September 8, 2019 - Thirteenth Sunday After Pentecost - Deeper Into Being Lost and Found

I faced a dilemma with this blog. The lectionary reading that was in the bulletin for the Gospel was Luke 14:25-33. Pastor Ray preached on next week's Gospel Luke 15:1-10. I debated which Gospel to focus on until the middle of the week, Yesterday, on September 11, I decided this blog post should be about parables of what is lost rather than on what Jesus said the lectionary reading "Whoever comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple."

The Gospel, Luke 15:1-10, reads that the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." about Jesus. He responds with the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. Jesus opens this with a question, "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?".

This is not a helpful hint for some one in the sheep-ranching business. Jesus expresses no concern about the other ninety-nine sheep becoming lost. Perhaps Jesus is simply implying that he is a good shepherd that is, first and foremost, an expert in the business in finding the lost.

Jesus concludes after these parables with "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." I ask you, who are the ninety-nine who need no repentance?  He is talking to the Pharisees and the scribes who were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." Jesus is not talking about those who do not need repentance. He is emphasizing that everyone needs repentance and, after Jesus finds each of us, there will be joy in heaven.

Therefore these parables are somewhat subversive to what we want to understand. What does it mean to be lost? This has to be thought of more than simply finding a set of missing keys. There is a relentlessness to these searches that is hinted at just below the surface. Also, we don't normally like to think or act as if the lost, the sheep or the coin are doing nothing to be found. It has to be asked if there are any consequences to being found? Will the sheep or coin get lost again?   

I had not noticed before the many similarities in the two parables.  In each, after what was lost is found, friends and neighbors are called together.  There is a celebration that happens because the friends and neighbors are gathered together like this.  And who is the neighbor, who is the friend?  I do not hear any restriction, warning, or command in the invitation here at all.

A word about 9/11. Susan Lee Kennedy Schuler was a 9/11 victim.  Personally I knew her as Sue Slanker.  Years before 9/11 she was married to my boss at that time, Ted Slanker. Eighteen years ago I learned of a story in the Oregonian that described her as missing in the WTC disaster.

Some people, when I share this, imagine that knowing her must have changed what I felt previously as part of national mourning, into a personal, deep and more "real" experience.  Oddly knowing Sue was gone in this way made 9/11 more unreal for me.  For a long time afterwards I expected I would read this news item was in error. The mind accepts certain truths and not others.

I don't know if next Sunday's worship will contain any remembrance of 9/11 like there was in 2016. I never mentioned Sue in previous worship blog posts until that 2016 worship because this was a personal connection that was personal, not congregational.  I no longer see this as an important distinction. And just as we should celebrate together I feel I should allow Creator the opportunity to understand how I feel the loss on each anniversary of 9/11.