luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.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 neighbours, 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 people 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 neighbours, 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.’
The Dragon of acceptable losses.
In a world before there was modern transportation… when getting anywhere by cart took a long time… and trips across the country were measured in years… a great and powerful dragon came to all of humankind with a proposal.
You see, the Dragon was finished with fighting… the Dragon was tired of sneaking around and grabbing people for every meal… the dragon was tired of getting hit and just wanted to come to a new deal… so hear was the proposal…
If all the people would agree to certain conditions… they would be allowed to simply call the dragon whenever they needed to travel… and the Dragon would come and pick them up and take them quickly to wherever they wanted to go.
So… instead of taking a week to travel on an old cart path to get a few hundred kms, the people could now make the trip in under 2 hours… it was truly a marvelous deal.
People needing medical attention could whisked to places where the best doctors were… and crops for farmers wouldn’t spoil in the fields anymore as goods and services flowed freely.
But… and this is a big but… the dragon asked for a payment… the dragon asked that he would be allowed to eat a small percentage of the people that he was transporting. So… there were about 34 million people… and the dragon was asking to eat in a somewhat random way… about 2600 people every year…
---
So what do you think? Is that an acceptable loss? For the benefits of all that transportation would you take the deal? Well… if you drove a car to get here… you already have! Traffic stats for Canada, a country of 34 million show that our streets and roads eat about 2600 of us a year… but this is seen as an acceptable loss by most of us… we keep using the roads… we live our lives under a system of acceptable losses…
(((Trouble in Text People have become acceptable losses. (Unredeamable… Only the best are accepted)))
And it’s this idea of “acceptable losses” that is challenged by Jesus today. The idea that there are those who are disposable… that are expendable… that are less.
Undoubtably the tax collectors are a rough crowd. They are working for the occupying force - the Romans. They make their living by collecting taxes from their own people to give to Rome… and they get paid by taking a cut of what they collect. So a good collector could make some pretty good money. Cook the books just right and in fact you can make a lot of money doing this.
And who are other sinners? Who knows… the unrepentant crowd for sure… those who it would seem aren’t even trying to get right because the steps for getting right are laid out quiet clearly. Pay your debts, go to the temple, be more smart.
So let us not make these tax collectors into saints… let us not pretend that these are well meaning and simply misunderstood sinners… they are in fact… disposable people. They are culturally rejected… and at the same time… are rejecting the status quo. It’s probably not too strong to call that a bunch of dirty bums.
--- (this is my thoughtful pause marker…)
Trouble in World We all are acceptable losses - we are all one step away from being seen as lost.
There is a danger in this mentality… the mentality of acceptable loss… the majority of us like to think that we are safe from becoming the acceptable loss…
But tell that to the teacher who has been falsely accused of wrong behavior and no longer has or can get a job because of reputation…
Tell that to the 4th generation farmer who watched the farm go bankrupt on their watch and had to move away from their own community because of a sense of community shame as if it were the farmer, and not the economic conditions that caused the lass…
Tell that to the family of the soldier in Afghanistan who is one of the 152 soldiers that have so far been killed in the line of duty their.
---
A world of acceptable losses is a scary place to be… Scary because we have to avert our eyes and not look to closely at those who fall into the category of acceptable loss… doing this hurts.
It’s scary because we are all so close to becoming the next acceptable loss. The next car accident, the next student to be bullied, the next employee to be laid off or dropped, the next home owner foreclosed on...
(((God’s action in World Fear of rejection… the gig is up… (((Story time - God's economy in action)))
Paul Wilson was a man of the streets… He worked his way up and down Whyte Ave and had become a consummate beggar and thief. If you’ve ever lost your purse or wallet or phone while sitting at a cafe there is a good chance that Paul Wilson took it… or at least he probably knows who did.
Paul Wilson knew where the tourists were… knows how to spot people most likely to be carrying change… and had even come up with several stories that seemed to touch all the right buttons. A little guilt, a little pity, and money and food was coming his way.
