“When God Chooses You” - Luke 15:1-10
September 16, 2007
Dr. Michael C. Yarbrough

          There have been times when we’ve literally turned our house upside down looking for something that has disappeared – things that I hope will turn up someday if we ever move.  (Sherwoods – did you find any “missing” things when you were packing to move into your new house?)

          And don’t even get me started about socks.  Sometimes, there have been single socks sitting on my dresser for weeks – sometimes, one white sock – one black sock – one blue sock – one brown sock.  Or sometimes, there will be three white ones – that don’t match!  I have finally given up and pitched as many as four perfectly good socks in the trash.  What’s that all about anyway?  Is it just one of God’s spiritual mysteries?

          There have been other times when I’ve waited three or four weeks and the mates to some of the single socks reappear.  And life suddenly is great!  And when it happens I want to celebrate – do a little jig – maybe go out to dinner – because my patience paid off – and a sock is not wasted!

          If today’s scripture reading sounded familiar to you, it is because back in March, the lectionary text was this very same one.  These parables of Jesus are about finding lost things.  Luke has placed these two parables together as a kind of introduction to a more famous third one: “the Prodigal Son.”  Luke likes to place parables together to emphasize their common message.  And these two, the Lost Sheep, and the Lost Coin, do have a common theme: what has been lost is of very great value!

          As a way of placing these parables into the context of Jesus’ ministry, Luke first gives them a setting – makes the telling of them an answer to a problem or question.  Luke begins by saying that Jesus’ critics sneered at him, saying, “This man, this Jesus, receives sinners and eats with them, that is, parties with them.”  It brings to mind another moment in the gospels when critics complained to Jesus saying, “The disciples of John the Baptist fast often and say long prayers.  But look at your disciples, Jesus!  They are always eating – and drinking wine – and partying!”  In other words, we can tell that the disciples of John are religious by the way they act (they look so miserable!).  But yours – why are they always partying?

          And so Jesus told the complainers two little parables.

“Which of you, if he has one hundred sheep, and one gets separated from the flock, will not immediately leave the ninety-nine to fend for themselves in the wilderness – vulnerable to wandering off and to wolves – and go out and check in every ravine – turn over every rock – rustle every bush – until you find the lost one?  And when you finally find it, wouldn’t you throw the lamb up on your shoulder, just as if you were carrying a precious child, and when you see your friends, wouldn’t you cry out to them, ‘Let’s have a big blowout!  I’ve found my lamb!’”

          Now which of you would not do that?

          And aren’t you like the woman who lost a quarter – or a sock?  Wouldn’t you rip up all of the carpet on your living room floor, move all of your furniture out onto the front lawn, then push all of the heavy appliances out of the kitchen, and search relentlessly until you have found that quarter – or the sock?  And when she has found the twenty-five cents – or the sock, she comes running out into the yard, calling to all the neighbors up and down the street saying, “Yahoo!  Come party with me!  I found my quarter! – I found my sock!”

          Now which of you would not do that?

          And who among you who works with an employee who just isn’t getting their job done, will not cancel all of your appointments and drop all of your projects, go to his desk, and spend everyday after work, and come in early in the morning to work with that employee, week after week, until at last, he has done so well that he gets promoted?  And when that happens, will you not run from office to office and say, “Come on!  I’m throwing a big office party!  The one who was our worst employee has now improved so much that he’s been promoted to management!”

          Now which of you would not do that?  You know the answer.  This is ridiculous!  None of us would do that.  Would we?  That’s right.  None of us.  But then, that is what separates us from heaven.

          If we were to continue to read the rest of the fifteenth chapter of Luke, we would see that there is still yet another parable.  These two parties, when the shepherd celebrates after finding the lamb, and the woman parties after finding the lost coin, prepare us for the most outrageous party of all – a party that was thrown by a father whose long-lost son has come home.

          Who among you would, when working out in the fields, hears all of the music up at the family homestead, and asks a servant, “What are you doing in that tux?  And on a Wednesday?”

          The servant says, “Your brother came home today, and your father is throwing a big party for him.  He has given everybody the night off.”

          Who among you would say, “A party?  How does that old fool expect me to keep the books in the black when he goes and throws a party for this son who has blown his inheritance on booze and women?  All these years I have taken care of the farm and Daddy never threw a party for me and my friends.”

          And then, would we say to our father, “I’ve taken care of the farm, made the wheat and soy beans a profitable business and put the books in the black.”

          “Big deal, Howard,” says the father.  “So you are the biggest wheat farmer in central Kansas.  Save these self-righteous speeches for your application to KU law school.  Come on, get loose, come on in and join the party!”

          Jesus says that, when just one of these lost – one lost sheep – one lost coin – one lost boy – comes home, in the kingdom of heaven, it’s time for a blow out celebration!  Luke’s good news for you today is that when God chooses you over all the clean socks in the sock drawer – or God chooses you over the other ninety-nine sheep who stayed close and didn’t get lost – or God chooses you over the nine silver coins clutched tightly in a sweaty hand – or God chooses you over the competent employee who already does such an efficient and responsible job – or God chooses you over the elder brother who makes the family farm prosper – when God chooses you over the safe ones – the obedient ones – the competent ones – and you come home to heaven – heaven – just – goes – wild!  And that’s God’s great mystery!

          Let us pray:

          O God of Divine story; the words of the gospel remind us of the great risk you are willing to take – the distance you are willing to travel – the sacrifice you are willing to make – in order for us to experience your love.  And the words remind us that our return to you is so joyous that you call together the many for a celebration.  Thank you, O God, for those wide-open arms – that full and happy heart – and the celebrative feast that now awaits us, as you have promised.  In the name of our Teacher, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.