The 1 Percenters & The Other 99ers

“Now all the tax collectors and sinner were gathering around him to listen. And the church people and Sunday school teachers were raising cain, saying, “This fellow associates with sinners and eats with them.” So Jesus gave them this comparison:

“Is there a person among you who, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go hunt for the lost one? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and goes home with it. He calls over to his friends and neighbors, “Hey, y’all, I found my lost sheep! Isn’t that wonderful?” I’m telling you, in the same way there’ll be more joy among the spiritually sensitive ones over a single “outsider” who reshapes his life than over the ninety-nine “righteous people who don’t need to change their ways.”

”Or suppose a woman has ten dimes and loses one of them; won’t she get the flashlight and a broom and sweep and look carefully till she finds it? And when she does find it, she calls over to her friends and neighbors and says, “Hey, y’all, you know that dime I lost? Well, I found it. Isn’t that nice?” In the same way, I tell you, there’s a rejoicing on the part of God’s faithful ones over a single “outsider” who reshapes her life.” (Luke 15:1-10 Cotton Patch Gospel).

It is easy to get lost sometimes, even in places you’ve been a hundred times. You are traveling along, focused, and without ever realizing it, you have missed your turn and end up lost in the deep forest of Endor or Mirkwood or as my brother would say, in Oklahoma. The same can be said of one’s spiritual life and that is what I would like to talk about with us this morning. I would like to talk about three different types of “being lost”.

1) Not all who wander are lost

Our story this morning picks up as Jesus is having dinner with the tax collectors and sinners (people he shouldn’t be having dinner with) and the people he should have been having dinner with, all the good God fearing folk, were upset at him. How dare he eat or associate with such people! Doesn’t he know better?

Jesus hears their murmuring and responds with three different parables about the lost. The first of a sheep that wanders from the herd and the shepherd must go and find it. He leaves behind the 99 and goes after the one. He looks far and wide for this little lamb until it is found. Typically when we hear this parable we think of those who are not with us, those who have wandered off and gotten lost or those who have not yet joined. In the shallow end of the pool, this interpretation works, but as we swim further out we begin to see our first type of “being lost”.

In the first book of the Lord of the Rings, Frodo meets a wayward stranger dressed in a green hooded cloak, bearded, and disheveled shadowy figure at the Prancing Pony. The man is called Strider but that is not his true name. Before arriving at Bree, Gandalf tells Frodo in a letter that read in part: “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost; the old that is strong does not wither, deep roots are not reached by the frost.” Frodo does not know when he meets the mysterious Strider that he is meeting the true king of Gondor. It is not until Bilbo tells him he wrote the poem after Strider revealed his true nature as Aragorn.

The poem reminds us that not all who wander are lost nor are all who are seen are found. We believe the sheep the shepherd is searching for is one who has never known the shepherd but how can the shepherd expect the lamb to answer his call if the sheep never knew his voice?

In our technological age, in which the world has grown smaller, we are bombarded with different voices daily. There are so many voices speaking it is hard to know if you are truly following the voice of the shepherd. Especially with all the Christian voices there are in our world. It is hard, when standing at your local bookstore, to pick from one of the vast voices in print under the “Christianity” heading. Not all who wander from the herd are truly lost. They have simply lost their way and need someone to show them the way back home.

One Sunday morning a pastor was heading to the worship service when he passed a prominent member going the opposite way to the front door. The pastor stopped her and asked, “Not staying for church?” She smiled and said, “Well, this morning I watched the preacher from Houston, and preached about money and how I could get some. On the drive in I listened to the preacher from Alabama on the radio, and he preached about how this country’s gone to the toilet. Then, I get here and heard my Sunday school teacher preach about how the world is ending and the signs to look for. Not sure what you plan on preaching on but I need to go home cause I ain’t sure I heard Jesus at all today.”

Not all who wander are lost, they are simply wandering from voice to voice in hopes they finally hear the voice of the shepherd.

Just as not all who wander are lost, not all who are seen found.

2) Not all who are seen are found

There are good people who attend daily church meetings, watch their religious shows, and listen to only a certain radio station, vote for the candidate who mentions Jesus; but they mistake attendance, television programs, radio stations, and politics to be the true measure as one who follows Christ. They too have listened to the many voices and picked one they feel fits them best; yet the voice they listen to daily has never really introduced them to the voice of Jesus. They know what Christians are supposed to be against (at least from that voice’s perspective) but they know nothing of what we are to be for. This voice claims to speak the words of Jesus but it only speak half-truths and unchallenging thoughts. This voice has lead them to chase the golden road of wealth and power, of security and prejudice, of flag-waving and idol worshipping.

This year marks the 50^th year of the Civil Rights movement and you have heard me speak on it so much you might be weary of hearing it again; but I hope for today we perk our ears up for this moment in history. 50 years ago, to the exact date and day, Bobby Frank Cherry, Thomas Blanton, Herman Frank Cash, and Robert Chambliss, members of the United Klans of America, planted a box of dynamite with a time delay under the steps of the church, near the basement. At about 10:22 am, twenty-six children were walking into the basement assembly room to prepare for the sermon entitled, “A Love that Forgives” when the bomb exploded. Four little girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley were killed, and twenty-two others were injured. It wasn’t until 1977, 2001, and 2002 until 3 of the 4 men were finally convicted.

Four little girls lost their life because these men listened to the voice of their Imperial Wizards and other members who were mostly white protestant ministers and to the voice of a governor who declared, “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, and segregation forever.” They listened to voices who believed the true faith of Jesus was one in which you keep those who are Black, Hispanic, Arab, gay, mentally or physically handicapped, homeless, poor, hungry, sick, or imprisoned separate from the good, decent Church-Folk. Those voices know no more of Jesus than those who wander in the forest in search for the voice of Christ.