One of Paul Wilson’s favorite tricks was asking for just the right amount of money. In his approach he would come at people angry… as if life had given him a raw deal, he would then rapidly calm down and introduce himself and apologize and ask for forgiveness for being so angry… this seemed to soften people up… and then he would go for the quick hard sell. A pregnant sister, a sick child, a dying parent a flat tire… he tried to change up the story to keep it interesting for himself… but for the close he would always ask for $26.75. Something about “26.75” seemed to ring true to him and to most people he scammed… after Paul asked, you couldn’t help but feel that if only he had $26.75 then all of his problems would be solved. And really, too most, it is a small price to pay just to get Paul to leave you alone.
The brilliance of asking for $26.75 is that nobody has correct change… so they would reach into their wallets and pull out to 20 dollar bills and of course, Paul Wilson never carried change either. Sometimes people even go to the bank machine for him and of course… cash only comes out in 20’s. So more often then not he got $40 out of the deal. Almost enough for a 2 liter bottle of his favorite cheap rum.
Paul Wilson had long ago given up feeling guilty about taking people’s money. He had all sorts of self justifications about how life had been hard to him and these people he scammed he didn’t even really think about all all. Paul Wilson had just stopped caring. People were just their to be used… as he only saw himself as being used. Just a the world wrote him off… he wrote the world off as well.
One Tuesday afternoon Paul was hungry so he headed over to the Kentucky Fried Chicken on 109th street. It was close to the University and it was toonie tuesday… wouldn’t take long to get a meal. He spotted his target, told his sob story and asked for food. Getting food was always easier then getting money… people always seemed to feel good ablut giving food to a guy who looked skinny liked Paul.
The man accepted his story and they were waiting in line when Paul started to get uncomfortable… it seemed the man was looking at him intently… it seemed that the man knew who he was…
With only one person left in line Paul was getting more and more uncomfortable and the man finally spoke. “You don’t remember me do you?… I helped you out 6 months ago so you could get back to your home in Winnipeg… you were $26.75 short of a bus ticket if I remember”
Paul Wilson knew the gig was up… all the stories were seen through… he tensed his muscles to get ready to run…
---
(((God’s action in Text There are no Acceptable losses… the one is worth finding.)))
Today’s text is all about the backwards economy of God.
Who among you would leave the 99 sheep in the wilderness to find the one that is lost?
No-one… 1 sheep in 100 is an acceptable loss.
How many of you would rejoice when you found it?
No one… you would curse the stupid sheep for getting lost in the first place. My farming experience tells me that the one sheep who animal who is not behaving properly is the first to be sold down the road.
Or, if you lost a days wage, would you spend another day looking for it… and then spend more than you found on a party so you can rejoice in finding it?
I don’t think so…
Nobody does these things. The coin, the sheep, Paul Wilson… these are acceptable losses. And yet… this is the parable that Jesus tells.
In God’s economy, there are no acceptable losses.
In God’s way, there is rejoicing when the lost are found.
In God’s way… God willingly plays the fool. Coming to a world that rejects him… drawing close to a people that would kill him… continually redeeming a world that frequently spits in his face and… this is us.
We live and organize in a world of acceptable losses… to God, in Christ, there are no acceptable losses. Each lost sheep is sought, each lost coin is found, the Paul Wilson’s of the world are lifted up and rejoiced over because God is reaching out to all. The Tax collectors, the sinners, the Pharisee’s, the scribes, Paul Wilson... and you.
---
Paul Wilson flexed his muscles and was about to shout out a curse and bolt from the line up. Anger rose up in him. Anger at needing to beg. Anger at being rejected. Anger at feeling so lonely.
But just before Paul could reject the man, reject the food, and reject everything. The man who saw right through him… the man whom Paul rejected and scammed calmly asked…
“Did you want the whole meal, or just the Tuesday special?”
Amen
0 comments:
Post a Comment