a dilapidated strip mall. Bent over with exhaustion, he looked up, surprised to see his teacher running toward him. But when he saw Rachel, he did not run. He stayed still as Rachel approached. He calmed down; his anger and fear subsided. Rachel and Kyle locked eyes. Rachel willed every ounce of compassion and understanding in her heart toward his.
Before either could say a word, the principal of the school arrived with the police. Kyle would be taken for psychiatric evaluation. Rachel did not take her eyes off Kyle as he got into the car - and Kyle's eyes never left Rachel's.
Rachel later shared her disappointment at what had happened with Kyle, with his speech therapist who knew Kyle's history and family situation. The therapist placed her hand on Rachel's shoulder and said, "Rachel, no one ever ran after him before. No one. They just let him go."
Kyle eventually returned to school. He asked if he could return to Rachel's class. As the weeks passed, Kyle was glued to Rachel's side, complying with instructions, attempting to do his work - once even smiling. For a child with deep attachment issues, it was amazing to see Kyle finally developing a bond with someone - someone who ran after him. [From a story by Rachel Macy Stafford, http://www.dailygood.org/view.php?sid=310]
We are called to follow the lead of Jesus. To seek out the forgotten, the lost, and the emotionally scared, the sinners, the poor, the homeless among us, to welcome them and eat with them and celebrate with them.
Who are the Kyle’s among us?
At one point or another, we all feel a little bit lost on our way towards and alongside Jesus in our journeys. Whenever we lose our way there will not only be the Good Shepherd seeking us out but hopefully, many, many Christians calling out our name too and running after us.
Is this not what it truly means to be a Christian, loving God & our neighbors and taking on the spirit of Jesus and setting our sense of ego aside to seek the lost or to allow ourselves to be sought out?
Amen.
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