Apparently, Jesus keeps just the worst company. According to the Temple authorities, anyway. Jesus, you see, hangs out with “tax collectors and sinners.”
No offence to any employees of Canada Revenue Agency, I’m sure they’re all very fine people, but in Jesus day, they were not. They were working for the Romans, and probably ripping you off as well, for their own personal gain. As far many people were concerned, there weren’t much worse in the sinner department.
So, in Luke’s gospel, the leaders of the faith community are grumbling about who Jesus spends his time with. I’m sure I would have just had Jesus point out the abundantly obvious, that he’s here to save people who need saving, not to sit with the spiritually healthy, but Luke’s more creative and way smarter than me. Instead, Jesus tells a series of three short parables, each of which has a similar pattern: someone or something is lost, it’s found, there’s a celebration when they’re restored.
There’s one with a lost sheep. A shepherd with a hundred sheep loses one so they leave the ninety-nine to look for the one. Great celebration when they find it. There’s a lost coin. A woman loses one of ten coins so she lights a lamp and sweeps the house until she finds it. Great celebration when she does. And then there’s the really famous one, the Prodigal Son. A son asks for his inheritance early, takes it, leaves and squanders it in a foreign land. When he runs out of money, he realizes he’s better off at home so he returns, ready to beg for help. His father welcomes him with open arms, and calls for a great celebration. His other son, though, is a little put out. He stayed and was a good son and he gets nothing. But his father says, exactly, you’ve always been here, but your brother was lost and is found. Time for a great celebration.
See. Jesus is here for those who need saving, that’s why he spends so much time with them. The end.
But hang on a minute. It’s more than that.
First, in each of the stories, there’s a moment for celebration because the lost is found … and restored. That’s the celebration: not just that they’re found, but they’re restored to the flock, the money pouch and the family. That will need the grace, welcome, acceptance and willingness of the flock, pouch and family. Perhaps not that hard for the flock, definitely not for the money pouch, and most certainly for the son. In fact, his brother is angry about it. Does he come round? Jesus doesn’t say.
Second, and it’s related to that, if Jesus is here for sinners and Jesus reminds us frequently that the temple authorities are, well, sinners, then why isn’t Jesus here for them also?
He is. These stories he tells remind us, I think, that to live authentically as Jesus in the world means being prepared to step out and look for the lost, to reach out to them and bring them into community. It also reminds us that being authentic community means to offer grace to the lost, especially to those who feel they don’t belong, to those who are different, who don’t “fit in,” who struggle, who are marginalized by the community. How often do we judge - like the temple authorities - instead of opening our hearts, finding empathy, and offering a space for others. Jesus is here for them, too.
