Sheep At A Picnic
A Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
September 11, 2022
The Rev. Robin Teasley
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." Luke 15:1-10
We were so looking forward to being outside at Whitehall for our worship and picnic this morning, all of us spread out in the grass like sheep! While it is disappointing, we are grateful for the rain in the fields and for this beautiful, space and for the pavilion where we can gather this morning.
Do you think, if one of us was lost, that God would just leave the rest of us to go find the lost one of us? Does that mean the person who gets lost is more important than the ones who stay where they are supposed to stay? Jesus also mentions a woman looking for one lost coin. Maybe some of us feel more like a lost coin than a lost sheep?
Then that has me wondering what does it mean to be lost? Does it mean we can’t follow directions? Does it mean we think we know more than the Shepherd? Does it mean we are hiding because we don’t really want to be found and spent by the searching woman? It might mean we have lost our sense of belonging, or our capacity to trust that God is present with us.
When we read this parable, where do we see ourselves - as the righteous Pharisees and scribes, as the good Episcopalian sheep sitting in a pasture of pews on this fine morning, or as the one lost sheep? Maybe we see ourselves as a lost coin or a searching woman. Maybe we are determined to keep our coins locked up in a safe deposit box.
Take a moment to imagine you are the lost sheep or the lost coin. The sheep wandering far from the fold of God, or the coin that slipped out of a pocket and into the dark crunchiness under the sofa cushions. Just like sheep, or coins, we too are prone to wander and find ourselves lost. In fact, sometimes we don’t even know that we are lost.
Some of us get lost when our lives don’t stay on the right path, or we make unwise decisions. Don’t we all make the wrong decision sometimes? Maybe we get lost in anxiety, jealousy, unforgiveness, hatred, or bitterness. Do you know any lost sheep or lost coins?
Jesus was always hanging out with the wrong people, the lost people, At least, this was the opinion of all the right people, the ones who were so sure they were not lost. What if we could see ourselves and one another as sheep, all imperfect sheep in need of a shepherd? The shepherd does not distinguish between sheep. Maybe we shouldn’t either.
Can we imagine God as a scraggly shepherd climbing over rocks and down into brambles and overgrown ditches to find us? Can we imagine God as an old woman furiously sweeping every square inch and every dark corner of our hearts to find us?
Can we believe that no matter how lost we think we are, that God is looking for us and will not stop looking until we are found? Can it possibly be that we are only lost to ourselves, that God always knows exactly where we are? The Good News is that our God is always seeking us, whether we know we are lost or not. Our God will always find us, because the celebration does not happen until the lost are found.
And when at last God finds us, God cannot contain the joy that wells up and overflows. So God invites the whole neighborhood over, shares the good news, throws a picnic, and everyone rejoices!
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