There once was a college student who volunteered at her church to be their youth minister. After a few months the church gathered up enough funds to put together a little stipend. It wasn’t much but for her, it was enough to feel like she found her calling. There were a group teenagers who hung around the church skateboarding and on the occasion they were seen smoking. The newly appointed youth minister approached the teens one day and began to strike up a conversation. In her conversation she discovered the struggles in their life and she began to minister to them.

Eventually, as they grew to trust her, they found their way into the church and one particular Sunday morning, they sat in the balcony because she was going to preach her very first sermon. As she approached the pulpit, they cheered and smiled, yelling, “We love you!” “You’re awesome!” “You’re the best!”

Immediately after the service the deacon chair pulled her off to the side and said, “If those kids wish to ever come here again, you need to tell them to behave. They are to still quietly.” She never had that conversation and the youth group grew. Those teenagers began showing up to church week after week for service and during the week. Many in the congregation grew uncomfortable because she never told them not to smoke in front of the church or to watch their language or not to ask questions. She loved them for who they were.

Eventually the time came when enough of the good Christian folk complained and she was fired. The kids left and all that remained were those who seen but never found.

3) Those who have been shelved.

After he finished with the parable of the lost sheep, he shared another story: “Suppose a woman has ten dimes and loses one of them; won’t she get the flashlight and a broom and sweep and look carefully till she finds it?”

In Toy Story 2, Woody is shelved because his arm is ripped during playtime with Buzz Lightyear and Andy. Andy’s mother puts Woody on the top shelf to stay there until he can be repaired. While sitting on the dusty bookshelf, he hears a soft squeak from behind a book, and he discovers Wheezy, a forgotten penguin who had been waiting on a new squeaker.

As with those in our fellowship, in our faith, who get lost in the woods because of the barrage voices, there are those who become lost because they have stumbled or fallen and find themselves judged by voices in their faith community to be found wanting. They are with us until we hit a bump, then they are knocked out of the pocket, kicked to the side, and become lost in the dusty corners of the dresser. They remain there, forgotten.

Being a Christian is a hard task. Besides the discerning through infinite various voices of leaders in our faith community, we are saddled with great expectations by not only the world but (sadly) other Christians as well. We are expected to live to a higher standard than others and when we fall, as we all do from time to time, we are not met immediately with kind voices but with harsh voices, “You should know better”, “See, this is why I don’t go to church. Hypocrites.”

Too many struggle with the false perception that the Christian is to led a perfect life and if “their house” is not in order, they are told by others they are not really a Christian. Instead of being told or seeing a messy life as a life that looks lived in, they are told they need to get all together before they serve on any committee or as a deacon or stand up preach or even attempt to follow Jesus again.

Life is already messy and hard, being a follower of Christ makes it harder and messier. With unreasonable expectations they stumble and fall off to the side where they are kicked into the dusty corner of the dresser, forgotten.

There is a voice that tells us not to believe what the old woman does. A voice that says we are unable to return. A voice that says Christ's love is conditional, small, and selfish. Christ's mercy is for a few elected. Christ's grace is only for those who pray the ABCs. The voice tells us that he will not keep your promise. A voice that says Christ is not strong enough to be faithful.

We listen to that voice over and over again. We convince ourselves that we are unlovable, unwanted. We believe our imperfections, imperfections we were born with, are imperfections that are too much for you. We seek reassurance that he is who he says he is. We seek reassurance that he will keep his promise. We seek reassurance that his are strong enough to stay faithful when we stray. And each time we seek reassurance, we hear the voice that says, "There are no returns."

Those are the three general types of “being lost” hear that voice and here Jesus offers good news.

The time has come for us to raise the voice of the shepherd, of Jesus above the other voices so that the lost may hear his voice and return home. For you see, in these parables, the shepherd and the old woman do not form a committee to search for what they lost. They do not elect a government official to care for them while they attending to the other 99. They do not complain about how in their day sheep didn’t run off and dimes didn’t fall out of pockets. No, the shepherd searched day and night until he found the lost lamb. The woman swept and cleaned, and moved heaven and earth until she found the lost dime. They searched and they searched until they found what they were searching for.

Jesus wraps up his story-time with the good Church-Folk upset he’s hanging out with those sinners with a story of a man who had two sons. The younger decided he wanted his inheritance and took off to Las Vegas, spending his money on women, wine, and having a time. He returns home broke, destitute, hungry, desperate, and lost. He returns home simply to survive. While he was still a ways off, the father sees his son and he runs to him, embraces him, kisses him, clothes him, and celebrates. If we listen to the voice of the shepherd, the old woman, and the father, then hear a distinct voice. One that says:

"I am your God, I have molded you with my own hands, and I love what I have made. I love you with a love that has no limits. Do not runaway from me. Come back to me--not once, not twice, but always again. You are my child. How can you ever doubt that I will embrace you again, hold you against my breast, kiss you and let my hands run through your hair? I am your God--the God of mercy and compassion, the God of pardon and love, the God of tenderness and care. Please do not say that I have given up on you, that I cannot stand you any more, that there is no way back. It is not true. I so much want you to be with me. I so much want you to be close to me. I know all your thoughts. I hear all your words. I see all of your actions. And I love you because you are beautiful, made in my image, an expression of my most intimate love. Do not judge yourself. Do not condemn yourself. Do not reject yourself. Let my love touch the deepest, most hidden corners of your heart and reveal to you your own beauty, a beauty that you have lost sight of, but that will become visible to you again in the light of my mercy. Come, come, let me wipe your tears, and let my mouth come close your ear and say to you, 'I love you, I love you'" (Henri Nouwen, Show Me the Way,pg 76-77)