Rejoicing when the lost is found
Ordinary Sunday 24: 16th September, 2007
Fr John Davis, Vicar of St Peter's, Eastern Hill
"And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, 'this fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.'" (Lk 15:2)
I really love the image used in the first of our gospel parables today of the shepherd putting the lost sheep on his shoulders and taking him home. And I love the way that in the hymn "The king of love my shepherd is" the ideas and images of this parable are mixed in with those of the 23rd psalm, making the message of each even stronger. Unless we are dealing with a pretty small lamb, putting a struggling sheep over your shoulders so that two legs fall down on either side is not the easiest of tasks. It is hard enough with a large brown Burmese. This shepherd is strong and young and purposeful. There is generosity here and a ready putting aside of whatever happened in the past that got the sheep lost in the first place. The response is joyful and there was a party to follow.
The second little parable is of the woman with the lost coin. The coin is itself of little value but the woman is poor and it is very valuable to her. She turns her house upside down until she finds it. Again the response is one of joy and again a small party of celebration.
In each case the story is followed by a comment about the rejoicing in heaven when the lost is found spiritually, when reconnections are made, when the relationship that each one of us has for the asking with God once again has life to it. We can get the point.
Immediately following these two is a longer parable — one of the best known of all in Luke's gospel — that of the prodigal son. There too the story ends with a party of celebration. A younger son taking what he could get, leaving, losing it all, coming home regretful and sad, an older son dutiful, hard-working and resentful that anything other than total rejection be now offered to his brother, and the father of both of them, loving, fair, generous, accepting.
These are the three stories offered by Luke in response to the grumbling about whether it was at all appropriate that Jesus welcomed sinners and even sat down at table with them. It is interesting that even today in our much less formal society, it is still a social indicator when we actually are prepared or indeed happy to have a meal with someone. And as political commentators in Canberra remind us, it may become a matter of comment when we do not have a meal with someone, if we happen to be the Prime Minister and that someone is your deputy.
But it the first century, this was much more serious, especially for an observant Jewish person. To eat with someone or to allow them to eat with you was a statement of acceptance and acceptability. When a religious figure was doing this, the action therefore was also speaking of God's acceptance and recognition. These people too are welcome. Such a message is not going to be universally well received. Jesus places those who are grumbling in the part of the character of the older son in the Prodigal Son parable. It is realistic to assume that they will be continue to be angry or hurt or resentful into the future, just as the brother is likely to be. They may well just bide their time until such generosity of spirit can be successfully overturned.
What sort of people might we be talking about? In the gospels there are frequent references to people of poor reputation like prostitutes or thieves, or with occupations that mean they might be corrupt or collaborators, like a tax collector and even whole classes and categories of people. The struggle over whether gentile, that is non-Hebrew, converts were to be acceptable to God or to the growing church was at first very hard. Very often it finally comes down to one of Paul's strongest teaching points through almost all of his letters: that God's grace is what will prevail where the law would deny.
The brooding presence of the older son in the context of all these welcoming celebrations of our three parables this morning is a reminder that there remains, perhaps in every generation, a fundamental questioning as the whether God actually is that generous and accepting.
In every generation there have been those who have said no. Somewhere, somehow, a point of no return was reached. In times when this was possible, such people were pleased enough to kill off those they considered to be unacceptable. Many such killings were done (and are done) in the name of religion. Others went (and will go) the way of institutional separation, though it is a sad fact that division generally begets further division and ever smaller and ever more perfect expressions of faith or living.
This is very sad and it would be comforting to consider that this reflection had no particular application to the current state of our world or our church. But we know that that is in fact far from being the case. The question is not that there are differences of opinion and approach to important issues, in both church and state. It is rather, to use a phrase from the battles of twenty years ago, a matter of the discerning of the extent of 'tolerable difference'. Can you bear to breathe the same air, to share the same institution, to go to the same altar rail — these are the very real questions that are asked.
For those who are following the events and strains internationally within the Anglican Communion at this time, you will know that there is a substantial number of Anglicans, in Africa, in parts of the United States, in Sydney, in parts of Melbourne, who would rather see the Church divide and split than be compromised on what they would see as first level issues. Many others certainly do not agree with them. Of course the big dividing issue of this time is the matter of same sex relationships, but the question of women bishops is also a current one in the Church of England and in the Anglican Church of Australia. There are people in this parish for whom these are very important issues.
This parish will have two people at the forthcoming General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia, to be held in Canberra in late October. Rachel Ellyard and myself will be two of the 34 Melbourne representatives elected to attend, along with our archbishop. The General Synod meets once every three years bringing together bishops, clergy and laity from all 24 Australian dioceses. From time to time, the differences of opinion and approach are very apparent indeed. It is ultimately at that level that the Church in Australia will be asked to respond to these international issues.
Those who thought that they could see things very clearly and had a clear mind about the unacceptability of some people and some ways of life were highlighted this morning in our gospel, as they grumbled. Their objects of scorn were welcomed by Jesus and he then told them these three parables we have considered. There is room for all of us to come to our senses, to find our way home, and to start again on our relationship with God. That is the clear message of the gospel today.
The Lord be with you.
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