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Third Sunday after Trinity, July 6, 2003
Sermon on Luke 15: 1-10, written by Hanne Sander (Denmark)
Translated by David Zersen
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Who can still remember how it was in dance school when one was among the last to be invited to dance- or even worse, when the teacher almost had to force someone to ask another to dance with you? Or in the gym class, when a team had to be formed, and someone always begged: “Pick me, please pick me,” only to discover they were not only the last chosen, but the last to be given a position on the team? Perhaps I should really have asked “Who can’t remember something like that?” And you probably also remember exactly how happy one was to be the first one chosen, how relieved one could be, and how one perhaps swelled with pride and condescended to those who were still nervously waiting to be chosen. If we can call that into memory- and I assume that most can- then that says something about how important it is for humans to experience the feeling of being found and chosen. This is precisely the situation that today’s Gospel lesson addresses. In the opinion of the leading Jews, Jesus was not very adept at choosing his circle of followers. In their eyes, he chose the wrong people and sat at table with them. Luke tells us that they began to complain about it. Of course, Jesus also ate with the leading Jews, but for him it wasn’t a matter of preferring one group over another. However, the Jews thought of it that way and it was painful for them to see Jesus accept sinners and eat with them.

In Jewish society, it was important to know one’s place, in the religious gathering as well as at festival occasions. One had to be cautious about posturing more than one’s standing justified. That might never be forgiven. It was also a problem to position oneself too humbly because then one might feel passed over, and curse his life and hate his environment. It was thus reported of Jewish society that the position that one assumed could have a fateful implication. Such a notion is, of course, not totally foreign to us today.

In the situation at hand, Jesus now tells two little parables about a sheep and a coin that were both quite special and chosen because they were lost, found and brought home again. Once again here, joy and feasting assume their proper place: One kind of joy relates to the fact that the community is again complete and the other joy has to do with the fact that what once belonged together is now united again. From the very beginning that was God’s intent, to rejoice in that which he had created, and for humankind to want to share his joy in the world which he loves.

Unfortunately, a little moralizing point sneaks into the Lucan text which doesn’t fit the picture. The picture doesn’t say anything about the fact that the sheep and the coin repent. The sheep might of necessity have found its way back to the flock, but the coin could never find its way back into the purse. And that’s why it’s clear that for the shepherd and the woman, finding the lost is everything. They have no peace until the sheep and the coin which were lost have been found.

What concerns Jesus here is precisely this: There are things in your life which cannot be attained no matter how hard you try: To be found, to be at home in a place, to be loved and treasured, so much so that someone truly misses you and concerns himself about you! These are substantial things in life that embrace us and that are given to us without condition and reservation.

This understanding is confirmed by the Evangelist Matthew for he concludes his parable about the lost sheep with Jesus words, “In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost.” (NIV) Therefore, we need to believe that there is a purpose for each one of us, that we are sustained by a greater reality that stands behind all our differences. Often we overlook this reality because we focus on the differences when we compare ourselves with others. Either I am not acceptable because I think that others are better and cleverer than I, or they are not acceptable because I am better or wiser than they.

Why could I as a child exalt over the fact that I was chosen first for the team? Why could I plead as a child “Pick me, please pick me, so that I’m not the last one?” Why is it hard to see that community among humankind is so very important? Why is the most important issue always overwhelmed by that which is of lesser importance? Why do we find that it is so necessary to watch each other and to pay attention to our and other’s appearances, rather than allowing ourselves to be overwhelmed by collective joy? Why is it so difficult to understand that behind all those social, religious and ethnic differences which are so visible there is a person who is just a person. A person who very much wants to be found, who wants to sense that he is seen and chosen.

That is perhaps difficult for us, but we can at least cultivate the art of seeing ourselves and others as God sees us: As those whom he would really like to call his own. Amen.

Pfarrer Hanne Sander
Prins Valdemarsvej 62
DK-2820 Gentofte
Tel.: 39 65 52 72
e-mail: sa@km.dk

Translated by Dr. Dr. David Zersen, President Emeritus
Concordia University at Austin
e-mail: Dzersen@aol.com


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